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PREFACE
135
The Ms. is about 570 years old, being written in Samvat 1445 [-57=), i.e., 1388 A.D.
It is interesting to compare C, P and B mutually. In many places P and B agree between themselves as against C in their readings, but in having or not having samdhi and in putting the dandas they do not agree. Now and then B gives some independent readings; marginal glosses are its speciality; and in one place at least it is B alone that supplies a line which is not found in any other Ms. Pshows blank space in some places where C makes additions in square brackets. May be that P preserves some older readings than those of B, but B has its independence in many crucial contexts; and as such, it has proved useful in building the critical text.
The text is presented here according to some uniform standards of editorial discipline. The main features of the excellent edition of Muni Śrī Chaturavijaya, called C here, are basically adopted. In the Mss. there is no uniformity in the numbering of verses; and their being numbered in groups does not serve any useful purpose for reference. So, in this edition, the verses are continuously numbered in each chapter; besides, lines are numbered on every page and paragraphs are marked out for practical convenience. All this will be useful for referential purpose. One can refer to the Prastāva and paragraph or verse as required, or the page and line. Most of the gaps in C are filled after collating the two new Mss. Only one line is left blank on p. *61; and even there I am wondering whether the author did have three lines in an anuştubh unit. It will be seen that a better and more authentic text is presented in this edition by collating the Mss. P and B, the latter genuinely of an independent tradition. The various readings are selective; and if their number is more, it is only to help the critical reader to judge for himself the basic readings from which the deviations might have originated.
With the publication of the Kuvalayamālā of Uddyotanasūri (Singhi Jaina Series, No. 45), greater interest is sure to be taken by scholars in this important religious romance in Prākrit. The stylistic digest of it in Sanskrit by Ratnaprabhasūri obviously serves as a companion volume for its thorough study. The excellent edition of this digest by the late lamented Muni Shri Chaturavijayaji, however, is long out of print. Muni Jinavijayaji suggested, therefore, that it might be republished along with the text of the Kuvalayamālā. So a critical edition of this Sanskrit text is presented here after collating some new and independent Mss. It is hoped that this Sanskrit text, presented along with its source, would prove helpful in studying the Prākrit Campū of Uddyotanasūri. Some of the problems connected with this Sanskrit digest, namely, how far it is a summary of the original work, whether it has got any additional
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