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59
count of the tale is first told. Bana's miracle is not mentioned in
the Kavyaprakāśa, though it, as well as Mayūra's, may with equal
fairness be ascribed to the effects of poetry. Yet it is by no
means impossible, I fancy, to infer from this that Mayūra's sup-
posed cure was the kernel from which grew the whole Jaina
tale. As a confirmation of this suggestion, the Jaina commentary
translated above (p. 21-24) clearly implies that the miracle of our
poet was the central point of the theme, and that the miracles of
Bāṇa and Manatunga were mere adjuncts. If we accept the
supposition that Mayura's alleged cure was the starting-point of
the Jain legend, it is quite possible to conceive that the story of
this cure may trace its origin to the fact that Mayura really was
a leper. Moreover, Jagannātha, whose statements about Mayura
are most sanely put, and whom we have no special reason to
discredit, tells us that Mayūra was afflicted with this disease, and
tried to effect a cure by praising the sun with a hundred ślokas.
It may possibly be that Jagannātha has preserved a true account
of the matter, and that what Mayūra attempted to do was mag-
nified by someone of a later generation into actual achievement.
Our evidence on this point is, however, not altogether convin-
cing, and the most we can say is that the reality of Mayura's
affliction with leprosy lies somewhere between the realms of the
possible and the probable, the balance inclining, in my judgment,
to the latter.
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
It need hardly be added that Mayura actually wrote the
Süryaśataka-tradition and the manuscripts prove this but we
cannot say with certainty that the poem was written with any
particular object in view. That the Mayūrāṣṭaka also is attribut-
able to our poet there can be little question, as I have shown
below (p. 71), nor is there any reason to doubt the authenticity
of the various stanzas that appear under Mayūra's name in
the anthologies. That Mayura ranked high in literary merit is
proved by the testimony of later writers who class him with
Kalidasa, Bhavabhūti, Bāṇa, and the other names that compose
the honor-roll in the history of Sanskrit literature.
A summary in a paragraph would be as follows: Mayura
count of the tale is first told. Bana's miracle is not mentioned in
the Kavyaprakāśa, though it, as well as Mayūra's, may with equal
fairness be ascribed to the effects of poetry. Yet it is by no
means impossible, I fancy, to infer from this that Mayūra's sup-
posed cure was the kernel from which grew the whole Jaina
tale. As a confirmation of this suggestion, the Jaina commentary
translated above (p. 21-24) clearly implies that the miracle of our
poet was the central point of the theme, and that the miracles of
Bāṇa and Manatunga were mere adjuncts. If we accept the
supposition that Mayura's alleged cure was the starting-point of
the Jain legend, it is quite possible to conceive that the story of
this cure may trace its origin to the fact that Mayura really was
a leper. Moreover, Jagannātha, whose statements about Mayura
are most sanely put, and whom we have no special reason to
discredit, tells us that Mayūra was afflicted with this disease, and
tried to effect a cure by praising the sun with a hundred ślokas.
It may possibly be that Jagannātha has preserved a true account
of the matter, and that what Mayūra attempted to do was mag-
nified by someone of a later generation into actual achievement.
Our evidence on this point is, however, not altogether convin-
cing, and the most we can say is that the reality of Mayura's
affliction with leprosy lies somewhere between the realms of the
possible and the probable, the balance inclining, in my judgment,
to the latter.
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
It need hardly be added that Mayura actually wrote the
Süryaśataka-tradition and the manuscripts prove this but we
cannot say with certainty that the poem was written with any
particular object in view. That the Mayūrāṣṭaka also is attribut-
able to our poet there can be little question, as I have shown
below (p. 71), nor is there any reason to doubt the authenticity
of the various stanzas that appear under Mayūra's name in
the anthologies. That Mayura ranked high in literary merit is
proved by the testimony of later writers who class him with
Kalidasa, Bhavabhūti, Bāṇa, and the other names that compose
the honor-roll in the history of Sanskrit literature.
A summary in a paragraph would be as follows: Mayura