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Manohara is the kinnari (half-woman, half-bird) heroine of one of the Jataka tales. Typically referred to as Manohara and Prince Sudhana, [1] the legend appears in the Divyavadana and is documented by stone reliefs at Borobodur. [2] [3] Versions of the story are reported in the literature of Southeast Asian countries, and similar stories about a bird maiden and a mortal man can be found in East Asia.
Manohara, the youngest of seven daughters of the Kimnara king, lives on Mount Kailash. One day, she travels to the human realm. She is caught by a hunter (using a magic noose in some versions) who gives her to Prince Sudhana. Son of King Adityavamsa and Queen Chandradevi, Sudhana is a renowned archer and heir to the Panchala kingdom. The prince falls in love with Manohara, and they get married.
Later, when the prince is away in battle, Manohara is accused by the royal counselor of bringing bad luck to the city and is threatened with death. She flies away, back to the Kimnara kingdom. She leaves behind a ring and the directions to reach the Kimnara kingdom so that Prince Sudhana can follow her.
Prince Sudhana returns to Panchala and follows her. From a hermit, he learns the language of animals to locate the Kimnara kingdom, and the necessary prayers to win back the princess. The journey takes seven years, seven months, and seven days. Along the way, Sudhana confronts a Yaksha (ogre), a river of flames, and a gigantic tree. After the long and arduous ordeal, he meets the Kimnara king who asks the prince to prove his sincerity with various tests assessing strength, perseverance, and wit. In the first test, Sudhana is made to lift a stone bench in the garden. The second task tested his skill with the bow and arrow. The final test is to identify which of seven identical women is Manohara, who he recognizes by the ring on her finger. Satisfied, the Kimnara king consents to their marriage and the couple returns to Panchala.
This story features in the folklore of Myanmar, Cambodia, [4] [5] Thailand, [6] Laos, Sri Lanka, northern Malaysia and Indonesia. [7] [8] [9] [10] The tale has also spread to China, Kucha, Khotan, Java, Tibet, and Bengal. [11]
The Pannasjataka, Pali text written by a Buddhist monk/sage in Chiangmai around AD 1450–1470, also told the story of Sudhana and Manohara. [12] There are also many similar versions told in China (where it is known as Chinese :悅意; pinyin :Yuèyì), Japan, Korea, and Vietnam, including the Chinese story of the Princess and the Cowherd . In these stories, seven women who can fly descended to earth to take a bath, the youngest and prettiest of whom was captured by a human, and subsequently became a wife of a male human (either her captor or the prince-hero of the story). Later in the stories, the heroine put on some magical thing that enabled her to fly or transform into a bird, and flew away; prompting the quest by the hero in pursuit of his flying wife.
According to James R. Brandon, the story of Manohara is a popular theme in Southeast Asian theatre. [13]
The tale of Manora was adapted as play in Burma (Myanmar), where the character was known as Mananhurry, one of the nine royal daughters that live in a silver mountain, located after "a belt of prickly cane", "a stream of liquid copper" and a "Beloo". Her future husband, Prince Sudhana, was translated as "Thoodanoo", the Prince of Pyentsa. [14] In this version, the princesses fly by the use of an enchanted girdle, and the Manohara-like maiden is captured by a magical slipknot. [15]
The characters of the tale are also known in Southeast Asia as Kev Monora and Prah Sothon. [16]
The tale was also found in the Sanskrit Buddhist literature of Nepal, with the name Story of Suchandrima and a Kinnarí, where the main couple were named Mahonará and Sudhanusha. [17] In another version from Nepal, Kinnarí Avadána, hunter Utpala captures a Kinnari (unnamed in the tale) with a magical noose. Prince Sudhana of Hastiná arrives with his hunting excursion and falls in love with the Kinnari. [18]
Another translation named the prince as Sudhanu and the kinnari as Manohara, daughter of King Druma. [19]
The story of Manohara and Prince Sudhana may have inspired the Manora [21] type of drama dancing, performed in Thailand and Malaysia. [22]
Borobudur, also transcribed Barabudur is a 9th-century Mahayana Buddhist temple in Magelang Regency, not far from the city of Magelang and the town of Muntilan, in Central Java, Indonesia.
Svayamvara is a type of marriage mentioned in Hindu mythology where a woman chose a man as her husband from a group of suitors. Svayaṁ in Sanskrit means 'self' and vara means 'groom'. The bride wishing to marry would select an auspicious time and venue and then broadcast her intentions. Kings typically sent messengers to outside lands, while commoners simply spread the news within the local community. On the appointed day, suitors would gather at the venue and declare their qualifications. The bride would place a garland on the man of her choice and a marriage ceremony was held immediately. However, this type of marriage is not attested in any Dharmaśāstra.
The Triṃśikā-vijñaptimātratā, also known simply as the Triṃśikā or occasionally by is English translation Thirty Verses on Manifestation Only, is a brief poetic treatise by the Indian Buddhist monk Vasubandhu. It was composed in the 4th or 5th century CE and became one of the core texts for the Yogācāra school of Mahāyāna Buddhism. In it he touches on foundational Yogācāra concepts such as the storehouse consciousness, the afflicted mental consciousness, and the three natures, among others. Together with the Vimśatikā form a standard summary of Vasubandhu's understanding of Yogācāra.
Sanghapāla was a famous Khmer monk who traveled to Southern and Northern Dynasties China.
Avadāna is the name given to a type of Buddhist literature correlating past lives' virtuous deeds to subsequent lives' events.
A kinnara is a creature from Hindu and Buddhist mythology. They are described as part human and part bird, and have a strong association with music and love. Believed to come from the Himalayas, they often watch over the well-being of humans in times of trouble or danger. An ancient Indian string instrument is known as the Kinnari vina. Their character is also clarified in the Adi Parva of the Mahabharata, where they say:
We are everlasting lover and beloved. We never separate. We are eternally husband and wife; never do we become mother and father. No offspring is seen in our lap. We are lover and beloved ever-embracing. In between us we do not permit any third creature demanding affection. Our life is a life of perpetual pleasures.
Upāli was a monk, one of the ten chief disciples of the Buddha and, according to early Buddhist texts, the person in charge of the reciting and reviewing of monastic discipline on the First Buddhist Council. Upāli belongs to the barber community. He met the Buddha when still a child, and later, when the Sakya princes received ordination, he did so as well. He was ordained before the princes, putting humility before caste. Having been ordained, Upāli learnt both Buddhist doctrine and vinaya. His preceptor was Kappitaka. Upāli became known for his mastery and strictness of vinaya and was consulted often about vinaya matters. A notable case he decided was that of the monk Ajjuka, who was accused of partisanship in a conflict about real estate. During the First Council, Upāli received the important role of reciting the vinaya, for which he is mostly known.
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Sir Harold Walter Bailey,, who published as H. W. Bailey, was an English scholar of Khotanese, Sanskrit, and the comparative study of Iranian languages.
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Matthew T. Kapstein is a scholar of Tibetan religions, Buddhism, and the cultural effects of the Chinese occupation of Tibet. He is Numata Visiting Professor of Buddhist Studies at the University of Chicago Divinity School, and Director of Tibetan Studies at the École pratique des hautes études.
Padmanabh Shrivarma Jaini was an Indian born scholar of Jainism and Buddhism, living in Berkeley, California, United States. He was from a Digambar Jain family; however he was equally familiar with both the Digambara and Svetambara forms of Jainism. He has taught at the Banaras Hindu University, the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and at the University of California at Berkeley, from which he retired in 1994. Jaini was the author of several books and papers. His best known work is The Jaina Path of Purification (1979). Some of his major articles have been published under these titles: The Collected Papers on Jaina Studies (2000) and Collected Papers on Buddhist Studies (2001). He died on 25 May 2021 at Berkeley at age 97.
Menora or Manora, sometimes shortened as Nora is traditional Siamese theatrical, musical, and acrobatic dance performance originated from the southern regions of Thailand. Having similar plots adopted from Jataka tales of Manohara, this kind of performance is related to the Lakhon chatri (ละครชาตรี), another Siamese arts performance originating from central Thailand. Over five hundred years old, Nora is performed in Thailand's local community centres and at temple fairs and cultural events, and is passed on through training by masters in homes, community organizations and educational institutions. In Malaysia, the practice of Menora has significantly declined since it has been banned by the government of Kelantan, which considers this kind of cultural performance as haram for being involved with polytheism.
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