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Dr. Ajay Mitra Shastri
rated in the above story from the Prabandha-cintamani and thereby attained great celebrity. Pleased with his learning, Satrujit, king of Pratișthānpura, appointed him his priest. Varāha burled abuses on the Svetāmbaras who were upset and sent for Bhadrabāhu. In the meantime Varāhmihira was blessed with a son for whom he predicted a full 100 years' life, and the occasion was fittingly celebrated. Varāhamihira complained that Bhadrabāhu, albeit his couterine brother, did not participate in the festivities. On hearing it, Bhadrabāhu explained away his action by predicting the child's death from a cat on the seventh day. The incident took place and Bhadrabahu consoled his brother exactly as narrated in the Prabandha-cintamani. But a Jaina layman, reminded of the earlier insult of his faith by Varāhamihira, condemmed the letter in the harshest possible words. On knowing the whole episode and being introduced to Bhadrabāhu, the king, who had come to console Varāhamihira, embraced Jainism. Thereupon Varahamihira began to hate Jainism and caused a lot of trouble to the Jaina laity. To avert this calamity Bhadrabāhu compiled a prayer entitled Uvasaggahara Pasa comprising five stanzas. The story ends with the statement that Bhadrabāhu's successor, Sthulabhadra, who also had the knowledge of the fourteen Purvās, destroyed other faiths.
This story with minor changes is narrated in some other works also. Thus, in the Sukha-bodhini commentary on the Kalpa-sūtra the same anecdote as found in the Prabandha-cintamani is related with the only difference that here the eipsode centres round the son of Varāhamihira's royal patron, and not round Varāhamihira's own son.
A comparative analysis will reveal that there are some minor differences between the versions of the story as found in the Prabandha-cintamani and the Prabandha-kośa. In the former the venue of the episode is located at Pătaliputra, while the letter places it at Pratisthāna. While the former makes out the episode as occuring during the reign of king Nanda, the latter gives the name of the king as Satrujit. Merutunga does not mention, like Rājasekharasūri, the anecdote of Varāhamihira's first becoming a Jaina ascetic and then reverting to the life of a Brāhmaṇa out of jealousy of his brother Bhadrabāhu and leaves the impression that while Bhadrababu became a Jaina monk Varahamihira throughout led the life of a Brāhmana astrologer. Again, whereas the Prabandha-kośa speaks of Bhadrabâhu as a pupil of Yaśobhadra, a contemporary of Sambhūtivijaya and as the teacher of Sthūlabhadra, no such statement is found in the Prabandha-cintamani. Likewise, while the Prabandha-kośa describes Yaśobhadra, Bhadrabāhu, Sambhūtivijaya and Sthūlabhadra as possessing the knowledge of the fourteen Purvas (caturdaśa-pūrvin), the Prabandha-cintamaņi does not make any such explicit statement. And lastly, the death of Varāhamihira's son according to Bhadrabāhu's prediction took place on the
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