Jambu Jyoti

SR No.: 006503
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: M A Dhaky, Jitendra B Shah
Publisher: Kasturbhai Lalbhai Smarak Nidhi Ahmedabad
Publication Year: 2004
Total Pages: 448
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Philosophy, & Religion
File Size: 21 MB

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John E. Cort
Jambū-jyoti
period; posadha, a vow of temporary mendicancy; and other ascetic rites. Some manuals also contain the texts of the Nine Smaranas (discussed below), and other hymns in Sanskrit, Prakrit and vernacular languages. Thus, like a book of common prayer or missal in orthodox Christian contexts, these manuals provide a pious Jain with all the hymns and liturgies needed for an orthoprax religious life.
The Nine Smaranas
The nine "remembrances" are a set of Prakrit and Sanskrit hymns in which the individual eulogizes the Jinas and the cardinal teachings of Jainism. The first of these is the Navakāra Mantara (Namokkāra Mangala), the nine-line universal Jain mantra in which the individual pays homage to the spiritual hierarchy of the Jinas, other liberated souls, mendicant leaders, mendicant teachers, and all other mendicants.
The other eight texts are longer hymns, several with a distinctly Tantric flavor, in which the individual pays homage to a specific Jina, and thereby actualizes the salvific and world-enhancing virtues symbolized by that Jina. The five-verse Prakrit Uvasaggaharaṁ Stotra is attributed to Bhadrabāhu (5th-4th c. B. C. E.)*, who composed it to remove (hara) the obstacle (uvasagga) of plague from the Jain congregation of Ujjain by praising Pārsvanātha. The 14-verse Prakrit śāntikaram Stotra was composed by the Tapā Gaccha Ācārya Somasundarasūri (1380-1447) to remove plague from a local congregation in Mewar by praising Santinātha. The 14-verse Prakrit Tijayapahutta Stotra is attributed to Mānadevasūri (c. 4th c.)+, who composed it to prevent hostile vyantara gods from causing problems for the Jain congregation in Takshashila; in it he invokes the 16 Tantric vidyādevis (see Cort 1987 : 237-40). The 24-verse Prakrit Namiūna Stotra, also known as the Bhayahara Stotra, is attributed to Mānatungasūri (c. 4th c.)*; the recitation of this hymn to Pārsvanātha is said to cure many kinds of disease. The 40-verse Prakrit Ajitaśānti Stotra alternates verses to Ajitanātha and Santinātha; it is attributed to Nandisena Ācārya, who is
* c. B. C. 325-297 - Editors.
+ Either by Mānadeva I (c. 9th cent. A. D.) or by Mānadeva II (c. latter half of the 11th cent. A. D.) — Editors.
xc. 6th-7th cent. A. D. - Editors.