Mahavira Jain Vidyalay Suvarna Mahotsav Granth Part 1

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

Page 701

230 : SHRI MAHAVIRA JAINA VIDYALAYA GOLDEN JUBILEE VOLUME
The king in turn asked it to fall immediately. He wanted to brave it now, rather than to face it in his old age.
The adverse fate does strike him. The king is defeated by a neighbouring King Pundarika and he has to run away with his wife and two sons. The calamities also were lying in wait.
Now we can trace the roots of this motif in the PrabandhaCintamani of Merutunga (13th cent.) in its 'Suvarna-Purusa Siddhi Prabandha' which forms a section of the Vikramärka Prabandha (Chapters 3-7, First Ullāsa). In the "Suvarna-Purusa Siddhi. Prabandha' it is related that a wealthy merchant built a palace for himself. He spent a good deal of amount in its construction. During the construction and at the time of occupying his new building, he performed all the required religious rites. Yet on the very first night of occupation he was terribly frightened by a mysterious voice telling him “I am falling!". The wealthy merchant requested the unknown voice not to fall on him and ran away, that very moment, from his newly built mansion. Next day he told this story to King Vikrama, who after carefully hearing his plight purchased his house outright and went to sleep in it that very night. He also heard the same voice : “I am falling!".
The brave king told the Voice' to fall immediately. At that very moment a Golden statue'- Suvarna-Puruśa', the fruit of constructing the building in keeping with all the auspicious Muhurtas and rites-fell. Thus the great king Vikrama got the title "SuvarnaPurusa", which always became whole, notwithstanding cutting it out in slices.
There is another point also in which Śāmala's version differs from all of the earlier versions. The sea-trader Dehilla, of Gunacandra, Bhadrasena and others, is substituted in Sāmala by a land-routetrader--a Vanjārā, called Narapat-and as compared to Dehilla he is depicted a better man.
A Vanjārā is a well-known and familiar figure in the Gujarati folk-tales. He also appears in several other stories of śāmala mostly by the proper name Lākhā Vanjārā. He is a representative of the Vanjārā community-a very efficient merchant, very rich, and one who travels from place to place all over the country. He is generally a good man ready to perform benevolent deeds for the people. In Gujarat we find many wells, Vāvas', tanks and ponds associated with