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104
RELIGION AND CULTURE OF THE JAINS
cireņa rati-sambhoga-sambhūta-sveda-bhūșitau/ nişkrāntau kadali-gehāt=tau raktākta-vilocanaul The same chapter also contains the following sloka (verse 153) : rahasya-ksta-vakşasă ghana-payodhar-otpidana
cucumba sa-kaca-graham jaghanam=ājaghān=adharam/ dadaṁsa nr varo varah sa-nakha-pâtamasyā
vadhür = viveda madan-āturā na ca tathāvidham bādhanam'/
His description of the beauty of queen Marudevi (Ch.8) or his delineation of the autumn (16.22ff.) also proves his worth as a poet. Sometimes, like Kālidāsa, he can be devastatingly romantic, as for example, in the description of the longing of king Sumukha of Kauśämbi (14.32ff.) for the wife of a merchant called Vanamālā.16 Here for the first time, the poet Jinasena gets the upper hand over the Jain disciplinarian Jinasena. He not only makes Sumukha a successful lover of a parastrī, but even allows him to marry her. It is something which even liberal Jains will look upon as outrageous and can only be described by a poet like Somadeva. · But since this Sumukha is an admirer of the Jains, all his sins are readily forgiven and forgotten !
Our poet has sometimes deliberately distorted epic or Purāṇic accounts or has given a new version. As for example, in Jinasena's account, Kicaka is punished and not killed by Bhima. The former, we are told, after his defeat by Bhima, turned into a Jain ascetic (56.37 ff.). Jarāsandha's killer, according to Jinasena II, was Krsna and not Bhima (59. 80 ff.). Draupadi's svayaṁvara is mentioned ; but she is represented as the daughter of the king of Mākandi, and instead of Jayadratha, her kidnapper here is a demon named Padmanābha (Ch. 54). She is ultimately rescued not by Bhima, but by Krşņa himself. The latter, however, is represented as having become disgusted with the Pāndavas in the long run. Because of Kșsņa's opposition, the Pāņdavas were forced to leave Hastināpura and had to settle in Mathurā of the South
16 A few such stories are found in the Kathāsaritsāgara,
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