________________
28
INTRODUCTION
Though it is not explicitly stated in the colophon that the merchant Nāga got the ms. copied at, the instance of Sadhvi Mrgāvatī, a lady disciple of Acārya Śrī Dhaneśvarasūri, one has to understand it.
The complete text of the colophon of the sto ms. is carefully edited on the basis of the photocopy and is printed in the third part at the place mentioned above. Hence whatever errors are there in the text printed in the Catalogue of Jesalmer Bhandāras,
are corrected here. 1. The description of this ms. is given in the #CO (Editor's
Note) to the first part. The ms. is incomplete. The folios containing the text portion from the word uvavajjaħti (p. 1136 line 22) occurring in the fifth sūtra of the second Ekendriya Uddeśa of the 34th Sataka to the end are missing. That is, folios containing the text portion which is printed in the third part from pp. 1137 to 1187 are not available. While preparing the critical text I have compared the press matter with the text portion contained in the available folios of the ms. But the readings of optional syllables, which are yielded by this ms. in plenty, are not recorded by me. This very old ms. belongs to the period prior to the date of composition of Abhayadeva's vrtti on the Bhagavatisūtra. This is the only ms. which has yielded important readings about which I have written elsewhere in this Introduction. Considering the special importance of the ms., Agamaprabhākara Muni Śrī Punyavijayaji often told me that though the ms. was incomplete and many folios were missing, whatever portion was available was not small and the version of the text, as was found
in the ms., should be printed separately. o This palm-leaf ms. belonging to the Pūjyapāda Śāsanasamrāta
Acārya Bhagavanta Śrī Vijayanemisūrīśvarajī Mahārāja Pattānugāmī Pūjyapāda Acārya Bhagavanta Śrī Vijayasuryodayasuriji Mahārāja Collection, is preserved in the Sri Yaśobhadra-śubhamkara-Jñānaśālā, Godhra. It has 341 folios. Its size is 38 cms x 6 cms. It contains the text of the Bhagavatīsūtra from the 13th Śataka to the end. The scribe of this ms. wrote the Bhagavatisūtra in two parts. The first part containing the text of the Bhagavatīsütra from the beginning to the 12th Sataka is not available. The condition of the ms. containing the second part is not good. The script is legible. Folios 1-4, 7-12, 15, 23, 42, 44, 50, 51, 52, 55, 59, 79, 80, 86, 91-94, 96, 97, 141, 168, 204, 206, 207, 215, 219, 227, 228, 233, 235, and 283 are missing. The ms. has neither praśasti nor puspikā. Even the mention of the date of the ms. does not occur at the end. But on the basis of the mode of writing we can assign the ms. to the 14th century V.S. Figure 89 is given
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org