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HYMN TO MAHAVIRA
JINA BALLABHA SURI
Sri Jina Ballabha Suri who is the celebrated author of Sri Mahavira Stotram was born in v.s. 1125 and died in 1167 (approx. 1068-1110 A.D.). He is a great name among the Jaina monks. He was not only a profound scholar and great reformer but he was a great poet also and his poetry is sometimes compared with that of Kalidasa and Bhavabhuti. Though much of the beauty and music of his verses may have been lost in translation, it reveals his wide range of imagery and poetic vision. Besides this Mahavira Stotram which is a unique composition in Prakrit and Sanskrit, he is the author of more than a dozen works.
Bow I to Vira! Thou art formidable
Like a lion to an elephant
To overpower all our inner enemies like anger and lust
That are destroyer of all conscience.
Bow I to Vira! Thou excelleth in calmness The best of Malaya and Mandara hills. Bow I to Vira! Thou art like a high wave In washing the dirt of vice
That characterises the age of Kali1. 1
Oh Lord! Who in Heaven or Hell or in the Netherland Can know thy divine attributes, thy glory great? Not even the holy preceptor of the gods, Nor Indra himself, the Lord of Heaven, What to speak of me, devoid of all merit ! Yet what particle little do I perceive Of thy limitless glory, thy attributes divine Do I strive delineate in my humble way. 2
1 Fourth division of time-cycle in Hindu view, for which the near synonym is Iron Age. In this age, vice predominates over virtue so as to reduce the latter to a quarter, vice being three-fourth.
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