Two Prakrit Versions of Manipati Charitra

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

Page 41

SO
28 TWO PRAKRIT VERSIONS OF THE MAŅIPATI-CARITA And again verse 333 :
sutthu vi jai jayanto jāi-may'-āīsu majjai jo u
so Meyejja-risi jahā Heriesc balo vue parihāi Here two different lessons are drawn from two different episodes of the story : in the first case Metārya is praised for his fortitude in fulfilling the duties of religion, in the second his humiliation by his meda father serves to show that pride will always be abased.
In the commentary of Rāmavijaya Gaņin almost exactly the same details are given as in the Avaśyaka narrative. However the conditions which the god must fulfil for Metārya's marriage are : first, to build a golden rampart around Rājagțha, secondly, to make a road to the Vaibhara mountain, thirdly, to bring water from the Jumna, the Sarasvati, the Ganges and the Kşīrasamudra for purification. As a final detail it is from Mahāvīra himself that the goldsmith and his family receive their initiation.
Jayasimha Sūri, author of the Dharmopadeśa-mālā-vivaràņa acknowledges his debt to the Upadeśa-mālā for the details of the story of Metārya :
Suyadevi-pasāeņam suyanusāreņa sāhiyam eyam
samkheveņam puņa vitthareņa Uvaesa-mälāe Explaining verse
mārijjantā vi dadham kovam na kunanti muniya-Jiņa-vayaņā
Meyajjo ya maharisi ahavā Damadanta-sähu vva he retells the story with almost identical details. It is to be noted however that the purohita's son has become a minister's son and that Metārya as an ascetic is styled nava-buddhi and not as in the Avasyaka nava-puvvī; the change no doubt results from a scribal error. In a parallel passage the MPCH has cauddasa-puvvī.
The Sanskrit Kathākośal translated by Tawney, a rather late collection of Jaina narratives includes the history of Metārya in a very similar form. Here he is said to have received the initiation from Mahāvira.
In the SK Haribhadra has taken one incident from the 1 Kathākośa or Treasury of Stories tr. Tawney. London, 1895, p. 117 ff. · Jacobi's edition, p. 467 ff.