________________
,
REMARKS ON THE TEXTS
creations are five hymns in honour of various Jinas, which are of approximately the same length (19-29 stanzas), and, to judge from the scanty specimina reproduced by Mr. Nahta,' of the same linguistic and poetical qualities as our hymn. Not only thus much, but in his Mahavira-stavana of 24 stanzas, the same metre seems to have been used in which the 20 first stanzas of the former are composed. In depth of religious sentiment, gracefulness of diction, and melodiousness of flow, our hymn is not inferior to the Gautamarāsa either.
au
It is, therefore, quite possible that our hymn may represent another creation of this poet, whose thorship of the Gautama-rāsa too was long unknown, owing to a similar mutilation of that part of the text which contained the name, till older Mss. with a more authentic text were found, and the truth revealed with their help. In the present case, the conjectured "Vinayapahu" makes smoother reading from the standpoint of the tonic qualities, and gives more aesthetic satisfaction from that of the train of ideas than the "vinayaparu” of our MS., by harmoniously gratifying the curiosity regarding the poet's identity, which the words " कम्मकरु जोडि कर वीनवउ", i. e., “With folded hands, I, your servant....pray", arouse
in the reader.
The manuscript from which this hymn is being published was kindly placed at my disposal by Upadhyāyaji Śrī Labhimuniji of the Kharatara Gaccha, from the Bhandar of the Santinatha Temple of Ujjain. It consists of six leaves of country paper (4/10), bearing on the margin the figures 3-8. Each leaf has four lines.
(1) नाहटा पृ. ६०.
91
