2023-02-23 18:48:20 by ambuda-bot
This page has not been fully proofread.
16
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
THE JAINA TALE ABOUT MAYŪRA AND BĀŅA
The other tale concerning Mayūra, to which reference has
already been made (see above, p. 14), seems to owe its origin to
Jaina tradition, or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that
in the highly embellished form in which we receive it, it comes
direct from Jaina writers. Some of the facts it relates receive
confirmation from other sources, but much that it presents is
nonsense and must, of course, be rejected. Its theme, or rather
purpose, is the glorification of the Jaina religion, which is shown
to be superior to other religions because one of its devotees,
Mänatunga, is able to work greater miracles by the recitation of
his verses than Mayūra and Bāṇa could accomplish by the recita-
tion of theirs.
The date of Manatunga. This Manatunga is the well-known
Jain ācārya, the author of the Bhaktämarastotra and Bhayahara-
stotra, but his date appears to be a matter of uncertainty. Ac-
cording to most of the sthiravalis, or lists of the Jaina hierarchs,
he should be placed in the third century A.D. Other traditions,
such as the story under consideration, make him a contemporary
of Bāṇa and Mayura in the seventh century. A paṭṭavalt of the
Tapāgacha sect of the Jains, which presumably derives its in-
1 Cf. A. Weber, Verzeichniss der Sanskrit und Prakrit Handschriften
zu Berlin, Bd. 2, Abth. 3, S. 1003, 1034, Berlin, 1891. For a bibliography
dealing with Mänatunga, see the references cited by page number in A.
Guérinot's Essai de Bibliographie Jaina, p. 514, published in Musée Guimet,
Annales, vol. 22, Paris, 1906; cf. the supplementary work by the same
author, entitled Notes de Bibliographie Jaina, and published in Journal
Asiatique, 10 Sér., Tom. 14 (1909), p. 47-148, nos. 968, 1012, 1070.
2 Bhâu Dāji, On the Sanscrit Poet, Kalidasa, in JBRAS, vol. 6 (1861),
P. 24, 222-223. Dāji, in spite of the unanimous evidence of seven
sthiravalis which he examined, places Mänatunga in the seventh century-
apparently for no other reason than because his name is coupled with that
of Bāṇa and that of Mayura in the Jaina tale under discussion. See also
G. Bühler, On the Chandikaśataka of Banabhatta, in IA, vol. I (1872),
p. 115.
This pattavalt is outlined, and extracts from it are given, by Johannes
Klatt, Extracts from the Historical Records of the Jainas, in IA, vol. II
(1882), p. 245-256; see especially p. 252, no. 20.
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
THE JAINA TALE ABOUT MAYŪRA AND BĀŅA
The other tale concerning Mayūra, to which reference has
already been made (see above, p. 14), seems to owe its origin to
Jaina tradition, or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that
in the highly embellished form in which we receive it, it comes
direct from Jaina writers. Some of the facts it relates receive
confirmation from other sources, but much that it presents is
nonsense and must, of course, be rejected. Its theme, or rather
purpose, is the glorification of the Jaina religion, which is shown
to be superior to other religions because one of its devotees,
Mänatunga, is able to work greater miracles by the recitation of
his verses than Mayūra and Bāṇa could accomplish by the recita-
tion of theirs.
The date of Manatunga. This Manatunga is the well-known
Jain ācārya, the author of the Bhaktämarastotra and Bhayahara-
stotra, but his date appears to be a matter of uncertainty. Ac-
cording to most of the sthiravalis, or lists of the Jaina hierarchs,
he should be placed in the third century A.D. Other traditions,
such as the story under consideration, make him a contemporary
of Bāṇa and Mayura in the seventh century. A paṭṭavalt of the
Tapāgacha sect of the Jains, which presumably derives its in-
1 Cf. A. Weber, Verzeichniss der Sanskrit und Prakrit Handschriften
zu Berlin, Bd. 2, Abth. 3, S. 1003, 1034, Berlin, 1891. For a bibliography
dealing with Mänatunga, see the references cited by page number in A.
Guérinot's Essai de Bibliographie Jaina, p. 514, published in Musée Guimet,
Annales, vol. 22, Paris, 1906; cf. the supplementary work by the same
author, entitled Notes de Bibliographie Jaina, and published in Journal
Asiatique, 10 Sér., Tom. 14 (1909), p. 47-148, nos. 968, 1012, 1070.
2 Bhâu Dāji, On the Sanscrit Poet, Kalidasa, in JBRAS, vol. 6 (1861),
P. 24, 222-223. Dāji, in spite of the unanimous evidence of seven
sthiravalis which he examined, places Mänatunga in the seventh century-
apparently for no other reason than because his name is coupled with that
of Bāṇa and that of Mayura in the Jaina tale under discussion. See also
G. Bühler, On the Chandikaśataka of Banabhatta, in IA, vol. I (1872),
p. 115.
This pattavalt is outlined, and extracts from it are given, by Johannes
Klatt, Extracts from the Historical Records of the Jainas, in IA, vol. II
(1882), p. 245-256; see especially p. 252, no. 20.