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A CRITICAL STUDY
49
The points of similarity, already noted above, do indicate that Jayarāma must have used the Dhurtākhyāna of Haribhadra or some subsequent recension of it. The agreement is of a fundamental character and cannot be brushed aside as accidental or incidental. The illustrative sub-stories and the tales of four fools, included in Dp., show that some other popular stories have been intelligently used. Haribhadra by liis satirical genius of a very high order merely smashed the structure of Purānic mythology, but the authors of Dp, have gone a few steps ahead that they tried to erect instead a superstructure of Jaina religious preaching. The artistic mould of Dhū. is missed; but a form of effective propaganda has been evolved, and it became much popular in subsequent centuries as indicated by the number of Dp. texts in different languages'. It is quite natural that Amitagati, or even his predecessors, utilised different and additional Purānic legends for the same purpose. The Dp. texts are stamped with a definite religious Lias: perhaps that prohibited them from admitting a character like Klandapānā, and on that account some of the fantastic tales are toned down, in some cases being followed by a few Purāņic legends. It is interesting to note that sometimes Amitagati, though he is a full-fledged propagandist, writes in a half-serious, mocking mood, even when he introduces a Digambara monk (Dp. XII, 88 f.). That is a befitting tone for 8 satirical writer. The Dhurtākhyāna of Haribhadra, we have seen, is a unique satire; and its successors like the Dharma-parikşā are a fine specimen of Indian. literature which is both interesting and instructive. The caustic prick, which such works might have given to the zealous followers of Purāņic religion, has not much effect on the dispassionate student of Indian literature: for him every novel aspect adds to the wealth of the great literary heritage of the past.
7. Prākrit Dialect and Style of Dhūrtākhyāna
The Prākrit text of Dhūrtākhyāna, presented in this edition, is based only on two mss.; and still one is faced with difficulties, here and there, in construing and interpreting it satisfactorily. It is, therefore, far from being final; and any attempt to prepare an exhaustive grammar of it is out of question at present. It is intended here just to note a few salient features of the Prākrit dialect of Dhū., as it stands in this edition.
It has been a recognised convention with the editors of Ardhamāgadhi and Jaina Mābārăştri texts to use almost uniformly initial n and non-initial n;
1 My friend Prof. D. L. Narasimhachar, Mysore, draws my attention to one more Dp.
(in addition to those which I have mentioned in my paper on Harişena's Dp.) in Kannada by Candrasăgara Varņi. He has seen a M3., and has kindly sent some extracts to mo. We learn the following details from them: The Dp. of. Vịttavilága, the pupil of Rävala Yatiśvara, could be understood only by the learned; so the Sråvakas of Belugula requested Carukirti Papditācārya to get propered a rendering of it in modern Kannada (Kannada-vyākhyānadalli mäd isi kodiemba dāgi). This thon, at the instance of Cárukirti, came to be composed by Candranagara who offers salutation to both Cárukirti and [Lakşmisena) Svami of Kolhapur. It is written in simple Kannada, mostly in prose. Following Vịttavilăsa's Dp. it has ten chapters. It is said to be written in Saka 1770 (+46 1848 A.D.), Ananda Samvatsara.
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