4. Motifs (2): The Vidyadhara Munis

In all four Vidyadhara saints with supernatural attainments have been introduced by Dhanapala, viz., (i) the Vidyadhara Muni, (ii) Muni Mahayasas, (iii) Muni Santatapa, and (iv) Jayantaswamin. 1 the (i) The Vidyadhara Muni is seen by a/royal couple when they King Meghavahana and his queen Madiravati were sitting on the terrace of their royal palace. The Muni being a Vidyadhara, possesses superhuman attainments like travelling by aerial path and knowing the past, present and future events. He is evidently a saint without any label like a Jain or a Brahmanical one, though he is intended to be a Jain one by the auther. He advises the king to worship the goddess Sri in order to obtain a male child. Not only that, he imparts the mystic formula (mantra) of the Aparajita Vidya along with its 'Kavaca'. This initiation serves to elavate, on the one hand, the king by attainment of supernatural grace and, on the other hand, the queen who undergoes the separation which in itself is a sufficient, though passive, penance.This spiritual purification and sublimation of the would-be 1.Tilakamanjari pp.23-33.

291 parents prepares the ground suitable for the comfotable descent of the celestial spark, viz., god Jvalanaprabha. It is this same Muni who later on appears again towards 2 the end of the novel in the form of Maharsi, who revals the identity of the previous births of both the pairs of the heroes and heroines. Dhanapala has only slightly 3 hinted at the identity of the Maharsi with the Vidyadhara Muni. The Muni is thus the very soul of the religio-moral aspect of the novel, the Tilakamanjari of Dhanapala Dhanapala has presented the 4 moral of his novel on the form of a discourse put in the mouth of the Maharsi. He is vital factor in the maintenance of the suspensein the story as well as in resolving it at the end. 5 (ii) Muni Mahayasas, who is but mentioned only once, serves as the link in the revelation of the identity of Malayasundari's mother Gandharvadatta with the lost daughter of the Vidyadhara Emperor Vicitravirya. This revelation serves to bring in the assistance of the divine agency necessary for bringing about the otherwise difficult union between Samaraketu and Malayasundari. It is due to this revelation that Patralekha, the celestial queen of the Vidyadhara King Cakrasena, takes special care of Malayasundari, and it is again due to 2.Tilakamanjari pp.406-413. 3.1b 1d.p.412:.. mayaiva purvakalamupa- dipाradhanasya tasyaiva saketa narapatermegha vahanasya - ... | 5.ibid.p.272. 4.ibid.pp.406 ff.

292 this revelation that Vicitravirya, who takes away Malayasundari to Suvela region, deputes Kalyanaka with an aeroplane to fetch Samaraketu to offer to him Malayasundari in marriage. Behind all this is the innocent-looking and hinted prediction of Mahayasas who prophesied that Gandharvadatta will be united with her kith and kin when her daughter gets married. The natural device of indicating this prophesy by putting it in the mouth of young and hence bashful Malayasundari serves also to enhence the suspense regarding the impossibility of her marriage. (iii) Muni Santatapa never appears as a character. He is mentioned thrice as "Kulapati" and his penancegrove is called "Prasantavairasrama" where young Gandharvadatta is safely left by Samarakeli the harem-attendant of Emperor Vicitravirya." It was here that Gandharvadatta got married with King Kusumasekhara of Kanci. And it is to this very same hermitage again that Malayasundari is transported in order to save her from the disgrace of being forcibly married to Vajrayudha, the victorious Commander-in-Chief of King Meghavahana? The hermitage of this Muni thus serves to mitigate the misfortunes of doomed souls and provides a sort of an intermediate 6.Tilakamanjari pp.342 ff. 7.ibid.pp.330 ff. 6

293 station for purification through suffering. (iv) Jayantasvami is referred to by Maharsi in his discourse. He is an omniscient saint lodged in the "Puskaravati" heaven on the celestial plane. It is this Jayantasvami who assures Priyangusundari and Pryamvada, the deserted divine beloveds of Jvalanaprabha and Sumali respectively, that they will be united with their lovers and will regain their special divine faculties when they obtain divine ornaments. This prophesy serves a dual purpose: (a) It is responsible for the temporary disillusionment of Tilakamanjari who remembers her past birth at the sight of the Candratapa necklace and sends cold message to Harivahana, who consequently is heart-broken and resolves to commit suicide by throwing himself down (b) the precipice called Samhara: /It is indirectly instrumental to the attainment of the divine powers and the consequent Vidyadharahood by Harivahana through the agency of the magic illusion conjured up by Anangarati. The faith int this unfailing prediction helps Priyangusundari who has to suffer not much, while the scepticism with regard to its fulfilment on the part of Priyamvada subjects her, in the next birth as Malayasundari, to unbearable ■i 8. Tilakamanjari p. 407-408 :... bharate varse prakatanamasti | tatra paripat ya bhavisyati visista dharma yogastu yugapadd dvayorapi divyabharana labhena | bhavatyo rabhisasah | sanumanekasrrja ratnakutaca |

294 sufferings? Jayantasvami, thus, indirectly represents the omniscients the Tirthankaras and other saints of Jainism whose instructions should, according to Dhanapala, be unquestionably accepted except at the cost of dire consequences which follow in the case of disklief belief in them. The whole series of prolonged sufferings of Malayasundari is but a practical illustration of the consequences of this a short prediction and Priyamvada's loss of faith in it at the end of her celestial life-span. Ultimately it is on the prediction of Jayantasvami that the happy end of the Tilakamanjari of Dhanapala rests.