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ANCIENT JAINA HYMNS of bold "paạimātrā" Devanāgarī characters of archaic type, in which the hymn is recorded, with an interlinear commentary written above the text in smaller letters, all in black ink. The cyphers, colophons of the original hymn as well as of the text which preceded the latter, and of which only the final passage is preserved, and the vertical marginal lines are in red, the marginal lines being double, and the interstices filled with yellow pigment. The right and left margins moreover are decorated with multicoloured floral designs, considerably reduced by frequent handling, owing to which even the original marginal cyphers of pageing have partially disappeared, being subsequently over-written by fresh ones. The yellow pigment used for corrections, has likewise become so much worn off by friction, and is So much faded that the corrected letters are clearly discernible below it. From all this it seems that the MS. must be fairly old. .
The first two leaves obviously contained the wellknown and often published "Bharatesvara-sajjhāi" (part of the Tapī Gaccha Liturgy), part of the last stanza of which appears on the top of the first leaf numbered as the third. Our hymn is the last text of the MS, and bears the following colophon: "fa SARTEF FTTT II Gill 3 11" The interlinear commentary has the colophon: "sfor siteiramareraifafianraaf ATT II". More than half of the last page, left blank by the copyist, is filled with meaningless scribblings from later hands.
To the best of my knowledge, the hymn has never been printed nor cited before, nor does there seem to exist any further MS. of the same.
(1) "31 spoolfa facut GIAT I F TEET FESTU FYRS 118311 sfat FEITE Horarit pros HT 11011"
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