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Repetition in Jaina narrative literature
37
adhyayana introductions.) We have marked in figs. 1-2 the lines with the varga introductions (11. 5, 37, 40, etc.) with a single asterisk (see the panels), anl the line with the introduction to Ant. (1. 3) with a double asterisk. The jai-phrase for Ant. is preceded by a stereotype introduction, the so-called « Ajja Suhamma frame »: Sudharman — fifth ganadhara and spiritual successor of Mahāvīra – stays near the city of Campā. There he is questioned by his disciple and spiritual successor Jambū about the work to be narrated (Jñātrdharmakathāh, Antakrddaśāh, etc.) 26. In his translation, L. D. Barnett has supplied the varnakas for the initial portion of the frame (sources in this case not given in our conspectus). The concluding portion of the frame is found in lines 578-579. This contains one varnaka which is found on p. 11 of the translation. The colophon (lines 579-582) gives the adhyayana totals for the eight vargas found in Ant. — but there is a minor discrepancy between the extant text and the colophon: varga II has 8 adhyayanas in the text and 10 according to the colophon. Besides that, the colophon uses the term uddeśaka instead of adhyayana.
Varga VIII (10 heroines) employs the patterning of hero-variation for the exposition of ten different modes of fasting. Thus the variation units are more substantial than in the previous cases. We have therefore given the names of the heroines (Sukālī, Mahäkälī, etc. besides Kālī or no. 1). Otherwise we mentioned the names only in the case of the narrative units (see the list in § 6 and the conspectus). The numbers for adhyayanas VIII, 2-10 have been added.
A few proper names (in quotation-marks) have been given in their original Prakrit form.
§ 9. The Universal History
Literature on the Universal History is different from Varga Literature in so far as the latter potentially carries possibilities of endless variations whereas the former is concerned with a definite mythological subject, the history of the sixty-three great men. However, in terms of complexity and quantity we can hardly compare one with the other. The Universal History produced a literature in its own right whereas our so-called « Varga Literature » is a very limited development.
Both literary genres demonstrate systematic forms of narrative repetition. Whe shall, however, not start by mentioning the points of contact. We shall first of all describe the Universal History as a mythological theme which underlies various literary works (S$ 9-10). In the five sections that follow (88 11-15) we shall try to analyze some of the more important Svetāmbara works with reference to the UH.
26. A. WEBER, Uber das Catrunjaya Māhātmyam (Leipzig, 1958), pp. 4-5. A. WEBER, Ind. Stud., 16, pp. 306-7. SCHUBRING, Worte, p. 8. SCHUBRING, Doctrine, ş 22, DELEU, Nir., pp. 78-9. PPN I, p. 270.
