INTRODUCTION 31 of the first four out of the five chapters in SC. dealing with the Apabhramśa metres. Puşpadanta, Dhanapāla, Rājasekhara and Hemacandra are typical of the poets and writers that are more or less influenced by Svayambhū's works. And because of his high achievements in the domain of Apa- bhramsa literature, it was but natural that Svayambhū exercised considerable influence over the subsequent literary efforts in Apa- bhramśa. Especially for the epic poets coming after Svayambhū, it was not quite easy to compose with a mind freed completely from the impressions of Svayambhu's voluminous epics. These considerations are clearly borne out by the close similarity of seve- ral passages from the Paümacariu on one hand and the Mahāpu- rāņa of Puşpadanta and the Bhavisattakaha of Dhanapāla on the other. Svay a mbhú and Puspa danta For a poet of Puşpadanta's literary talent and learning t would not require much effort to shake off the influence of his re- nowned predecessors in Apabhramśa poetry. The form, however, of the Apabhramśa epic, appears to have become by his time con- siderably stereotyped and the Purānic material which served for the subject matter of the religious Apabhramśa epics hardly ever permitted variation of even small details'. The picture was com- pleted by the fact that Apabhramśa poetic diction was becoming increasingly conventionalized. This tended to fix up a somewhat rigid norm for language and style, though sporadic influx from the spoken vernaculars exerted to some extent a rejuvenating in- fluence. These considerations would account for numerous ver- bal borrowings on the part of Puşpadanta from Svayambhu's Paü- macariu. These are found mostly in the beginning portion of the Mahapurana since that portion along with the section dealing with the Rāmāyaṇa (Sandhis 69-79) share common subject-matter with the Paümacariu. Of course I have not examined the whole of the Mahāpurána from this point of view and we cannot rule out the probability of finding traces of Svayambhu's, influence in other parts also of that work. Nevertheless, it is likely to be negligible on account of difference in subject-matters. The parallelisms in wording, matter, rhyming, etc., between PC. (and other works of Svayambhū) and the Mahāpurāņa are given below: PC. MP. १. तिहुअण-लग्गण-खम्भु ।१ १ १ १. जग-लग्गण-खम्भु ।३६ १४ लग्गण-खम्भु। ५ १९६ २. जहि दक्खा-मण्डव परियलन्ति, २. जहिं दक्खा-मण्डव-यलि सुयन्ति, पुणु पन्थिय रस-सलिल' पियन्ति ॥१४ ८ पहि पन्थिय दक्सा-रसु पियन्ति ।। ८१२१२ ३. तर्हि तं पट्टण रायगिहु, ३. सहि. णयह रायगिहु रिष्दउ। घण-कणय-समिद्ध। कुलमहिहर-थणहारिऐं, वसुम इ-णारिएँ, o fofefaj ma-tante, भूसणु णं आश्वउ ॥ १ १२ १२-१३ सिरे सेहरु आडद्यउ॥ (1) Compare Vaidya's remarks on this point in Mahapurana of puspadanta, Vol. II, 1940, Introduction, 11, 21.
