Kumarpal Pratibodh

SR No.: 001873
Original Sutra Author: Somprabhacharya
Author: Jinvijay
Publisher: Central Library
Publication Year: 1920
Total Pages: 564
Language: Prakrit
Classification: Book_Devnagari, Story, & Literature
File Size: 11 MB

Page 4

INTRODUCTION.
स्तुमत्रिसन्ध्यं प्रभुहेमसूरेरनन्यतुल्यामुपदेशशक्तिम् । अतीन्द्रियज्ञानविवर्जितोऽपि यः क्षोणिभर्तुय॑धितप्रवोधम् ।। सत्त्वानुकंपा न महीभुजां स्यादित्येष क्लुप्तो वितथः प्रवादः।
जिनेन्द्रधर्म प्रतिपद्य येन श्लाध्यः स केषां न कुमारपालः ।।-सोमप्रभाचार्य. Nature and Title of the Work-The work Kumára pála-pratibodha coutains a general description of the teachings in tlie Jain religion given from time to time by the Jain preceptor Hemacharya to Kumarapala, the illustrious Chalukya king of Gujarát, and also of the manner in which, after getting these lessons, the King gradually got completely converted to Jainism. The author has given the title of "Jina-Dharma-pratibodha'' to this work; but we have preferred to retain to it the title of "Kuniárapála-pratibodha," for two reasons; first because that title is found mentioned in the colophon at the end of the work; and secondly because that title by itself carries to the general reader the idea of the subject-matter of the work itself.
The Mss.-material - The present edition of the work has been prepared from a palm-leaf Ms." found in a Jain Bhandár at Patan, the ancient Capital of Gujarat and now a Taluka town in the Kadi Pránt (District) of the Baroda State ruled by His Highness the Maharaja Gaekwad. The Ms. consists of two hundred and fifty-five leaves. Each leaf is 2 ft. 7 inches long and only 2 inches broad; and on each side of it are written from three to five lines in Devanagari script in black ink. Each liue contains from 140 to 150 letters and has three divisions separated by spaces one inch long, These spaces have holes (in the niiddle) through which pass strings to fasten together all the leaves. This Ms. was written at Cambay iu Samvat 1458 (A. D. 1402).*
Palm-leaf Mss. of this Age and their Imperfections---As no other palm-leaf Ms. written after this date has been found by me in any of the Jain Bhandars, I am led to infer that this is one of the last palm-leaf Mss, written in Gujarat, and, in fact, in Western and Northern India. From the sources of Jain history it is found that the art of writing on palm-leaf lad begun to
1-Rendered into English from the original Gujarati preface written by the editor-J. S. K.
2-This palm-leaf Ms., as also the other mentioned later on, was procured by the late Mr. C. D. Dalal, M. A., Sanskrit Librarian in the Central Library, Baroda, from Sanghavi's Bhandar and Sanghavina Padano Bhandar respectivelyJ. S. K.
3 This Ms. has been noticed by Prof. P. Peterson in his ".1 Filth Report of Operations in Search of Sanskrit Mss, in the Bombay Circls, 1892-95.