Neminahacariya Part 1

SR No.: 002609
Original Sutra Author: Haribhadrasuri
Author: H C Bhayani, Madhusudan Modi
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad
Publication Year: 1970
Total Pages: 450
Language: Sanskrit
Classification: Book_Devnagari & Literature
File Size: 16 MB

Page 8

INTRODUCTION
The present volume contains the first instalment of text of the Apabhramsa epic poem Neminahacariya (Sk. Nemināthacarita) dealing with the mythological life of Neminātha, the twentysecond Tirthamkara of the Jainas. It was composed in V.S. 1216 (ie, 1160 A. D.) by Haribhadrasūri who belonged to the Vadagaccha and had Šricandrasuri as his Guru. The work is being edited here in full for the first time. It has several unique features which bestow on it a distinction of being a highly important work of Apa. bhramsa literature. The exciting discovery, some fifty years back, of a full-fledged Apabhramsa literature was heralded by two poetic works that were edited and published by the great German Indologist, Herman Jacobi in 1918 and 19211, and one of these works consisted of a portion of our Nemināhacariya. Secondly, the Neminahacariya is one of the two only available poems of epic length belonging to the Svetāmbara Apabhramsa literature, the other poem being the Vilāsavaikana of Sadhāraņa composed in 1066 A. D. All the longer Apabhramsa poems that have been publisbed so far are Digambara Jain works. Thirdly, the Neminahacariya was composed at Anahillapura, the capital of the Caulukyas of Gujarat. Fourthly, it is preserved in an old palm-leaf manuscript, while most of the other available Apabhramsa works are preserved in paper manuscripts only. Lastly, excepting a minor portion, the whole of the „Neminahacariya is com. posed in one single metre of complicated structure, and the poem has no internal structural divisions or sections. Thus it is the only available Apabhraíša poem of Purāņic proportions, and yet not composed in the Sandhiform. We consider it, therefore, our good fortune that we are placing here in the hands of the students of Apabhraíša language and literature the first instalment of the text of the Nemināhacariya.
Jacobi's edition of the Sanatkumdrcarita, which forms a part of the Neminahacariya, was based on the then only available paper manuscript. Later on, the palm leaf manuscript of the text in a Jesulmere Bhandār came to light, and Muni Shri Jinavijayaji, the great doyen of Indologists, planned to edit the poem. But there was some difficulty in tracing the whereabouts of the paper manuscript used by Jacobi. In the meanwhile unfortunately Muniji's health and eyesight were impaired, and he had to give up his original plan. So taking direct inspiration from him, with the blessings of Āgamaprabhakara Muni Shri Punyavijayaji and with the active and ever-ready support of Shri Dalsukhbhai Malvania, we undertook to edit the Nemināhacariya.
Our task turned out comparatively much lighter than what Jacobi had faced while editing the Sanatkumārcarita, and for this all the thanks go to the Jesulmere palm leaf which is quite exceptionally and extermely carefully written Apabhraṁsa manuscript. The orthography is almost absolutely uni. 1. Bhavisat takahā von Dhanavāla, 1918; Sanatkumāracaritam, 1921. See also Muni Jinavi
jaya's interesting observations: Paumasiricariu, edited by us, 1948, Introduction, p. 6 ff.