10. Dissention with Bhoja and migration to Sacora

At the conclusion of the public recital of this prose-romance, Bhoja asked of the poet to introduce five vital changes in the story, viz., to substitute : 8x (i) the salutation to Jina by the one to Siva; (ii) Bhoja himself as the hero in the place of Meghavahana; (iii) Dhara for Ayodhya; (iv) the Mahakala temple in the place of the Sakravatara one; and (v) Lord Siva in the place of Lord Jina Rsabha. The poet, however, refused to comply with the royal request which, according to him, was tantamount to adulterating a Brahmin's cup of milk by pouring wine into it, and denounced the king for trespassing into the forbidden field of 117 116 " + literature. The enraged royal patron thereupon threw the manuscript into the fire of the oven placed before him as a heater in the winter season. At this the poet addressed,in desperate indignation, the following [ 116.Prabhavaka-charita 17.206-208 : purvameva katharambha sivah paciti mangalara | catuh - sthanaparavarta tatha kuru ca madira || 206 || dhara-samjna mayodhyayam mahaka laksya nama ca | sthane sakravatarasya sakaram vrsabhasya ca || ranna srimegha- vahana ityaya mama nama katha tatah| anamnda sundara visve jabada candra kalikam || 208|| 117.1b 1d.vss.210, 212: payahpatre yatha purna srotriyasya kara sthite | apavitrya bhavatamtra maharayaikena binduna || 21|| baccai sese se va visesa ye na jananti dvijih vata | yantom hinakula kim te na lajjate manisinam ||21||

38 couplets: "You are after all just a Malava robber.Why do you, then, cherish to entertain yourself with poetry ? You have not spared even Dhanapala : I ask you, whencehave you turned such a betrayer ?" Merutunga, however, puts the following couplet in the poet's mouth: " O Double-tongued ignoramus : 0 Steel-arrow ! what shall we call you? You have the audacity to equate a Gunja-beed with gold! Why have you not yet 119 been consigned to the nether worlds ?" Merutunga has added the monetary inducement also by Bhoja if Dhanapala accepted the proposal of the former. The heart broken poet returned home and threw himself into the unprepared bedstead and would care not eat to take bath nor to perform the daily worship nor/even a morsel of food, nor could he sleep. His daughter, of 120 118PRC 17.215: malaviokhi kimanna anjati kappena nindui samsi | dhanavalai pimja mumcasi pucाmi sambamdha katto || 26 || 119.Prabandha Chintamani • p• 41: domuha jikkhara lo hama isa goraya tujjha kim bhanimo | gurujahi sama kanayam tulantu na gaosi payalam || 1 120.ibid.: nrpah pandita praha mamatra kathanayake kurvandhi nitayah tyam padha़े mahakalama - pade ' vanti maropayan sakravatara khkh kalpayan yad dyacase vasubhya dvami--- 1

39 nine years in age, came to know about it all and consoled him that she knew by heart the whole story which 121 she would dictate again to him. Dr. M.Krishnamachariar follows Merutunga in holding that the name of his daughter was Tilakamanjari and that the poet gave the name 122 pr. D.C. title of his work after his daughter's name Ganguly says that we have no evidence to corroborate¨ the story of Bhoja having burnt the original first 123 manuscript of the Tilakamanjari of Dhanapala But we do have some lurking 124 evidence in a couple of loose ends in the story of the Tilakamanjari of Dhanapala which would support the Jain tradition which holds that the original work was about twelve thousand gramthas in extent, but that the portion of about three thousand gramthas in extent, which was unfortunately not read by the poet to his daughter, could not be restored. 121.Prabhavaka-charita 17.218ff.: javahayana balaya duhitram ||21va aksayam kavi patha dadde --- || 10|| hrdayam meda kina saphala te buve kamdhara || rahasa kamdha ca sakala tena susruye'tra sulamuyatr-- ||22 || There is nothing impossible about it.L have myself seen a young girl of seven years whox could recite the whole of the Bhagavadgita by heart and she had gave a demonstration of the recital at the Deccan College Post-Graduate and Research Institute, Poona, in the year 1959. 122.A History of Classical Sanskrit Literature p.475. 123.History of Paramara Dynasty p.284. 124.See infra Chap. VIII ; also cf.Tilakamanjari-sara of Pallipala Dhanapala Intro.pp.25ff.

- 40 125 The poet, however, harmonized the missing links somehow. It is also significant that the oldest Ms. of the work was wtitten in kk Vikrama Samvata 1130 (i.e.1074 A.D.) at Jesalmer and nowhere in Malwa. And there is nothing impossible in the incident in view of the imperial nature of the royal patron of the poet and their mututual rivalry in scholarship as well as in their religious beliefs. The disillusioned alienated poet seems to have left the Paramara capital and migrated to 127 Satyapura (Saccaura i.e. sacora in Rajasthan) • Merutunga 128 makes him go to Nanagrama, which, however, goes against the evidence preserved in the form of the poet's work 129 entitled the 'Satyapuriya-sri-mahavira-utsaha composed 125.Prabhavaka-charita 17.221-222 : kadacinna srutam yavat tavajjasyah samayayau |22 || sahasratritayam tasyah kaksaya anurat tada| anyatsambandhasambarddha sarvam tyastai ca pustake || 222 || ; also Prabandha Chintamani ( SJGM). p. 42: balapa nditaya tatsut ya -- tilaka ma jari prathamadarsalekhanatsasmr- tyam gramthasnartha lekhyam cakre | taduttara nutanikrtya granthah samarthita 126. vide Appendix A.A photograph copy of the fragments of this ms. is attached at the beginning of Chap.l. 127. Prabhavaka-charita 18.223ff : athapamana purno'yamuccacala tatah purah /:- ||223|| pascima disamasritya parispancha vinacala 1 prapa satyapuram nama puram paurajanottara || 224 || - 128.Prabandha Chintamani p.41: • -- rupaye janagramam gatah | panditena | 129.This hymn in Apabhramsa is published in Jaina Sahitya Samsodhaka Vol.III. No. 3 pp.241-251 with an intro_ductory article by.. Muni Shri Jinavijayaji.

41 130 probably on the occasion of a festival held, according to Muni Shri Jinavijayaji, after the unsuccessful attempt of Mahmud of Gazni to pull the image down. There the poet found his heart's resort at the temple of Lord Mahavira Jina in praise of whom he composed a hymn in a continuously antithetic strain (Viruddhartha 131 Sri-vira-stuti).