Ancient Jaina Hymns

SR No.: 011036
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Charlotte Krause
Publisher: SCIndia Oriental Institute Ujain
Publication Year: 1952
Total Pages: 185
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Literature, & Worship
File Size: 7 MB

Page 168

ANCIENT JAINA HYMNS
viz., Anata in the south, and Praṇata in the north, form the 7th layer, and the 11th and 12th Kalpas, viz., Ārana in the south, and Acyuta in the north, constitute the 8th layer. Above these 12 Kalpas are situated the realms of the Kalpatita gods. They consist of two layers, the lower of which contains the 9 Graiveyaka-vimānas, and the higher one, or the tenth Heaven, the 5 Anuttara-vimānas, named Vijaya, Vaijayanta, Jayanta, Aparajita, and Sarvarthasiddha. Cp. Tattv. IV.17 ff. and Commentary. The physical and ethical refinement of the various classes of divinities is in direct proportion to the elevation of their respective abodes.
Out of the nine last existences of Munisuvrata, four were spent in Heaven, viz., the second in the first Kalpa Saudharma, the fourth in the third Kalpa Sanatkumāra, the sixth in the fifth Kalpa Brahmaloka, and the eighth in the Anuttara-vimāna Aparajita, each being preceded and followed by a human one, and each representing a higher level of refinement than the preceding
one.
(5) "Hari-kula"-"Hari-vamsa", the Ksatriya dynasty to which the two Tirthankaras Munisuvrata and Neminatha belonged, while the remaining 22 were all scions of the "Ikṣvāku" dynasty.
(6) "jani-maham"
"janma-mahotsavam", alluding to the belief that the gods celebrate the birth of each Tirthankara with great éclat, after taking the new-born babe to the fairy-island of Nandiśvara-dvipa, outside the world of men.
"adya-juana-traya"-the first three out of the five categories of knowledge, viz., (a) mati-jñana or knowledge obtained through the senses and the process of thinking, (b) fruta-jñāna or knowledge acquired by instruction, (c) avadhi-ju na or transcendental knowledge of material things, (d) manaḥparyaya-jñāna or thought-reading, and (e) kevala-juana or omniscience. Cp. Tattv. I, 9 ff. The Tirthankaras are believed to possess the first 3 categories from their very conception, and to acquire the last two at later stages of their lives.
(7) "mohadyari-kula" refers to the mohaniya and the other categories of karman, represented as the enemies of the soul (vide above).
(8)-(14) vide general chapter.
(11) "tri-vapri"-the threefold enclosure of the "Samavasarana".
(12) "catūrūpyam"the fourfold appearance of the Tirthankara, created by the gods in the "Samavasarana" in such a way that he seems to face all the four directions simultaneously.
(14) "audattya"-"high tone," a quality attributed to the Tirthankara's voice: cp. Hemacandra, Abhidh. I, 65 and Commentary.
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