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Kuvalaya-mālā ("Garland of Blue Water Lilium") is a 779 CE Prakrit-language novel written by the Jainism monk Uddyotana-sūri in Jalore of Gurjara-Pratihara kingdom (present-day Jalore, India). It is written in the champu (mixed verse and prose) form, and features dialogues in several other languages, including Sanskrit, Apabhramsha, and Paishachi.
The novel narrates the story of five souls (including that of princess Kuvalaya-mālā) as they go through several rebirths. Initially, each of the five souls is misguided by one of the five passions: anger, vanity, deceit, greed, and infatuation. Ultimately, the five souls meet the Jain leader Mahavira in their final birth, and achieve liberation. The text uses this narrative to explain the Jain philosophy and practices.
Kuvalaya-mālā is a didactic tale with a moral fervour: Uddyotana-sūri's teacher Hari-bhadra (fl. 750 CE) also wrote a didactic tale titled Samaraichcha-kaha. Siddharshi (fl. 906 CE), another monk in this lineage, wrote a didactic tale titled Upamiti-bhava-prapancha. Both Uddyotana-sūri and Siddharshi were inspired by Haribhadra's work.
The author recognizes three literary languages: Prakrit, Sanskrit, and Apabhramsha, and the text features bards reciting in these languages in the court of king Drdha-varman. Besides the literary Prakrit (Maharashtri and Shauraseni), the text features other dialects including Magadhi Prakrit, Rakshasi (Chulika-Paishachi), Paishachi, Apabhramsha, and a mixture of these.
The author also provides specimens of vernaculars ( desha-bhasha or deshi-bhasha) spoken by traders from different regions. The author intends to name 18 of these regional groups, although the surviving text names only 16: Gollas, those from Madhyadesha, those from Magadha, those from Antara-veda, Kiras, Dhakkas, , Marwar, Gurjaradesa, Latas, Malwa, those from Karnataka, Tajikas, those from Kosala, those from Maharashtra, and those from Andhra.
The author also refers to languages spoken by foreigners: the Khasas, the Persians, and the Barbaras.
The five souls and their various rebirths are:
In the birth in which they are misguided by passions, the five souls become Jain monks guided by the preceptor Dharma-nandana, and promise to support each other in achieving libertaion in the subsequent births. In their final births, the five souls meet Mahavira, accept samlekhana, and attain liberation.
The author provides an outline of the story, and presents a discourse on durjana (wicked person) and sajjana (pious person). The text then moves to the actual story.
One day, queen Priyangu-shyama expresses frustration at not having a son of her own. The king then prays to his tutelary deity, Rajya-lakshmi, and receives a boon that an outstanding son would be born to him. Early next morning, the queen sees a dream in which the moon ( Chandra) clung to a garland ( mālā) of highly-fragrant lilies ( kuvalaya). The king and his courtiers interpret the dream as a sign that the queen had conceived a son in accordance with the boon. After some time, the queen gives birth to prince Kuvalaya-chandra alias Shri-datta. The prince has a happy childhood, and is well-educated.
One day, the prince rides on a horse through the town, captivating ladies with his personality. Suddenly, his horse starts flying in the sky, towards the south. The prince strikes the horse with a knife, and the horse falls dead on the ground, bringing the prince down with it. An anonymous voice greets the prince, and asks him to walk southwards. The prince reaches the Vindhyas forest, meets a saint, and receives a sermon from him.
In all five stories, the main character feels remorse for his actions, and becomes a monk under the guidance of Dharma-nandana.
At night, King Purandara-datta observes Dharma-nandana and his pupils secretly. Dharma-nandana narrates a parable highlighting the importance of renunciation, and urges the five newly initiated monks (the main characters of the above-mentioned stories) to practice repentance with renunciation. The king is impressed by the integrity of the monks, and returns to his palace. The next day, the king meets Dharma-nandana, and takes the 12 vows of a lay Jain ( shravaka).
Later, the five monks are reborn, meet each other, and discuss how they can attain enlightenment. The text describes successive births of the five monks, narrating related stories along the way. The five monks are reborn as follows:
In the Vindhya forest, the saint (Lobha-deva) explains the situation to prince Kuvalaya-chandra (Mana-bhata). He prophesizes that the prince will marry princess Kuvalaya-mālā (Mayaditya), and Padma-kesara (Moha-datta) will be reborn as their son. Meanwhile, the lion (Chanda-soma) dies in the forest, and becomes a god.
The prince then crosses the Narmada river, and reaches the hermitage of a female ascetic named Enika. Her parrot narrates their past and present lives to the prince. The prince and the ascetic worship Rishabhanatha, discuss various topics, including Samudrika-shastra, and meet disguised as Sora people.
After some days, Kuvalaya-chandra tells Enika that he had to go on a mission to Vijaya-puri. He narrates his genealogy, describing himself as a member of the Ikshvaku dynasty and the Lunar dynasty. Enika sends him off, and also sends a message about his well-being to his parents through her parrot.
Kuvalaya-chandra then reaches the Sahyadri, and joins a carvan heading to Kanchipuram. A group of Bhil people robbers attack the caravan, and the Bhilla chief engages in a duel with the prince. The two men eventually reconcile when they realize that they are both Jains.
The Bhilla chief xintroduces himself as Darpa-parigha, a nephew of the prince's father Drdha-varman. He states that he was to be appointed as the king of Ratna-puri, but was forced to go into exile because of a conspiracy by his younger brother: he ultimately reached the Vindhyas, joined the Bhillas, and became a robber. The prince convinces Darpa-parigha to give up robbery, and follow the Jain teachings. He then leaves for Vijaya-puri, stating that his mission was to enlighten princess Kuvalaya-mālā.
Just then, an elephant gets out of control: prince Kuvalaya-chandra overpowers the elephant, mounts it, and recites the full verse. Kuvalaya-mālā is impressed, and chooses him as her life partner. Meanwhile, Mahendra-kumara comes to the scene, and the two men happily greet each other. Mahendra-kumara explains what happened at the palace after the horse flew away with the prince: his parents made several attempts to find the prince, and the entire town was in despair, until Enika's parrot brought the news of his well-being. King Drdha-varman then sent a party led by Mahendra-kumara to Vijaya-puri.
While preparations are being made to fix an astrologically auspicious date for the wedding, prince Kuvalaya-chandra desperately longs for princess Kuvalaya-mālā. The princess sends presents to the prince, and Bhogavati - an attendant of the princess - narrates her biography to the prince. Bhogavati explains that an ascetic ( shramana) had informed them about the princess's previous births as Mayaditya and Padma-vara. Bhogavati then arranges a meeting between the prince and the princess. Sometime later, the wedding ceremony takes place, and the couple spends the next few days in amorous activities. One day, Kuvalaya-chandra narrates his biography to his wife, and reminds her of their past births. Kuvalaya-mālā agrees to follow Jainism, and is thus enlightened.
At a valley in the Vindhya mountains, Kuvalaya-chandra comes across some ( dhatu-vadins), who were attempting to make gold, but could produce only copper. The prince corrects their mistakes, prays to the Jinas and the , and is thus able to produce gold. He teaches the correct technique of producing gold, as described in the text Jonipahuda, to the alchemists and Kuvalaya-mālā.
On the prince's suggestion, the king invites various religious leaders to describe what they consider to be dharma (righteous conduct). The religious leaders present their views on various religious and philosophical concepts, such as soul, liberation, sacrifice, meditation, life, death, god etc. The king decides that the manuscript agreed with a Jain teacher who preached abstention from five sins and considered Arhat as the divinity. The teacher initiates the king and his companions as monks, and gives them a religious discourse.
Kuvalaya-chandra becomes the new king, and rules for several years. In accordance with the prophecy, Padma-kesara is born as prince Prthvi-sara to Kuvalaya-chandra and his queen Kuvalaya-mālā. Prthvi-sara intends to renounce the world at a young age, but is appointed the heir apparent against his wishes. Sometime later, his parents renounce the world and take to religious life, and he becomes the new king.
Later, Kuvalaya-chandra meets Darpa-parigha, who has now become a saint. Darpa-parigraha narrates his life since their last meeting, and guides Kuvalaya-candra, Kuvalaya-mālā, and Mahendra-kumara to renunciation. Sometime later, the five souls guided by Dharma-nandana are reborn and meet in heaven. Meanwhile, king Prthvi-sara appoints his son Manorathaditya on the throne, and becomes an ascetic.
Meanwhile, the prince Mani-ratha comes across a female deer during a hunting mission, and feels remorse at his cruelty. He meets Mahavira, who explains that in their previous births, the prince and the deer were lovers.
Sometime later, Mahavira reaches Shravasti and preaches to Gautama and others in his Samavasarana. Meanwhile, Prthvisara has been reborn as a god, and then as prince Kama-gajendra during the period of Mahavira. Kama-gajendra arrives at the scene and meets Mahavira, who narrates his life to the audience. Mahavira tells him about the current lives of his four companions, and tells him that he would achieve liberation in this life.
Mahavira then reaches Kakandi, where he continues to preach to Gautama and others. Meanwhile, prince Vajra-gupta arrives at the scene, and Mahavira narrates his life to the audience, introducing him as Lobha-deva reborn. Mahavira continues his discourse, describing the two types of gods: saraga (those with attachments) and viraga (those without attachments). He states that only those who worship the viraga gods attain moksha (salvation). At this point, a Brahmin boy named Svayam-bhu-deva arrives at the scene, and Mahavira narrates his life to the audience, introducing him as Chanda-soma reborn.
Subsequently, Mahavira reaches Rajgir, and gives a discourse to king Shrenika. He also explains a dream to Shrenika's eight-year-old son, prince Maha-ratha, and explains that Maha-ratha was Kuvalaya-mālā reborn. The five souls then meet, and become Mahavira's companions. They eventually adopt samlekhana and attain liberation.
The passages in Paishachi ("Pesaya") language, which is largely unattested, have attracted scholarly attention. Also of historical interest is the description of physical and temperamental characteristics of people from various regions, and specimens of their languages. For example, according to the author, "those from Andhra like women and warfare; they are handsome and fierce in eating; and they utter ati puti ratim."
The text of these manuscripts is not exactly identical. The Pune manuscript features several omissions, which appear to be deliberate: for example, it omits several references to flesh.
In mid-13th century, Ratnaprabha-sūri wrote Kuvalayamālā-kathā, a Sanskrit-language digest of Kuvalayamālā. In 1916, Muni Chatura-vijaya published a critical edition of Ratnaprabha's work, based on three manuscripts.
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