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GENERAL INTRODUCTION
31
This reference in the Kavyaprakaśa to Mayūra's cure from
leprosy is of special interest as being the earliest datable allusion
to any of the incidents narrated in the Jaina tale, being even
earlier than the Prabhāvakacaritra (1250 A.D.),¹ in which, as
noted above (p. 19), the name of Mänatunga is first coupled with
those of Bāṇa and Mayūra. For the very reason of this chrono-
logical antecedence it is possible that the 'Jaina tale,' as I have
dubbed it, may not be of Jain origin so far as it relates to Bāṇa
and Mayūra, although its inclusion of Mänatunga, and the highly
embellished form in which we have received it, are, I think, un-
doubtedly due to writers of the Jaina faith.
Allusion to the Jaina tale in the Sudhāsāgara. Again we are
indebted to Jhalakīkara for supplying us with the following
passage from the Sudhasagara, which describes Mayura's re-
lease from the thrall of leprosy by the composition of the
Suryaśataka. As related in this work, the incident recalls Bāṇa's
feat with the palanquin, described in the Prabandhacintamani
(see above, p. 27) :-
uktam ca sudhäsägarakārāir api-pura kila mayüraśarma kuşthi kaviḥ
klesam asahişnuḥ [süryaprasadena kuşṭhān nistarāmi prāṇān va tyajāmī
'ti niścitya haridvaram gatva gangatate] atyuccataruśak havalambi fata-
rajjušikyam adhiradhaḥ süryam astäuşit । akaroc caikaikapadyante ekäika-
rajjuvicchedam evam kriyamāṇakavyaparitusto raviḥ sadya eva nirogām
ramanīyām ca tattanum akārşit prasiddham ca tanmayüraśatakam (sür-
yaśatakaparaparyayam)-itis
'And it is also said by the writers of the Sudhasagara-" Formerly, in-
deed, the poet Mayūra, a leper, [becoming] unable to endure his affliction,
[having resolved: 'I will gain deliverance from leprosy by the kindness
of Surya, or I will abandon life,' went to Haridvāra on the bank of the
Ganges], and mounted into a swing [formed] of a hundred ropes and
hanging from a very high limb of a tree. [Then] he praised Sürya, and at
the end of each stanza he cut one rope. Ravi (Sūrya), satisfied by the
1 See above, p. 17, note 2.
The Sudhasagara of Bhimasena, a commentary on the Kavyaprakāśa;
cf. Aufrecht, Catalogus Catalogorum, part 1, p. 102, a.
8 Jhalakikara, Kavyaprakaśa, p. 10.
Haridvāra, 'Vişnu's Gate,' is a celebrated town and sacred bathing-
place, situated where the Ganges leaves the mountains for the plains of
Hindustan. It is now called Hardvār; cf. Monier-Williams, Sanskrit-
English Dictionary, Oxford, 1899, s.v.
31
This reference in the Kavyaprakaśa to Mayūra's cure from
leprosy is of special interest as being the earliest datable allusion
to any of the incidents narrated in the Jaina tale, being even
earlier than the Prabhāvakacaritra (1250 A.D.),¹ in which, as
noted above (p. 19), the name of Mänatunga is first coupled with
those of Bāṇa and Mayūra. For the very reason of this chrono-
logical antecedence it is possible that the 'Jaina tale,' as I have
dubbed it, may not be of Jain origin so far as it relates to Bāṇa
and Mayūra, although its inclusion of Mänatunga, and the highly
embellished form in which we have received it, are, I think, un-
doubtedly due to writers of the Jaina faith.
Allusion to the Jaina tale in the Sudhāsāgara. Again we are
indebted to Jhalakīkara for supplying us with the following
passage from the Sudhasagara, which describes Mayura's re-
lease from the thrall of leprosy by the composition of the
Suryaśataka. As related in this work, the incident recalls Bāṇa's
feat with the palanquin, described in the Prabandhacintamani
(see above, p. 27) :-
uktam ca sudhäsägarakārāir api-pura kila mayüraśarma kuşthi kaviḥ
klesam asahişnuḥ [süryaprasadena kuşṭhān nistarāmi prāṇān va tyajāmī
'ti niścitya haridvaram gatva gangatate] atyuccataruśak havalambi fata-
rajjušikyam adhiradhaḥ süryam astäuşit । akaroc caikaikapadyante ekäika-
rajjuvicchedam evam kriyamāṇakavyaparitusto raviḥ sadya eva nirogām
ramanīyām ca tattanum akārşit prasiddham ca tanmayüraśatakam (sür-
yaśatakaparaparyayam)-itis
'And it is also said by the writers of the Sudhasagara-" Formerly, in-
deed, the poet Mayūra, a leper, [becoming] unable to endure his affliction,
[having resolved: 'I will gain deliverance from leprosy by the kindness
of Surya, or I will abandon life,' went to Haridvāra on the bank of the
Ganges], and mounted into a swing [formed] of a hundred ropes and
hanging from a very high limb of a tree. [Then] he praised Sürya, and at
the end of each stanza he cut one rope. Ravi (Sūrya), satisfied by the
1 See above, p. 17, note 2.
The Sudhasagara of Bhimasena, a commentary on the Kavyaprakāśa;
cf. Aufrecht, Catalogus Catalogorum, part 1, p. 102, a.
8 Jhalakikara, Kavyaprakaśa, p. 10.
Haridvāra, 'Vişnu's Gate,' is a celebrated town and sacred bathing-
place, situated where the Ganges leaves the mountains for the plains of
Hindustan. It is now called Hardvār; cf. Monier-Williams, Sanskrit-
English Dictionary, Oxford, 1899, s.v.