Letters to Vijayendrasuri

SR No.: 034934
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Kashinath Sarak
Publisher: Yashodharma Mandir
Publication Year: 1960
Total Pages: 326
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 37 MB

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282
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II. Opatovicks 8 Prague (Czechoslovakia)
14. 2. 1926.
My dear and revered friend,
May I trouble you with one or two questions? When I had the great pleasure to witness the Partishtha ceremonies of your great Acharya I made some notes about them, which I am using in work I am about to write. Amongst other things I remember very well, during the Tirthakara procession, and also at the chaitya vandan, there were frequent loud shouts which seemed to me to be: Pupayaha, puṇayāha priyatam. prityatam (पुण्याह पुण्याह प्रीयतां प्रीयताम् ) while rice and other grains were thrown to the idol. Now I am not quite sure, whether I understood these shouts rightly and the words I put down in my notes (Punyaha etc) are correct. I should be very much obliged to you, if you would kindly correct my notes, if I have put it down wrongly, and let me know what the shouts really were on that occasion,
And one other quesion, at the ceremonies in the temple there was kind of priest who performed the rites. In my notes I called him "Yati". I do not know, if this is right, I have a note: "Before the ceremonies began, a Yati went up to the roof of the temple, in order to invite the gods by Mantras, to the festival." Is this right? And is the "Yati" a Jain functonary or a Brahmin priest? Or should it be a 'Pujari'? I know that the monks themselves are no functionaries at the ceremonies, but I have some doubt about the persons who did act at the ceremonies as functionaries. I should be thankful to you,
if you could solve my doubts.