Two Prakrit Versions of Manipati Charitra

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

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TWO PRAKRIT VERSIONS OF THE MANIPATI-CARITA
The Metarya of this tale is not the only one known to the Jaina scriptures: there is another who was a ganadhara of Mahavira; but the distinction between them may sometimes be lost. Of the other Metarya the Dharmopadeśa-mālā says: Tungini-des'-uppanno Meyajjo jayai ganaharo dasamo Vāruņa-devie suo dattassa visaṭṭhi-varis-'au
The name itself invites speculation. It is clearly a Prakritic form which has occasioned some hesitancy in Sanskritisation. The BKK renders it in different passages as Medajja and as Medajña.
In verse 893 of the MPC the connection with the meda caste is clear and of course natural. But the Desi-nama-mālā (VI. 138) quotes meyajja in the meaning of 'grain' (perhaps a special kind of grain). Meyajja-risi might then be interpreted as the grain sage'.
5. Sukumalikā
This tale seems to have been almost as familiar in Jaina circles as that of Metarya and has achieved a far wider literary diffusion outside them.
The kernel of the story is found in the Bhakta-parijñā (verse 122):
Sakeya-purahivai Devarai rajja-sukkha-pabbhattho pangula-hetum chudho vuḍho ya naie devie
or in almost identical words in the Bhagavati Aradhanā (verse 949):
Säkeda-puradhivadi Devaradi rajja-sukkha-pabbhaṭṭho pangula-hedum chudho nadie Rattae devie
The commentaries of the latter work explain only that King Devarati relinquished his kingdom for the sake of his wife Raktā who later because of her infatuation for a crippled musician pushed her husband into a river.
The story is found in a version very close to that of the MPC in the Avasyaka commentaries and again in the Dharmopadeśamälä, where verse 81 reads: