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A CRITICAL STUDY
The characters introduced by Haribhadra are not altogether imaginary; but, in fact, most of them are well-known figures in Indian popular tale and picaresque literature. Mülasri or Müladeva' is a famous character as a Jack of all trades given to gambling and attached to courtezan Devadatta. It appears that he had alternative names such as Karpisuta, Mülabhadra and Kalanikura. Even a treatise on theft or erotics is attributed to him by tradition. Certainly he is an old figure. Haribhadra himself quotes a Präkrit story in his commea. tary on the Daśavaikālika-sūtra (p. 57 f.) in which Müladeva figures as a tricky rogue. The Avantisundarikatha (veres 7) mentions him; Bāna also, in his Kadambari, refers to him with his friend Sasa; and both of them are introduced (with Devadatta) in the Padmaprabhṛtaka. He figures as a typical hero in the Kalavilasa of Kşemendra. The Kathasaritsägara also gives his story, and ho is associated with the court of Vikramaditya. We get a Jaina edition of the tale of Müladeva and Devadatta quoted in Devendra's commentary on the Uttaradhyayana'. Thus Müladeva appears to have reached the status of a popular hero typifying all that is tricky and roguish. The name Kamdariya is met with in the Ardhamägadhi canon"; he is not a rogue, but a worldlycomfort-seeking character destined to go to hell. Jaina stories mention names like Ilaputra and Agaḍhabhüti; and according to the Abhidhana-Rajendra, Elagadha is a famous rogue from Avanti referred to in the Nisitha-cürņi. Sasa, as noted above, appears to have been a close associate of Müladeva. We do not know anything about Khamḍavänä from other sources: her name has a popular ring and baffles Sanskritic etymology. Though most of the characters are already known, there is very little of characterization in the Dhürtäkhyāna. It is only Khanḍapānā, with her coarseness and sharp intellect, that is a bit individualized. She is a good combination of a woman and a rogue. She is intelligent, hypocritical, scheming and witty; her success in getting the wealth from the merchant is quite worthy of her nature and trade; without any difference of opinion she becomes the President of Rogues; and she smashes the vanity and satisfies the appetite of her colleagues by a well-earned and sumptuous feast. One wishes that Haribhadra spent more labour and greater insight in making the characters and stories more individualistic as has been done by Chaucer in his immortal Canterbury Tales.
1 On Maladeva see Dr. De's paper on the Bhana, JRAS, 1926; Avantisundarikatha, Madras 1924; Kavyamala I, p. 36, foot-note 1; Caturbhäpi, Intro. p. ii; Maladeva's story from Devendra's commentary on the Uttaradhyayana is edited by Jacobi in his Ausgewählte Erzählugen in Mähäräştri, Leipzig 1886; its English translation Hindu Tales' by Meyer, London 1909; also Prakrtakathaeamgraha by Jinavijayaji, Ahmedabad. A paper 'The Character and Adventure of Maladeva' by M. Bloomfield has appeared in the Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, vol. 52, 1913, pp. 616-650; but it has not been accessible to me.
3 Set-Uttaradhyayanant, Bombay 1937.
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3 Nayadhammakabão, I, 19.
This work is not accessible to me, and it is neccessary to see what details are given by the Orol.
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