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ON SOME NONCANONICAL SUBHĀṢITA
(near Ahmedabad) (No. 121); and (xxxvi) Sūktiratnavali by Hema vijayagani mentioned in the prasasti to the vṛtti on Vijayaprasasti Kavya (cf. M. Krishnamachariar, History of Sanskrit Literature, para 370). These are only a few of many other Jaina subhāṣita-samgraha-s existing in MS. form.
II. Jaina Didactic and Gnomic Subhāṣita-Literature:
10. We see that all the subhāṣita-saṁgraha-s written by Jainas, who pay homage, usually in invocations to Jina, are, generally speaking, non-Jinistic in character and contain mostly, if not exclusively, non-Jinistic teachings; they pay only a lip service to Jainism by invocations to Jina in the opening or closing verses. That is, however, not the case with the Jaina gnomic and didactic subhasita literature which is more numerous than the Jainistic subhāṣita-samgraha literature. These works are not only written by Jainas who pay always tribute to Jina, but also promote Jaina teachings and propagate Jaina ethics. The main gnomic and didactic Jaina works, some of which were quoted above in connection with the Subhāṣita-padya-ratnākara which cited from them frequently, are collections of stray verses. They are in particular:1
A. Amitagati's Didactic Works:
11.1.
Amitagati2 was a prolific Jaina author. He was the pupil of Madhavasena of the Mathura sangha. His spiritual genealogy was as follows: 1. Virasena, the best of the monks of Mathura; 2. Devasvamin; 3. Amitagati; 4. Nemişena; 5. Madhavasena; and 6. Amitagati (the author)3. Since in this genealogy there were two Amitagati-s, it was suggested that there
1. Here only the main Jinistic gnomic and didactic works are analyzed. Others, some of which are mentioned below, will be analyzed in the second part of this study.
amita+gatı "of boundless ways" (TH GOLDSTÜCKER, Dictionary SanskritEnglish, Berlin-London, 1856, p. 366.
R. G. BHANDARKAR, Report 1884-87, p 19, P. PETERSON, Three Reports (1884-86), p. 11.
2
3.
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