Two Prakrit Versions of Manipati Charitra

Author(s): R Williams
Publisher: Royal Asiatic Society

Page 18

THE MANUSCRIPTS
A late eighteenth century MS. accompanied by an inter
linear Gujarati paraphrase which is identical with the work found elsewhere separately under the title Munipati
kathā. H. Baroda, Prāksta-Samskệta-jñāna-bhaņdāra of Kāntavijayajī,
No. 1412. A good MS. perhaps of sixteenth century with marginal
glosses in Sanskrit. J. Baroda, Prākṣta-Samskệta-jñāna-bhandāra of Kāntavijayaji,
No. 1411. Perhaps seventeenth century. Very close to the preceding of which it is probably a direct copy. The first five folios containing verses 1-135 are missing.
All the above are written in the Jaina Nāgari script and show in varying degree its characteristic peculiarities, older MSS. being in general better than the later ones. As for the MPC the purely orthographic variants and the numerous haplographies and dittographies have been disregarded in the footnotes.
The MPCH is found quite frequently in manuscript. BelloniFilippi says that he obtained three copies from the YaśovijayaJaina-pāțhaśālā of Benares and one from the Deccan College. Schubring describes the work in his Verzeichnis der JainaHandscriften der preussischen Staatsbibliothek and its presence in many Jaina bhandāras is noted in Velankar's Jina-ratna-kośa. It is no doubt often confused in lists with the Munipati-caritrasāroddhāra : in fact three works kindly lent by the Asiatic Society of Bengal proved on inspection to be copies of the Sanskrit paraphrase.