________________
Comparative study of the traditions ..
111
heard the story of Jambu proper. The curiosity is kept alive through the story of Vidyunmali and thus, through it, about other birth also to a very little extent.
The narrative relating to Prasannacandra and Dharmaruci which is found in these works, has no bearing on the central theme-the story of Jaibu.
It is clearly obvious that the stories of sivakumāra-Sāgardatta, Bhavadeva-Bhavadatta, look like super-imposed because the desire of knowing more about Jambu's previous lives takes leave after having known about his present life. In other words it appears that there is no appreciable cannection between the stories of the five births and that, on the contrary, they have been taken from different sources and and have been somehow or other fitted in with the brief and main story of Jambu.
In both the works, the order also is not uniform. In Vasudevahiņdi, first comes Jambu, then Vidyunmāli, then Bhavadatta-Bhavadeva, and ultimately having said the stories of Sāgardatta-Śivakumara, the connection between Jambu and Vidyunmāli is shown. In Uttarapuräna, the order is even more strange. First comes god Vidyunmāli, then follows the account of Jambu's life after this the account of sivakumāraSagardatta's life as a previous birth of Vidyunmāli and in this very birth the narrative of the previous life of Bhavadatta-Bhavadeva is told through the mouth of Sāgardatta. Thus some looseness in the story is evident and on account of this the reader's interest suffers.
In Uttarapurāņa, Bhavadeva is enlightened, not by deserted wife but by the nun. This is a flaw.
No account of the previous lives of eight or four brides of Jambu is given.
No relationship between Sudharama and Jambu pertaining to their previous lives is shown. Nothing more is found besides the relationship existing between an elder and a younger brother in the birth of Bhavadatta-Bhavadeva as besides the accedental love due to association in the previons birth and the resulting recollection of previous lives.
The authors of the above mentioned two works, Vasudevahiņdi and Uttarapurana, have not seen to it that the nature of Jambu as a hero most be clearly brought out. They have seized no opportunity to do this.
Thinking over all these above points it becomes very clear that there is no inseparable link between the main story and the intervening stories in the other. Therefore, all these-the main story and the sub-stories taken together do not deserve to be called a coherent, well-designed and well-executed, biography of Jambu but they have been utilized with the only purpose of telling some story. At best, they are like short tales found together in a book.
One very import historical fact is available in these works, namely the absence of any sign pointing to the schism between the two sects, Svetāmbara and Digambara, so far as pure literature, not the canonical, is concerned. This has additional proof also in Vimalsūri's Paumacariyam and Jinasena's Padmapurāņa representing Svetāmbara line of thought and Digambara respectively.
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
