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186
Studies in Jainology, Prakrit
So tah vi khajjamano padivanno uttamam attham (874) Addhaijjehim raimdiehim pattam Cilaspuitenam
Devinidamarabharvanam accharaganasamkulam rammam (875)
The nature and contents of these gāhās undoubtedly indicate that they consist of catch-words metrically presented for memorising, which is one of the main objectives of the Niryuktis. In those good old days the concerned teacher, who knew through oral transmission the full text of this talc, would narrate it duly. But later, as of need, that text had to be written down. The overall result was the birth of the Curni. Jaina tradition places ne Niryuktis in C.400 B.C. Leumann places them in C.100 A.D. The Cūrnis arc placed in C.700 A.D., and the Avasyaka-cūrni in 600/650 A.D.
Kecping all this in view, we find that there is a minimum gap of 500 to 600 years between the oral tradition of the tale of Cilatiputra and its written sixation. But through faithful transmission from tongue to tongue, maintained with thc svadhyaya of the successive generations of the Jaina teachers, this tale must have been handed over to the pen of the Cūrnikara with a fair amount of precision, though some allowance, as a rule, has to be made regarding a few timc- oriented changes of linguistic or dialectic nature.
With this background, now, we have to investigate into the nature or type of this tale,, which I propose to be the aim of this paper. Was Cilatiputra a historical person? Did the events in this tale really take place? When we prove the historicity of great personages like Pārsvanatha, the 23rd Tirthankara, and Bhadrabahu I etc., bristling with problems, it is difficult to say anything either way about Cilatiputra. But the outlinear study of this tale as recorded in the Curni and its comparative study as occuring in other works of Jaina literature and keeping an eye on the concerned stanzas in the Niryukti all along would, I hope, help us considerably to decide its nature.
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