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डिसेम्बर २००७
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Dānalakṣaṇa or Dänaśāsana by Śrivasu-pūjyarsi A Jain Samskrta work on donations with Kannada commentary
Jagannatha Once, some five years ago, while checking the shelves of our library (Oriental Research Institute, Mysore) I found a work unexpectedly in a manuscript hitherto unnoticed. It is in Kannada script. On closer glance I came to know it is detailed description on donations. It is a Jaina work. The language is Samskrta. The whole work in verses of various metres. Avatārikā (link sentences) is interwoven at the beginning of some verses. It has a Kannada commentary. The script is Kannada. Usually so called Kannada commentaries on Saṁskṛta works give only word to word meaning and nothing else. But fortunately for us, this Kannada commentary is very eleborate and explantory. It is interesting to note that in some places even Kannada verses are interwoven in various metres like Mahāsragdharā. Whether these are sangrahakārikās composed by commentator himself or simply he quotes from other sources can be decided only when critical edition of the present work will be prepared.
Some verses of Saṁskṛta are noticed in the commentary. Obviously, they are quotations.
Some of the verses don't have commentary. The commentator might have not observed any important thing or difficult words in them. Hence he left these uncommentated.
The name Dānalaksaņa is seen in the commentary of second verse. However, the name Dānaśasaņa is seen in the last verse. Only critical edition will answer the question which name is actually put for the work. Name of the work : Dānalaksana or Dānaśāsana Repository of the work : Oriental Research Institute, Mysore.
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