________________
150
abruptly brushes aside all the worldly attachments. He considers all the wealth, relation's etc. as futile objects and observes celibacy. As a recluse, he sojourns with a saint, Bhadrabāhu, his Guru. Kośā, his devoted consort, in utter despair requests him to remain with her. She tries to lure him by narrating the charms and the pleasures of life. She suggests him to stay in his own capital, with a very nice pleasure hill and a temple built by his predecessors with great labour and carry on with his worship there. But by dint of his forceful arguments and his noble character Sthūlabhadra at last moulds Kośã to accept the path of Emancipation. Ultimately, she also renounces the world. śīladūtam is not a Dūtakāvya, proper, though it bears a name similar to that. The utilisation of the foot of the Meghadūta probably led to its being called Dūtakāvya. It lacks the messenger, who is sent by one person to another. Pub. Text, Yaśovijaya Jaina Granthamālā, S. No. 18, Varanasi 1909 // Text with Hindi trans, and introduction by Sadhvi Pramoda Kumari & Pt. Viśvanātha Pathak, Pārsvanātha Vidyāpītha (S. No. 69) Varanasi 1993, p. 42.// Šiladūtas: Eka Samālocanātmaka Adhyayana (Ph.D. Thesis) by Ravindra Kumar (P.V. Varanasi) 1995./ / Mns. Buhler II, No. 316, Pra No. 834.
Pavanadūta by Bhattāraka Vādicandra (c 17 cent. AD), pupil of Prabhācandra, pupil of Jñānabhūsana Mülasangha, contains 101 verses in Mandākrāntā metre. It differs from usual style of Dutakavyas, as it lacks the depiction of the route. On the abduction of his queen Tārā by another king Khecara or Khagapati, King Vijaya of Ujjayini, bursts into tear and requests the pavana (wind) to convey his message to her. Thereafter he tells the wind the charms of travels although the names of the place enroute are not described. The messenger has to pass through the woods, the mountains, the rivers etc. The wind is requested not to put off the lamps at that moment when the Khecaras are busy in their sexual merry making, for they would like to see the naked bodies of their consorts. The lover is busy in brooding over the departure till at last the wind reaches the beloved who is busy in meditation of Jina. After reaching the abductor, the wind suggested him that the consequences of abducting another's wife are not well. The mother of the abducting king intervenes just when he is trying to make preparations for combat, and at her instance the abducted Tārā
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
