A History of Sanskrit Literature c16.s2.29

c16.s2.29

It has been suggested that this poet is to be identified with the Jain writer Mānatuṅga, whose *Bhaḳtāmarastotra*² in honour of the Jain saint Ṛṣabha is brought into connexion with Bāṇa and Mayūra by another tale. Mānatuṅga, it is said, wrote so fine a panegyric of the sun that he was saved from leprosy; then Bāṇa in jealousy produced the *Caṇḍīçataka*, after cutting off his hands and feet, in order that he might exhibit the power of the goddess in healing her devotee in gratitude for his eulogy. Mānatuṅga, then, to prove the might of the Jinas, had himself fastened with forty-two chains and cast into a house; he uttered his poem of praise and was released forthwith. Perhaps the origin of the legend is simply the reference in his poem to the power of the Jina to save those in fetters, doubtless metaphorically applied to the bonds holding men to carnal life. Mānatun̄ga may have been a contemporary of Bāṇa, but his date may well fall from 150 to 200 years later. He is no mean poet and certainly a master of the intricacies of the Kāvya style. Ṛṣabha is extolled as Buddha, Çan̄kara, the creator, Puruṣottama; hundreds of mothers bear hundreds of sons, but none a son like him; stars there are in every region of the sky, but only the east brings forth the sun. The merits of his style are obvious when contrasted with the elaboration of the forty-four stanzas of the *Kalyāṇamandirastotra*¹ of Siddhasena Divākara, written in deliberate imitation. Other Jain Stotras are of even less poetical value.