Jain Journal 1991 01

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 21

The Story of Carudatta
[ The story of Cārudatta with special reference to Jain literature ]
Hampa Nagarajaiah
Students of ancient Indian narrative literature would find the story of Cărudatta (CD), a saga of stainless love, most enchanting and alluring. Unfortunately, neither its significance nor its magnitude has been properly assessed in the scholarly world. CD's story, which has occupied such a prominent place in the Indian story literature, has historical, social and religious merits. Origin and development of this story is so ancient that it stands unquestioned. As a matter of fact, this story attracted writers by the end of B.C.
Before proceeding with a detailed and critical analysis of this story, I would like to draw and focus the attention of scholars to the two Appendices of this paper wherein I have epitomised the quintessence of this story in non Jain tradition (Appendix A) and in the Jain tradition (Appendix B). This story does not appear either in Mahābhārata or Rāmāyana, the two great Epics of India. Bhāsa and Śūdraka are the early writers to record this story. Both of them might have borrowed the theme from Guņādhya's Brhatkathā (GBK), or from a different source, may be from an oral (folk) tradition, because it is possible that this story might have entered the classical literature from folk tradition, through GBK on one side and through Bhasa-Sūdraka on the other. According to the available data, this story appears first in GBK, a Prakrit work assigned to the 1st century A.D. GBK, which has not safely come down to us, has been reconstructed, on the basis of other later works in Sanskrit and Prakrit, for which GBK is supposed to be the source (see Appendix C). It is possible that GBK, the earliest of works giving this stroy, itself incorporated it from its contemporary folk-literature.
The love episode of CD and Vasantasena, their loyalty to each other, particularly an unique instance of a prostitute turning out to be