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210
Amrita
the flower and the fruit of the tree of passion is undesirable, the one is the bad thought and the other the wicked act. A pupil who has no respect for his teacher can gain nothing by remaining with a teacher. The object of one's liking is always good to one for, the tigress regards her young one to be meek and compassionate. One who accepts the words of his teacher will be benefited with it as with a dose of medicine. Even the deadly enemy is not able to do as much harm as attachment and hatred are able to do. Passions burn down the penance of a soul as does the forest-conflagration the forest.
Along with such moral advice the author has given us a lot of theological information. The condition of the soul is the real cause of the binding of the Karmas. In reality body and soul are quite distinct and for the sake of religion one should abandon even the body. There are the five Asravas which lead the soul through the worldly existence. Many topics that are usual in the philosophy of the Jain faith are enumerated at great length. The striking feature of the work however is the illustrations of mythological and historical persons to explain the moral rules. In this the author has drawn greatly on the canonical books in giving instances of Hariesa, Bharata, Bahubali, Sanankumāra and others and probably on the Niryukti literature in referring to the later patriarchs like Prabhava, Sthulabhadra, up to Vajra. Historical references appear to be, king Sanvahana of Benaras and his thousand wives, Kūniya's murder of his father. Seniya, and the fact that Canakya the teacher of Chandraguptá killed king Parvataka. In some part of the work the author appears to muse and advise his own self to meditate and to be careful.
The work really ends with verse 537 which gives in a cunning manner the name of the author. This is however followed by a small praise of the book itself and the importance of studying it which is certainly added by some one else afterwards. Nearly the whole of the book is written in Gäthäs the usual metre of the non-canonical works. There are however, a few verses in Anustubh and Rathoddhată many of which are quotations from earlier works like the Uttaradhyayana and the Niryuktis. On the whole the work shows no great poetic merit. In few verses there are similes like that of an actor for the wandering soul which are trite and often used. The list of allusions is however long and gives credit to the author for his knowledge of the canon. The language is simple but lacks the quality of elegance and smoothness. That the work was popular from comparatively very early times" in clear from the number of commentaries on it. As old as the tenth century is the commentary of Siddharsi the famous writer of the Upamitibhavapraprapancakatha in Sanskrit. In A. D. 1161 Ratnaprabha wrote another