Pat Darshan

SR No.: 032780
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Kalpana K Sheth, Nalini Balbir
Publisher: Jain Vishva Bharati
Publication Year: 2010
Total Pages: 154
Language: Hindi
Classification: Book_Devnagari
File Size: 30 MB

Page 137

Jina number of accompanying persons at diksa 1000 1000 1000 300 1000 1000 1000 number of accompanying persons at Emancipation 900 1000 1000 500 1000 1000 536 33 - Mahavira was alone at that time. 300 The narrative material: miracles, names and landscape The sections relating to Jinas No. 1, 2, 4, 16, 20, 22 and 24, are not restricted to the Jinas' biodata. They also include embedded narratives (see below). The connecting thread of all the material contained in the document is Shatrunjaya. This document dates back to the beginning of the 19th century; as a highly important sacred place Shatrunjaya has given birth, in the course of time, to a number of literary compositions, whether they are hymns, legends, historical records, inscriptions, etc. The present pat draws on the wealth of traditional materials connected with this tirtha which it hands down in its own way, that is in simple narrative Gujarati prose, where the ordinary pattern of the sentences is made of a chain of verbs in the absolutive finally leading to the main verb at the end of the sentence. The style is lively and close to the movement of the oral sentence. The main narrative classic connected with Shatrunjaya is Dhanesvarasuri's Satrunjayamahatmya written in the 14th century. Several of the embedded stories found in the Ladnun document are also found in Dhanesvarasuri's work. We do not mean to say that the author of our pat used this mahatmya directly or had it in front of him. But it can be considered as a kind of vulgate containing standard material on Shatrunjaya, which was transmitted from generation to generation and was known to all directly or indirectly. For instance, reporting about his visit to Shatrunjaya in November 1822, the British officer and scholar James Tod writes: "My researches in this interesting spot were materially aided by an introduction through my own Yuti (= yati) to some learned priests, now here on a pilgrimage, who gave me much information on points connected with their religion, as well as details concerning the teerut (tirtha), from the Shatrunjaya Mahatma (sic), a portion of which work they had with them". 3 . Although it is not the only work to have the same stories, we treat it here as a convenient reference. Compared to Jinaprabhasuri's Satrunjayakalpa or a work such as the Kumarapalaprabodhaprabandha, where the main concern is to name and list for celebration those who reached Emancipation at Shatrunjaya, without expanding on their adventures, Dhanesvarasuri narrates them at length. Our document stands midway between these two tendencies. The role of oral sources connected with Shatrunjaya should also not be underestimated. But it is more difficult to assert precisely. The striking feature of our text is the exclusive legendary and traditional perspective and the absence of any topographical or historical information which would specifically relate to the period when the pat was painted and written or to earlier historical periods. It is neither the account of an actual 2 I have not been able to consult Subhasilagani's Satrunjaya Kalpa and its commentary (ed. by Labhasagaragani, Ahmedabad, 1969, Agamoddharaka Granthamala No. 41: see Granoff 1999) for this investigation. 3 Travels in Western India, p. 275. 130 UCG2fa