________________
Introduction
39
the author himself 25 at the commencement of his work. Five Mss.26 of this work have come to my notice. Of these the K and the N Mss. do not mention the name of the author. The B Ms. mentions, in the last verse, the name of the author as 'Padmasāgara', the disciple of Dharmasāgara. 27 But the palm-leaf Ms. H does not contain this verse, nor does it name the author. On the other hand, the colophone therein is rubbed out and something else is sought to be written on it. Even then some of the words of the portion rubbed out can easily be read and the name "Candraprabhasūri' is clearly visible there. This raises the doubt about the real authorship of this work. The doubt is further confirmed by Muni Shri Punyavijayaji, who observes that the practice of writing on palm-leaf was no longer prevalent after the fourteenth century. The calligraphy of the Ms. would indicate that the work might have been written about the thirteenth century. The date of the work as mentioned in the B Ms.,28 then, would only be the date of the copyist. Moreover, this work has not been known to have been included in the works of Padmasăgara.29 Thus, the authorship of the work being undecided, it is but proper to take it as 'ascribed to Padmas gara.
The author of the TMKU clearly declares his intention of rescuing and repairing the story of the TM 30 rather then merely summarizing it faithfully; and in the process he has tried to compose an independent and elaborate metrical work primarily based on the story of the TM, to which, however, he has not fettered himself and has added profusely, not only his own imageries, but also many new ingredients totally unwarranted so far as the original prose romance of Dhanapala is concerned. 31 And the work seeks to underline the religio - moralistic aspect more pronouncediy both at the commencement 32 as well as at the conclusion33 of his work. 34 This work is 25. Cf. TMKU, vs. 1:a fazah' ref: TIET Tocal 26. They are : (i) the B Ms. of the Bhandarkar Oriental Reseatch Institute, Poona,
(No. 791 Of 1895-1902); (ii) the K Ms. of the Kantivijayaji Bhandara, Baroda, (No. 1802); (iii) the N Ms. of the L. D. Institute of Indology, Ahmedabad, (No. N/827); P Ms. of Punyavijayaji's Bhandar, Ahmedabad (No. p/3103); and H Ms.
of Harsavijayaji Bhandar, Baroda (PL Palm leaf No. 1). 27. Cf. TMKU, B Ms. folio 67 : T/TATAMAGRETTET62*: 1 faffarsi pe:
ufca: qami: 119 cl (i. e. vs. 1998). 28. Cf. B Ms. folio 67 : #77 ?984 240?? TITAIÀ PIHA JAYA ___ १३ तिथि भौमवासरे । मुनि गोव्यद लपितां ।
9. Cf. JSSI(D), p. 586-587. 30. Cf. TMKU': 'vs. 1 cd : faf: Ruma: 1 31. Cf. TMS, Intro. pp. 33-39. 32. TMKU, vs. 7 : tranfaath : AFTEIT+02: 1 371FFORT Calla aalagaar 33. ibid., vs. 1977 : F7FSHATE' qa qarare i fagearet f ra 147 II 34. This too, has been critically edited by me, and it is pubeished as No. 14 in the
M. S. University Oriental series, by Oriental Institute, Baroda, 1984,
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