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10. GALA-SRI-VARDDHAMANASURI-PRABANDHA
The matter of this prabandha is not traced anywhere else.
CONCLUSION:
The fore-going comparative study leads us to the following conclusions:
(I) Out of the ten prabandhas of LPS four viz. those of Sahasralinga saraḥ, Namala-malini, Kumarirana and Gālāśrivarddhamana sūri are unique inasmuch as they are not traced anywhere else.
(2) One prabandha viz. that of Jagaddeva has very few details of a minor incident and a few epithets common with another Prabandha-work.
(3) Two small portions of another one viz. the Ganaya-manaya-indrajäli-prabandha are found in two different works, one having mostly the same wording in changed order and another a very brief account.
(4) Different versions of three prabandhas viz. those of bhrama-mahārāja, the Raulānis Siddhi and Buddhi and Śrimātā appear in one or more of the standard Prabandha-works.
(5) As many as eight other versions of the remaining one viz. Vikramaditya-pañcadanda cchatra-prabandha are available in Sanskrit and several others in Prakrit and some of the modern Indian languages.
Madana
(6) The archaic, simple and direct nature of the language and style of the present text shows that its versions of the different prabandhas are the earliest ones-which factor enhances the importance of LPS all the more.
VI. Probable Sources
The fore-going discussions have revealed the fact that the prabandha versions of the present text are the earliest among the ones available at present. Thus it is not possible to find out any literary sources for any of the prabandhas of LPS. In all probability the floating literature, the oral traditions, the popular folk-tales may rightly be regarded as the real sources of the stories of these prabandhas.
Jain Education International
It may also be noted that the LPS, though containing the earliest available versions of the stories concerned, can in no way be considered as a sourcebook for the later writers, because its versions are mostly succinct and certain important details given therein are absent in these later works, which, at the same time, present such other details as are absent in LPS.
II
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