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INTRODUCTION
47
duce some gäthäs, is really speaking one continuous composition ; and the division of Paricchedas is both artificial and superficial. It comes exactly after 250 verses, i. e., 248 verses of the story and two colophonic gāthās; it is a conscious vivisection without minding whether the topic on hand can stop there or not, and it is more a hindrance than a help to the reader. Then in Apabhramsa works the basic metrical constituents are the Kadavakas; and very often the division into Paricchedas or Samdhis does not appear quite natural. Thus it is not unlikely that the popular poems, in the form of Kathās in Präkrit and Apabhramsa, were sometimes written in a continuous form; and if some learned authors introduced divisions, it was in imitation of Sanskrit models. So the absence of sections in Lilavati is in conformity with either the definition of Katha or the general form of popular works in Prakrit.
The structure of story in the Lilāvatī is sufficiently complex. Herein the main narrative embodies sub-narratives given by the characters themselves; and in this respect it resembles the plot of Bana's Kādambari. The poet himself is the chief narrator; and after the Introductory section, he is addressing the entire poem (43—1333) to his beloved at her explicit request that is why the terms like Kuvalaya-dalacchi etc., in the voc., occur all over the text, even in the sub-narratives. The description of the spring and the courtezan Candralekhā not only enables the author to equip the poem with some scenes of amorous flavour but also gives him an occasion to pick up the thread of the story proper by reminding the king of his military expidition and by bringing back Vijayānanda who thereafter be comes the narrator of his experience (146–920). When he meets Mahā. numati and Kavalayävali, the latter narrates their biography (273-887) including what she once told about herself to Mahānumati (580—662) and what she learnt about Lilāvati (102–868). Thus the chief characters or their companions are made to unfold various details about themselves, thus supplying the reader, stage after stage, with various threads of the story which get duly joined in the concluding portion of the poem. This Katha, in this manner, pools together the autobiographies and biographies of the characters and assumes a complex shape with the necessary links to connect the various parts and with requisite descriptions, conversations and reflections to embellish the composition, to heighten the occassional sentiEment and to sustain the interest and enrich the flavour. The Ring and the
Necklace play a remarkable part; and if the king is sent to the Pātāla or is made to fight against Bhisanānana, it is all for the purpose of bringing together the various threads of the story to a culmination and to the com
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