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NARRATIVE TALE IN JAIN LITERATURE
XXIII
THE STORY OF BHAVISATTA
as told by Dhanapala in his Bhavisatta-kahā.
The main theme of the poem is a fairy-tale, the hero of which, Bhavisatta, experiences strange adventures. Deserted upon a lonely island by his treacherous stepbrother, he comes to a deserted city discovers a princess with the help of a god, marries her, and they live joyfully for 12 years. Bhavisatta is home-sick, and one day the ship of the wicked step-brother lands again on the island. Bhavisatta wishes to return to his home with his wife, but is again outwitted by the step-brother, who carries off his wife, but leaves Bhavisatta himself on the island. With the help of a Yakṣa he is, however, brought home on the chariot of a god in the nick of time, and is reunited with his wife who has remained faithful to him throughout. In Part II fights after the manner of the Mahabharata and the Rāmāyaṇa are described, whilst in Part III the preliminary stories of the principal characters in their former births are told.
XXIV
THE STORY OF MARIDATTA
The content of the Yasastilaka by Somadeva Sūri
113
King Maridatta has ascended the throne at an early age and is entirely given up to sensual pleasures. At the advice of his family priest he prepares to offer a great sacrifice to his family goddess Candamaridevatā, consisting of a pair of every living creature, including human beings. Māridatta himself is to perform the sacrifice. Then the servants drag in a youth and a maiden, a pair of ascetics whom they have selcted for the human sacrifice. At the sight of them a change comes over the king. It occurs to him that these might be the twin children of his own sister, who were said to have renounced the world and joined the Jaina community. He asks these two to tell him their
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