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
malice, and are satirized in a way that recalls Haribhadra's treatment of the Hindu divinities in the Dhūrtākhyāna.
In fact the gods of Hinduism play a very minor role in the MPC. With Sakra at their head they are mere impermanent tenants of the heaven-world who can at best come to worship a tīrthařkara. Often they are agents sent to test mortal faith in the Jaina creed.
As bhakti directed towards the tīrthankara is formally excluded (na ya nāho 'mhi aham te says the Jina to Sreņika) popular devotion is centred on the yakşiņīs or śāsana-devatās assigned to the tīrthankaras. Schubring has rightly assessed their function when he writes that the latter term 'ist wohl der Ausgangspunkt der Vorstellung, indem zuerst das Gebot des Jina menschliche Gestalt gewann, und zwar weibliche, indischen Grundvorstellungen entsprechend. Hinzu kam das Bedürfnis, den Laien, für deren Bitten die Heilskünder unerreichbar sind, gewährende Mächte gegenüberzustellen.' That a prayer could be more effective if made as in the case of Nāgavasū in the concentration of the kāyotsarga is comprehensible but it is not clear whether the śāsana-devī was always addressed in this posture.
One further point which is repeatedly stressed in the MPC is the danger of dying without turning to the true faith or without achieving inner tranquillity. Thus Sețuka dies in ārtadhyāna and is reborn as a frog, whilst in his frog incarnation he dies in a blissful state whilst about to worship the Jina and is reborn as a god. Similarly Municandra reproaches the stepmother who has attempted to poison him because, had she succeeded, he would have died without taking thought for another life.