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the belief that he and the well-known poet Mayůra were both court-poets of king Harsha; and this unfounded belief came, in the course of time, to be regarded as a literary tradition', which furnished Rājas'ekhara with the subject of his verse quoted above. --A further development of the same literary tradition occurs in a verse of the Navasähasānka-charita by Padmagupta (about 1000 A. D.) which refers to Bāņa and Magūra as rival poets whose mutual jealousy was stimulated by king Harsha:
"स चित्रवर्णविच्छित्तिहारिणोरवनीपतिः।
sfree T TË T arurararat:ll" II. v. 18. Finally the literary anecdote was turned into a fabulous story by the addition of miraculous accidents. Mammața (about 1100 A. D.) in commenting on the second Kārikā of the Kavyaprakās'a, remarks, that Mayūra removed his misfortune (by means of his poem) through the favour of the Sungod ( Silenceritaifaवानर्थ निवारणं). The आदि after the name of the god and that of the poet indicates that Mammața knew other legends besides that told of Mayūra. The commentators however relate only the miraculous story of Mayūra, and do not mention similar legends alluded to by the word of. Anyhow, it is pretty certain that a story about the miracle worked by means of the Sūryas'ataka and Chandīs'ataka was already current about the beginning of the 12th century A., D. And as the above quotations are from Brahmanical sources, it cannot be doubted that the Pandits who fabricated that story, were Brahmins.
This literary story of Brahmanical invention serves as an introduction to the Jaina legend about Mánatunga's miraculous deed, or rather the latter story appears to have been joined in later times to the former. In the Prabhāvakacharita it is introduced in the following way. The king extolled the Brahmins whose superiority had become evident; there was nothing like it in other creeds. His minister rejoined that the Jaina āchārya Mānatunga was gifted with superior powers. Thereupon he was invited to court and asked to prove it. The sūri complied in order to make evident the superiority of Jainism. Accordingly he had himself fettered with iron chains and confined in a room, the doors of which were fastened with 44 strong crossbars. On Mānatunga's reciting the Bhaktā. mara stotra the fetters fell off, the bolts were removed by themselves, the doors opened, and he issued without let or hindrance. This miracle had such an effect on the king that he became a convert to Jainism. This statement, however, is wrong. For, it is a historical fact that Harsha distributed his devotions amongst the three deities of his family, S'iva, the Sun, and Buddha (V. A. Smith, Early History of India, 3rd edition p. 345), and did not show any particular preference for the Jainas.
On examining the above sketched legend it will be found that the last
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