________________
232
Prakrit and Apabhramśa Studies
liar with the Sc. of DV, CM, BK and UVD as is clear from parallels in minor details, but as a whole it abridges the narrative in some points and adds on its own the sections on the purușalakṣaṇa, strilakṣana and rogalakṣaṇa. The MC version of the Sc., is little more than a verse recast of the CM version, and the NC version is poetic reworking of the same. The TŚ account in its C section is based on the UVD version (and through that on the CM version). The story of Sanatkumāra from his birth to the point when he attained the status of a Cakravartin constitutes section B of the Sc., in its full form. This section is absent from VH, as also from UP and the most of the Digambara versions. It appears for the first time, so far as we know, in UV and this is also a surmise made on the basis of what we find in the DV outline, as UV is lost to us. Our earliest available source for a detailed account of section B is CM. UVD takes this over in toto, adding to it a few details from some other source. It is drastically abridged by AKV. MC gives us a verse recast of the CM version and uses it in NC for a poetic working over. TŚ uses CM and also some other sources. Consistent with its uniform plan it shifts to the beginning the account of the previous lives of Sanatkumāra which in UV figured in the midst of Section B. We may note here one quite significant detail that throws light on the relationship and mutual influence of various Sanatkumāra-carita versions. The name of Sanatkumara's father was Anantavirya according to UP, Aśvasena (Asasena) according to VH, UVD, MC, NC and and TS and Viśvasena (Visaseņa) according to BK, CM, AKV and UD. In this matter (and similarly in several other details) the Śvetambara and Digambara versions of the Sc., cross each other.
The remaining section of the Sc., the Section A, seems to be the latest addition. It deals with the previous births of Sanatkumara. The account is absent from VH, UP, MP, BK and KK. It seems to have appeared for the first time in UV. But CM just touches it in a couple of verses. The earliest available detailed treatment is in UVD. In keeping with its casual approach to the narrative content of the Sanatkumara-carita, AKV altogether omits
