Yasastilaka and Indian Culture

SR No.: 001609
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Krishnakant Handiqui
Publisher: Jain Sanskruti Samrakshak Sangh Solapur
Publication Year: 1968
Total Pages: 566
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Story, Literature, & Culture
File Size: 16 MB

Page 326

11. THE ANUPREKŞAS AND JAINA RELIGIOUS POETRY
307 आतङ्कशोकभयभोगकलत्रपुत्रैर्यः खेदयेन्मनुजजन्म मनोरथाप्तम् ।
नूनं स भस्मकृतधीरिह रत्नराशिमुद्दीपयेदतनुमोहमलीमसास्मा ॥ He who wastes his human birth, obtained after cherished desire, with thoughts of disease, sorrows, fear, pleasures, wife and children, might as well consign a heap of jewels to the flames for the sake of the ashes. Verily his soul is blackened by mighty ignorance (2. 156).
बाह्यप्रपञ्चविमुखस्य शमोन्मुखस्य भूतानुकम्पनरुचः प्रियतस्ववाचः ।
प्रत्यप्रवृत्तहृदयस्य जितेन्द्रियस्य भब्यस्य बोधिरियमस्तु पदाय तस्मै ।। May Bodhi (the acquisition of the Three Jewels') lead the man with faith to that exalted state, namely, Liberation, the man that is averse to worldly phenomena and eager for spiritual calm, self-controlled, and kind to all crea. tures, and fond of the truth, his heart devoted to the Inner Self! (2. 157).
The HYMNS The next category of Jaina religious poetry, the hymns, as far as they are represented in Yasastilaka, consist mostly of verses in praise of
e Arhat, the five Parameşthins (Arhat, Siddha, Acārya, Upādhyāya and Sādhu), and the three Jewels (Right Faith, Right Knowledge and Right Conduct). Most of these verses occur in Book VIII, section 35, while another series of verses accompanying various items in the worship of Jina is found in Section 36. Section 37 of the same Book contains a long hymn in honour of Jina in the lyrical metres described in Chap. VII. Reference may also be made to the dhyāna (hymn for mental recitation in the course of meditation) in section 39, extracts from which will be found in Chap. X. Verses in honour of the Jaina Sarasvati, the presiding goddess of the Scriptures, occur in Section 40, which deals with her worship. While most of these eulogistic and devotional verses occur in connection with Sāmāyika or the customary worship of Jina described in Book VIII, isolated v in his honour are also found elsewhere in the work usually at the beginning and the end of a chapter.
The verses which we have called hymns are composed in elaborate metres in elevated style, as may be expected in a Kāvga poet like the author of Yasastilaka. They are in the nature of a tribute to moral. intellectual and spiritual grandeur, and glorify the sublime in the sphere of religion. asceticism and spiritual culture. The ideal of omniscient and imınaculate sainthood, the utter disregard of the body and worldly aspirations self-control, altruism and universal good-will, right knowledge and faith and conduct: these form the keynote of the eulogies, the abstract
1 i. e. Right Faith, Right Knowledge and Right Conduct. 2 See Chap. X.