Book Title: Nirgrantha-3
Author(s): M A Dhaky, Jitendra B Shah
Publisher: Shardaben Chimanbhai Educational Research Centre

Previous | Next

Page 70
________________ Vol. III, 1997-2002 The Text of.... 51 3. It is also significant that all the southern MSS. present the text of the MVC in diversified forms. C. R. Deodhar offers a plausible explanation for this phenomenon : "The fact that the Southern MSS. preserve the text only up to V. 46 while the Northern MSS. give the text to the end of act VII clearly supports the widely accepted tradition that the poet must have migrated from his native Vidarbha to the North before he had completed his MVC." So, the unfinished work which he completed in the North, gained currency in the South. 4. According to Todarmall, the oldest MS. Il continues beyond V 46 without any break and does not make any reference that the portion beyond V 46 up to the close of the act V is from a different author. Hence the authentic text extends up to the end of the Vth act. Now, the other MSS. in the Northern group also continue without any break beyond V 46 up to the end of the play. Out of these MSS., the MS. 12, though dated A. D. 1801; "Copied from originals belonging to the 17th century" 10 seems to be equally old. This MS. also does not break in the middle nor does it make any mention of an author different from Bhavabhūti and continues up to the end of the play. So, this MS. is entitled to some weightage in respect of the authenticity of the text. Uninterrupted continuity beyond V 46 is the characteristic of all the manuscripts in the Northern group. 5. Much stress need not be lent to the argument of contradiction by Todarmall. Laksmana is depicted to be casting aside the heap of bones of the demon Dundubhi in one MS. E of Todarmall. One more MS. No. 471 of the B.O. R.I. also, similarly attributes the act to Lakşmaņa. Bhavabhūti, then must not be held guilty on this count and deprived of the authorship of the last two acts of MVC as the tradition of the MSS, is not unanimous. As Deodhar points out, Murāri closely following Bhavabhūti, also attributes this act to Laksmana', 6. The difference in the use of Prāksta forms is also an argument not having “much probative value."12 Deodhar has very cogently refuted this argument on the following grounds : (1) The Prākstas are generally neglected in the MSS. (ii) The use of forms depends upon the age and provenance of the MSS. (iii) The variance noticed by Todarmall in the employment of the Prākrita forms is in fact not to be met with uniformly. (iv) The same peculiarities in the VI and the VII acts, persist in the MM and URC also. So, this cannot be made the ground to dispossess Bhavabhūti of his authorship of the last acts of the MVC. 7. Similarly, the metrical irregularity noticed by Todarmall is too minor to lead to any definite conclusion 8. Also, nothing much can be made of the absence of references to VI and VII acts of the MVC in the rhetorical works. Jain Education Intemational For Private & Personal Use Only www.jainelibrary.org

Loading...

Page Navigation
1 ... 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383 384 385 386 387 388 389 390 391 392 393 394 395 396