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THE TALE OF THE ELEPHANT DRIVER IN ITS ĀVAŠYAKA VERSION
Adelheid Mette* University of Munich, W. Germany
The tale of the elephant driver (mintha) better known after its first and last part under the title of "The cunning woman with the anklet and the jackal”l was composed in Sanskrit slokas by Hemacandra in his Parisistaparvan (II 446-640). This version (written between 1159 and 1173 A D) was edited, translated, retold and compared with its parallels known till 1914 by H. JACOBI. J. HERTEL and J. J. MEYER.2
A condensed summary of its six parts should be good enough to recall the outlines of the story.
I: A young man falls in love with a married woman whom he caught sight of while she was bathing. By means of a semantic message which is transmitted by a wandering nun (parivrājikā) she calls him to a rendezvous.3
II: In the night of love the sleepers are discovered by the lady's fatherin-law who steals one of her anklets (nūpura) for evidence. But she succeeds in convincing her husband of her innocence and she is even able to deceive the yakşa through whose legs she has to pass as an ordeal.4
III: The deceived father-in-law can't sleep any more being so grieved by all that has happened. For this reason he is well fit to guard the king's harem by night Here he notices that one of the queens betrays the king with an elephant driver. While the old man, comforted by this event, regains his sleep, the adulteress discloses her identity when she unsuccessfully manoeuvres to conceal her fault to the inquiring king.5
IV: She and her lover succeed in avoiding penalty of death because of his skill in handling an elephant whom he is capable of turning back after standing on only one foot above an abyss. The lovers are sent in exile.
V: The queen betrays and leaves the elephant driver and runs off with a robber. The robber forsakes her at the shore of a river and leaves her taking all her goods with him. The elephant driver is taken as the robber and consequently condemned to death. After his death he becomes a vyāntara god.?
My English translation was supervised by Miss stud. phil Barbara Fraenkel.
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