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Prakrit and Apabhramsa Studies
to the customary. In the place of Gardabha's kidnapping her to satisfy his incestuous love, she is here secretly kidnapped by the crafty and ambitious minister, because of the astrologer's prediction that whoever becomes her husband, will be a sovereign king.
Moreover, there is an additional character, viz. king Yava's sister's son named Bhaddalaya.10 As a monk had predicted that Bhaddalaya would be Adoliā's husband, Yava wanted to hand over kingship to him, but the monk told him that prior to Bhaddalaya, Gardabha was destined for kingship. Thereupon Yava crowned Gardabha as the king to succeed him, and entrusting the latter along with Aļoliyā to the care of his minister, he himself became a monk. In the BKS commentary version Yava gives up kingship because he becomes disgusted with his son's misbehaviour, but due to deep love, and painful anxiety for his children, he fails in his efforts to memorize the sacred texts. On the other hand, in Amradeva's version, this failure is attributed simply to his old age. So he has to do with reciting only the namaskāra formula. Again according to the BKS commentary it is his worry about Gardabha that makes him visit his old seat of kingdom frequently. But in the AMK version, Yava's spiritual teacher sends him to his earstwhile capital, with the foreknowledge that it will be beneficial to Gardabha. Further, according to the latter version, incited by the minister who was greatly perturbed at Yava's visit, Gardabya, accompanied by Bhaddalaya, clandestinely approaches Yava in order to kill him, but reading his own sense in the verse recited by the latter, be returns to his palace, imprisons the minister and recovers his sister. He punishes the minister and marries his sister to Bhaddalaya, crowning the latter as the king to take his place. He then renounces the world. The tale is summed up with the observation that as the recitation of the namaskāra formula benelited Yava and the others connected with him, so it can be beneficial to all. But this is followed by one more verse. It is given as a citation. It is in Anuştubha metre as against the preceding gāthās, indicating that it is borrowed from some earlier version of the tale. It means : Even something that seems at random and
