________________
128
(7) The often-quoted incident of śikhāmocana (unfastening the tuft of the hair) is absent in the ĀvCū. Hemacandra has not included it in the main Sanskrit text but it is given as a foot-note by quoting one Sanskrit and one Prakrit verse. (8) Cāņakya's quest for a proper person to retaliate upon Nanda is mentioned briefly in the ĀvCū and Pari-P. It is not clear in both of the texts whether the daughter of the mayūraposaka of Nandas was pregnant due to Nandas or not. Candragupta's birth in the low-caste is told in a suggestive manner without any comment. (9) The fulfilment of the pregnancy-longings and the birth of Candragupta is described at length by Hemacandra. (8.230-8.239) (10) A number of episodes are documented in the Pari-P according to the ĀvCū uptill Candragupta becomes a sovereign king after the death of Parvataka. At this particular juncture, Hemacandra mentions the exact date of Candragupta's coronation in the following verse -
एवं च श्रीमहावीरमुक्तेर्वर्षशते गते ।
408400||2gfelch ArsTSH04: 11 (8.339) “Thus after 155 years after Mahāvīranirvāṇa, (i.e. 372 B.C.) Candragupta became the king.'
The exact date is not given in the ĀvCū and thus throws light on Hemacandra's sense towards historicity and provides important literary evidence for the date-fixation of Candragupta's coronation. Hemacandra's attitude towards chronology is really worthy of appreciation. (11) The incident of appointing a guard for the vigilance of Nanda's followers is same in the AvCū and Pari-P. (12) The episode of grāma-dāha is repeated with a slight elaboration. In the Niśītha-cūrņi it is presented as an example of ājñā-bhanga