Some Important Episodes in the Vasudevahiṇḍī and the reconstruction of the Bṛhatkathā

(Abbreviations used BK-Bṛhatkatha; BKM-Bṛhathathāmaħjari, BS- Brhatkathaślokasangraha, JHP-Jinasena's Harivamia purāṇa, KSS-kathasarit- MKH-Majjhimakhanda (MSS), TSP-Tṛisaṣṭisalaka puruşacarita sagara, VH-Vasudevahindi) Introduction In order to reconstruct the content and form of the lost Brhatkatha (BK), we can begin by stripping the Vasudevahindi (VH) version of the major tales of their obvious additions and distortions and compare the resulting "core" stories

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जैन 'वसुदेवहिंडी' की प्रमुख कथाओं पर चढ़े स्पष्ट परिवर्धनों को हटाकर शेष कथा-रूप की तुलना बृहत्कथाश्लोकसंग्रह तथा कश्मीरी रूपान्तरों — कथासरित्सागर और बृहत्कथामञ्जरी — से करते हैं, जिससे लुप्त 'बृहत्कथा' का कथानक पुनर्गठित हो सके। उनके मत में मदनमञ्जुका का अपहरण ही मूल कथा की प्रेरक घटना थी। Jain strips the Vasudevahindi's major tales of their obvious additions and compares the residue with the Brhatkathaslokasangraha and the two Kashmirian versions, the Kathasaritsagara and the Brhatkathamanjari, to recover the lost Brhatkatha. Madanamanjuka's abduction, he argues, was the mainspring of the original narrative.

Written by the archive’s cataloguers, not by the author.