________________
115
11.
12.
Vimalasūri,83 Ravisena84 and Svayambhudeva85 all refer to Ravana's acquisition of the Bahurupiņi Vidyā. Neither Gunabhadra nor Puspadanta refer to this episode. Nevertheless Puspadanta uses the word "bahurūviṇī" on numerous occasions in connection with Rāvaṇa's ability to change his appearance. This is probably a borrowing from any of the three poets in Vimalasūri's tradition.
In Gunabhadra's version of the Rama-story, the mourning of Rāvana's loved ones is referred to in only one verse. 86 Puspadanta on the other hand describes Ravana's wailing loved ones in about nine kaḍāvaka's. Both Vimalasūri's 87 and Ravisena's88 account of this episode is quite extensive. Nevertheless, given the similarities in wording concerning this episode, one can safely assume that Svayambhudeva's Paūmacariu89 was Puspadanta's source for these passages. The passages surrounding the war in Lanka take up fifty-five kaḍāvaka's in the Mahāpurāṇa, making it proportionally almost twice as long as the corresponding passages in the Uttarapurāṇa.90 Since these episodes also contain a large number of verbal agreements, especially concerning the structures of the individual kaḍāvaka's, to the Paūmacariu, these extents are probably due to influence from Svayambhudeva.
Two of the apparent similarities indicated by Chandra, are not indubitably due to a borrowing (no. 4 & 5). The majority of the other similarities can be assigned to borrowings from either of the oldest poems in the tradition of Vimalasūri (no. 2, 6, 8, 9, 10 & 11). One of the similarities is either borrowed from Vimalasūri or Raviṣeņa (no. 7) and another one either from Ravişeṇa or Svayambhudeva (no. 1). Only three similarities are definitely due to direct borrowing from Svayambhudeva's Paūmacariu (no. 3, 7 & 12). However, considering Puspadanta's statement in his introductory kaḍāvaka to the Rama-story and given the fact that there are some striking similarities in wording between the Mahāpurāṇa and the Paūmacariu, it is probable that most of the similarities which could be due to borrowing from any of the three poets, were in fact borrowed from Svayambhudeva himself.
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
