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BENDER: THE NALARAYADAVADANTĪCARITA
268
method by writing one stroke before the akşara and another above it. The kh-sound is represented by both the kh- and the s-akṣaras. The ș- and y-aksaras are used to indicate these phonemes in Sanskrit loanwords. There is no indication of the cerebral / or the bilabial spirant ƒ of Modern Gujarāti.
B and S paint out mistakes in the text with yellow. H does not write the upper line over an akṣara which is to be deleted. Once, in stanza 174, H indicates the akṣara to be deleted by writing two dots over it.
Omissions in the text of B, P, and S are marked by a cross at the place and the part omitted written in the right- or left-hand margin either parallel with the line or in the top or bottom margin in a line vertical with the place of omission-the part to be inserted being flanked by a cross on each side. Some of the corrections of B, P, and S seem to be in a hand different from that of the original scribe. H, in the few places, where a word or an akşara has been omitted in oversight, inserts it directly over its position in the line-the insertions having been made by the hand of the original scribe. H has no writing in the margins.
The character "2" is used to indicate the repetition of a word after which it is placed (e.g., suguruväni 2 (5), dini 2 (38), and narahiva 2 (292)). In stanzas 74 to 77 of H, P, and S, where the "2" is placed at the end of each line, it seems to indicate emphasis in reading. Compare B which writes "tu."
All the manuscripts have errors in the numbering of the stanzas. H, P, and S have five, four, and six errors, respectively, but in each case provision is made for the oversight. B has the greatest number of errors, originating from writing "31" for stanza 32, continuing thus through to 77 which it numbers "75" -and so on through 318. The discrepancies are not corrected until the next stanza (319) which is broken up into three stanzas: 317, 318, and 319. The halfand the full-lines are, for the most part, correctly marked. The names of the metres, the ragas, the numbers of the stanzas, the examples of the tune to be followed in reading, and the refrains (the last in abbreviation) are rubricated.
The benedictions at the beginning of each of the manuscripts vary. B has: "om. Praise to the gurus, Śri Pujyasūri and Śrī Pārsvacandrasūri." H has: "om. arham." P reads: "om. arham. Praise to the
holy Svami, Gotama."
The last stanza (322) comprises the first part of the colophon. All read: "The reverend Jayakirti, prince of sūris, head of the noble Añcala Gaccha, the ganadhara, the guru, through reverence to whom destruction is driven afar, his pupil, Rṣivardhana, with great delight composed in poetry the adventures of King Nala and Davadanti. . . ." At this point H varies from the others. B, P, and S read: ". . . at the end of the Samvat year 1512, while he was staying in the city of
7Numbers in parentheses refer to the stanzas in which an example occurs.
[TRANS. AMER. PHIL. SOC. Citrakuta, greatly honored by the sangha. He, who recites or causes to be recited this tale, into his house come success, prosperity, happiness and joy." H reads: "... in the Samvat year 1535. He, who causes to be recited this tale, into his house come success, prosperity, happiness and joy." All the manuscripts conclude the remainder of the colophon in Sanskrit. B reads: "Thus is completed the sacred tale of Nala and Davadanti. May there be prosperity." S reads: "Thus is the sacred tale of Nala and Davadanti completed." P and H read: "Thus is completed the sacred tale of Nala and Davadanti, composed by Śrī Rşivardhanasuri. Four-hundred and eighty-one (H has: four-hundred and seventy-five) are the slokas by count in the Prakrit tale, according to the reckoning by separate akṣaras." P concludes here. H continues: "End of book. 475. May there be good fortune."
2. THE STORY AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE
In this section there is compared and contrasted Old Gujarati manuscript, two other renditions: the with the story of Nala and Davadanti, as told in this one, Jain, appears as the last story of the Kathakośa,
the other is Brahmanical and is the well-known "Nala
episode" which is related in the Aranyaka Parvan of
the Mahabharata.10
versions are basically the same. They serve to illusExcept for minor details in treatment, the two Jain trate the characteristic Jain utilization and treatment for didactic purposes of familiar tales and motifs. discourses on the virtues of attachment to the precepts Interspersed throughout the narrative are encountered form of interruptions by the narrator to comment and of the Jain religion. These discourses either take the enlarge upon the implications of an incident that has taken place or is about to take place, or are placed in the mouths of characters taking part in the activities. The story as a whole can be considered a sermon on worthy conduct, as prescribed by the Jain religion, and the fruits of such conduct (e.g., their acts in previous existences determine the course of events in the lives of Nala and Davadanti, and in their subsequent rebirths). The versions differ in that where the Old Gujarati lists the episodes of the story in chronological order (i.e., starting first with Nala's existence as through the five following rebirths, in the last of which Mammana and Davadanti's as his queen, Viramati, they are Nala and Davadanti, and, finally, their incarnations as Dhanadadeva (= Kuvera) and his conincarnation for a frame-story and places the account sort) the Kathakośa employs the Nala-Davadanti
The city of Chitor in Udaipur, Rajputana. See Tod, 1914:
2: 605.
Tawney, 1895: 195-231. An English translation of a Sanskrit work with Prakrit verses. Its compiler is unknown.
10 The Mahabharata, critically edited by Vishnu S. Sukthankar. See References.
