Treasury of Jain Tales

Author(s): V M Kulkarni
Publisher: Shardaben Chimanbhai Educational Research Centre

Page 22

4. Pravahlika :
Is that composition which is presented in an assembly as a dialogue between two persons in a mixture of Sanskrit and Prakrit discussing the merits etc. of the hero (pradhāna). Its example is Cetaka - which is no longer extant.
5. Manthulli (or Manthallikā) :
Is a ksudrakatha (short story) in Māhārāstri Prakrit as exemplified by two such stories (now lost), called Gorocană and Anangavati . The titles are possibly the names of their heroines. Or, it may be a humorous story making fun of priests, ministers and hermits who undertake something but do not succeed in carrying it out.
6. Manikulya:
Is a story with mystery, the secret of which is revealed at the end. Its example is Matsyahasita (the laughter of a fish, or 'A laughing fish)'. No work of this name is available or extant. V.Raghavan observes :".... Manikulya, which is a mystery story, on the face of which one may not be able to see anything. ...it (matsyahasita) is the name of a story in a work or rather or a theme or motif." He further refers to two 'laughing fish' stories in other works: "Both are concerned with a secret affair of a queen, exposed by a clever person who penetrates the meaning of the laughter of a dead fish provoked by the absurdity of human behaviour (see e.g. Kathāsaritsagara I, taranga 5, 14ff.)". 13
7. Parikatha :
Is a new type of story heard for the first time in Anandavardhana's Dhvanyaloka (III.7. Vrtti, p.325).
Anandavardhana is of the opinion that in regard to the composition of parikathă there is no specific rule regarding its samghatana-(texture, collocation). The simple reason behind this freedom is: in parikathă there is just a narration of the story and
13. Indian Kavya Literature by A.K. Warder, Vol. I, paragraph 455,
p.196