PREFACE ix
in the Sutralamkara which seemed inconsistent with the tradi- tional relation of the patriarch and that king. How the Chinese version of the Kalpanamandilika, ' that which is adorned by poetic invention ', came to bear the style Sutralamkara, remains an unexplained problem.
The fragments shed a very interesting light on the develop- ment of the style of prose mingled with verses which appears in a more elaborate foim in the Jatakamala. The narratives, eighty in number, which, with ten parables, make up the work, begin with the enunciation of some doctrine, which is then established by means of an appropriate narrative ; unlike the Jatakamala, the text does not follow a stereotyped plan of drawing out at the close of each tale the moral which it inculcates. The stanzas used are normally portions of the speeches of the dramatis personae; there is a complete breach with the tradition of the canonical texts which introduce such verses by the term bkasam bhasate ; but of course this does not mean that Kumaralata, or Arya Cura who follows this plan in the Jatakamala, is the author of all the verses used ; doubtless he often adopts or adapts current maxims. Narrative * or descriptive stanzas are rare, and they are marked out for the benefit of the reciter by the words vaksyate hi. Arya Cura, on the other hand, shows a distinct advance ; he uses descriptive or narrative stanzas to the extent of over a fifth of his total number of verses, and omits any intro- duction, inserting them freely to beautify his prose narration. The parables take a different form : in them a prose parable (drstantd) is simply followed by a prose exposition (artha). The language shows the same adherence to correct Sanskrit, with occasional lapses, as in Acvaghosa, and there is a rich variety of metres, including the earliest Aryas in Kavya so far datable with reasonable certainty ; the Cloka, Upajati, Vasantatilaka, and Cardulavikrldita are affected. Very important is the fact that Prakrit lyric written in the Prakrit of the grammarians (Middle Prakrit) is preluded in two Prakrit Aryas, written in Old Cauraseni, which already manifest that affection for long compounds which is carried to excess in the Gaildavaha.
1 Cf. below, pp. 244, 2 ?6, 332- The evidence of slow development of use of narrative stanzas is cleai. For the priority of Arya Qura to the Vessanlara Jafaka, see R. Kick, I'estgabe Jacoln, pp. 145-59.
