________________
INTRODUCTION
21
can be traces illustratithe source hing his nating the
tions can be traced' to PC. The conclusion is obvious that probably all the anonymous illustrations in SC. are taken from Svayambhu's own works. In their case, the source being quite obviously understood, he saw no propriety in attaching his name. This clearly proves common authorship for SC. and PC. Citing the stanza
Śri-Harso nipunah kavih etc. in SC. (I 144 a) and the reference to Śri-Harsa in RC. as making a present of nipunatva to Svayambhū supports the same conclusion. This invalidates several inferences of Velankar regarding Svayambhū and SC.
SC. is not very ambitious. Its expressed aim is to give in a nutshell the essential features of Pk. and Ap. prosody. In the closing stanza of each chapter the work is described as pañcaṁsasāra-hua 'the substance of the five Ganas'. The concluding stanza of Ch. III states: pāua-sāro parisamatto the choice matter of the Prakrit prosody has been treated.' The same remark is repeated at the opening of Ch. V.
they we Aksara atraganası urt
Its Prakrit Section
The Prakrit section of SC. presents several surprises for us. Though it is called Präkrtasára it does not treat in its available portion any of the genuine Pk. Mātrāvșttas . What is given in the Pk. section are the well-known Aksaravșttas of the Sanskrit prosody with their Sama (from the Uktā to the Utkrti class, the Sesa-vittas and the Daņdakas), Ardhasama and Vişama divisions. In the fragment of SC. preserved to us there is nothing corresponding to the fourth chapter of Hemacandra's Chandonusasana describing the Āryā, Galitaka, Khañjaka and Sīrşaka class of Pk. metres. What is still stranger, these so-called Pk. metres are defined as if they were Mātrāvsttas. They are defined, not by using the wellknown Akşaraganas (ya, ra, ta, etc.), but by using a special terminology of Mātrāgaņas, such as ta, taara, etc., for a Tri-mātra, ca, cagana, carsa for a Caturmätra and so on, with the particularization of the type of the Gana as required.
Moreover, as noted previously, Svayambhū, unlike Hemacandra, does not compose his own illustrations to support the metrical rules and definitions in Sc. He prefers to illustrate from the then available Pk. and Ap. literatures and in many a case the name of the author also is prefixed to the stanza cited. Thereby we come to know of a large number of Pk. and Ap. poets almost all of whom were so far quite unknown to us. It also gives us a gilmpse of the riches of Pk. and Ap. literature cultivated in and before Svayambhu's time.
Its Apa bhram is a Section
The Ap. section of SC. is important from several viewpoints. The sources for the study of Ap. prosody are considerably few and their usefulness is further diminished by their sketchy, incomplete or indiscriminately eclectic character. So far Hemacandra's
(1) Modi, 1940, 172, Prern, 1942, 383-384. This matter is dealt with further below. (2) 'Siri-Harisern niya-niunattanau'. Appendix I, passage 57, line 9 a.
Premi, 1942, 384. Summary of the contents, importance and other information concerning SC. will be found in the abovementioned articles of Velankar and in Premi, 1942. Velankar reproduces some of this information in the introduction to his edition of Rajasekhara's Chandassekhara, 1946, 1-14.
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
