Kirti Kaumudi tatha Sukrut Sankirtan

SR No.: 002505
Original Sutra Author: Someshwar Mahakavi, Arisinh Thakkur Kavi
Publisher: Singhi Jain Shastra Shiksha Pith Mumbai
Publication Year: 1961
Total Pages: 168
Language: Sanskrit
Classification: Book_Devnagari & Literature
File Size: 10 MB

Page 87

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Professor G. Bühler's critical study
The following verse 43 tells us that the stay on the mountain and the worship, lasted eight days. Then the prince of counsellors, after bestowing rich gifts upon the monks, descended from Mount Satrumjaya, performed the auspicious ceremonies for the journey and longed to bring his homage to the divine Neminatha on Girnar.
According to Sarga VIII. 1, the procession did not go directly to Junagadh, but first to Devapaṭṭana or Somanatha on the south coast of Sorath. There he, who possessed terrible power, worshipped the conqueror of Kama, the (god) characterised by the moon, he who is beautiful to look upon,' i.e., Śiva-Somanātha. Soon, however, the ocean, pure through its shell-mark and blue as the indranilastone,' reminded Vastupāla, by these its qualities, of Neminatha (v. 10) and drove him to go further. Mount Raivataka (Girnar) came in sight, and it seemed to the minister as if the creepers of its woods, swayed by the wind, performed a joyful dance in honour of the arrival of the holy congregation (v. 11). This sight. inspired Vastupala to a song of praise (vv. 12-16). After his arrival he had a camp pitched at the foot of the mountain and celebrated the arrival by a festival. On the next morning the pilgrims ascended Girnar (v. 28). The description which now follows of the worship of Neminatha (vv. 29-42 ) is only a repetition of the scenes in the temple of Adinatha. In conclusion, it says that the halt on Girnar lasted, like that on Satrumjaya, eight days. It is worthy of note that Vastupala, on leaving, is said to have offered his homage to the Brahman gods Ambā, Samba, Pradyumna, and the rest, who had temples on the mountain.
The ninth Sarga is, like the sixth, a purely poetical addition without any historical element whatever. It gives a description of the six seasons, which the prince of the wise, whose wishes were fulfilled, saw on the slopes of the mountain.
The tenth Sarga is occupied with the return of the congregation from Girnar to Dholka. Immediately after the descent Vastupāla gave the pilgrims a magnificent banquet and distributed rich gifts among them (vv. 1-5). Then he set out for Vamanasthali, the modern Vanthli, on the way from Junagadh to Devapaṭṭna, and made a solemn entry into the town. Formerly it was forbidden to Jaina pilgrims to enter the city. Vastupala, however, had "the godless writing" destroyed (v. 6). Concerning the further course of the journey, all that is related is that in every village incense was offered to the Tirthamkaras (v. 7). When the procession reached the neighbourhood of Dholka, not only Vastupala's relations, but also Viradhavala, with the citizens, came out to meet him. In the midst, between the Rānā and his brother Tejaḥpāla, "like a Siva represented in the manner of the Tripurushas" (v. 11), he entered the town amid the praises of the bards (vv. 14-29) and the passionate expressions of joy of the women (vv. 31-42).
Vastupala's pilgrimage is mentioned in the inscriptions in his temple on Girnār as well as in Someśvara's Kirtikaumudi. The inscriptions2 state quite briefly that
1 This note, found also in Jinaharsha's Vastupalacharita, has a particular interest, because Jaina pilgrims never pass the night on the mountain now.
2 J. Burgess, Archaeolog. Survey of Western India, No. 2.-Memorandum of the Antiquities at Dabhoi, etc., p. 22, 1. 4 ff., p. 23, 1.11 ff; etc., and Arch. Report, Western India, Vol. II p. 170. सं० ७७ वर्षे श्रीशत्रुञ्जयो जयन्तप्रभृतिमहातीर्थयात्रोत्सव प्रभावाविर्भूतश्रीमद्देवाधिदेवप्रसादासादितसंघाधिपत्येन... श्रीवस्तुपालेन ।
The same date V. S. 1277 is rightly given by Merutunga in the prabandhachintamaṇi p. 254.