Mahavira Jain Vidyalay Suvarna Mahotsav Granth Part 1

Author(s): Mahavir Jain Vidyalaya Mumbai
Publisher: Mahavir Jain Vidyalay

Page 700

THE POPULAR TALE OF CANDANA-MALAYAGIRI : 229
4. “ Candana Rājā Caupai."
(MS. B. V. B. 60) of Hiraviśāla-Sișya.
Date of Composition : V. S. 1620. 5. “Candana-Malayagiri-ni-Copãi".
(Of Pandita Ksema Harsa)
The last one is published but details regarding publishers, date of publiction etc. are not available. Date of composition is also not available.
Samala's version too, known as "Candana and Malayāgiri” is not a separate, self-contained composition but it is one of the stories (No. 8) of his story-cycle “Madāpacisi”, which in its turn is a part of his famous Vikrama-Cycle of legends called Simhasana Batrisi. In what follows, these different versions are compared from the point of view of their incidents and characters, which would incidentally also show, how the original Präkrit story fared in its later recountings.
DEVELOPMENT OF THE STORY: MODIFICATION OF INCIDENTS AND CHARACTERS
In the Naravikrama-story, his banishment was the direct result his killing of the king's favourite and auspicious elephant Jayakuñjara, while in Bhadrasena's “Candana-Malayāgiri-Värta" or “Caupai " the cause of the king (here, Candana) leaving his kingdom is altogether different. The calamitities that fell upon Candana are ascribed to the vagaries of Fate. One night Candana's family deityKula-Devatā'-warned him of his immediately impending calamities. So Candana left his kingdom instantly along with his wife and two sons, Sāyara and Nira.
The change found for the first time in Bhadrasena had come to stay and in the subsequent Jaina versions this initial episode is narrated practically in the same way.
In Śāmala Bhatta's story this initial story-motif receives a further modification and thereby it becomes dramatic. The warning to the king came in the mid-night, not in a dream but in reality. And the warning agency was not a dream-character, the Kula-Devata, but some mysterious voice actually heard. The voice spoke aloud :
“Shall I fall on you.......... When shall I fall on you-now or later?"
("Padū ?.... Padu?......" etc.)