Book Title: Some Jain Versions of Act of Truth Theme
Author(s): Paul Dundas
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________________ 334 Paul Dundas Jambu-jyoti The equivalent passage in the critical edition of the Ramayana 7.88. 10, prior to Sita's rescue by the goddess of the earth, is comparatively abrupt and does not employ the word satya : yathaham Raghavad anyam manasa pi na cintaye | tatha me Madhavi devi vivaram datur arhati || However, the apparatus gives a variant somewhat similar in shape to Ravisena's version : manasa karmana vaca yatha Ramam samarthaye yathaitat satyam uktam me vedmi Ramat param na ca || According to Sohnen-Thieme, op. cit. p. 241, there are no real attestations of an act of truth in the original main stories of both epics, however often the motif occurs in subordinate tales and legends : "Sita's satyakriya, which she uses to disappear forever, is a quite pessimistic and unheard of use of the "truth act", perhaps reflecting the lateness of book seven of the Ramayana." 24. See Franklin Edgerton, The Panchatantra : Volume 1. Text and Critical Apparatus, New Haven : American Oriental Society 1924. Patrick Olivelle, The Pancatantra : The Book of India's Folk Wisdom, Oxford / New York: Oxford University Press 1997 is a recent translation of Edgerton's reconstructed text. The bibliography of this book should be consulted for the scholarly literature voicing scepticism concerning Edgerton's methodology. For the problems entailed in the reconstruction of another narrative text, see Donald Nelson, "Brhatkatha Studies : The Problem of an Ur-text", Journal of Asian Studies 37 1978, pp. 663-76. . 25. See Johannes Hertel, The Panchatantra: A Collection of Hindu Tales in the Recension, called Panchakhyanaka, and dated 1199 A. D., of the Jaina Monk, Purnabhadra, Harvard Oriental Series Vol. 11, Cambridge, Mass : Harvard University 1908. For a recent English version of Purnabhadra's recension, see Visnu Sarma : The Pancarantra, translated by Chandra Rajan, Penguin Books 1993. 26. See Edgerton op. cit. p. 55 : are papa ko mam mahasatim virupayituin samarthah. srnvantu me lokapalah. yady aham kaumaram bhartaram muktva n'anyam parapurusar manasa \pi vedmi, tad anena satyena 'vyangam mukham astu. 27. Harry Falk, Quellen des Pancatantra, Wiesbaden : Otto Harrassowitz 1978. 28. Hertel's edition, p. 30 (punctuation added) : "tad yadi mama satitvam asti, tad ete deva bhuyo 'pi tadrgrupam nasikam kurvantu. atha va manasapi parapuruso 'bhilasitah, tan mam bhasmasan nayantu" iti. evam uktva bhuyo 'pi tam aha, "bho duratman, pasya, me satitvaprabhavena tadrg eva nasika samjata". 000 Jain Education International For Private & Personal Use Only www.jainelibrary.org
