________________
•
therefore, ventured to suggest, of course in square brackets, a suitable heading to mark the beginning of each canto by utilizing the contemporary word 'Prayāṇaka'-a jaunt-which, being noted for the first time by Hemacandra in his Abhidhanacintamani23, could have been in common parlance at the time of the author of the TMS also, who has himself utilized the word 'Prayaņa' in this sense in the TMS. III. 26.
The nine cantos are respectively named : ( 1 ) लक्ष्मीप्रसादन; (2) मित्रसमागम; (3) चित्रपटदर्शन (4) पुरप्रवेश; (5) नौवर्णन; (6) मलयसुन्दरीवृत्तान्त; ( 7 ) गन्धर्व कशापापगम; ( 8 ) प्राग्भवपरिज्ञान; and ( 9 ) राज्यद्वयलाभ. The total number of verses are 1205, broken up canto wise as 106+122+139+129+168+140+162+141+91+7 (Epilogue). It should be noted that the cantos are named after the principal event marking a definite advance in the action of the story, and this testifies the proper grasp of the story-structure on the part of the author of the TMS. As an added grace each canto concludes with a verse or two in different metres.
9
VI The Contents
We shall present the part of the story covered by each canto.
Canto I: The Propitiation of the Goddess of Prosperity
In the first two verses the poet has invoked the blessings of the First Tirthamkara Lord Rṣabha (Nabheya, i.e. a son of an emperor named Nabhi) and the Goddess-of-Speech (Bharati). In the next verse he pays a tribute to Kavi Dhanapala, the author of the original prose-romance, the Tilakamañ. jarl, which he has summarised in the form of the TMS. In the next two verses (5-6), he assures us that the structure of the story of the original TM has been preserved intact, and most of the descriptions are also the same, though he has added a few imageries in view of the tune and tenor of the spirit and sentiment prevailing in the description at various stages of the story. He, thus, requests the reader to expect only a change in the medium-from prose to the verse-and nothing more. Then begins the story proper.
Veres 7 to 9 introduce us to the city of Ayodhya, king Meghavahana and his royal consort Madirāvati.
Verses 11 to 35 describe their want of a male child and the arrival of the Vidyadhara Muni, who initiates the king into a mystic 'Vidya' for propitiating the Goddess-of-Prosperity (Śrī) in order to get a son.
23. AC, III. 453-51 प्रस्थानं गमनं व्रज्याऽभिनिर्याणं प्रयाणकम् ॥४५३॥
यात्रा
1184811
Jain Education International 2010_05
...
...
...
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
