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ANCIENT JAINA HYMNS
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(36) "astabhedi-pājā"=pūja by 1. water, 2. sandal-paste, 3. flowers,
ank-incense, 5. light, 6. rice-grains, 7. sweetmeats, and 8. fruit, as is isually performed to this day by Mūrti-pājaka Śvetāmbaras.
2. DEVAKULĀDINĀTHA-STAVANA (2) "sahajam”-disposition.
(4) "şat-kåyāḥ"=the six categories of living beings, viz., earth-, water-, ire-, air-, plant-bodies, and animals (cp. Pravac., Dvāra 152, st. 989).
The pleasantness of everything in his surroundings, as described in this stanza, is one of the "atiếayas" of a "Tirthankara: cp. general chapter.
(70) "the boat consisting in the pair of your two feet, was not Obtainable".
(10) "Vrsabha"=Rşabha, or Adinatha.
(18) "In this world, there is a scarcity of your likeness", i. e., your quals are rare.
(19) "We believe that when the devotee, eager to bow to your feet, bends his head down low, this is not due to his natural trend, but to the heavy store of merit formerly acquired by him (as without such merit, the opportunity of coming into contact with the Jaina Faith, cannot be obtained)".
(21) "The fame of those who bow to yon, spreads so far that (reaching the ends of the world) it forms, as it were, flower-chaplets for the Dikkumáris". The latter are goddesses belonging to the Dikkumara sub-class of the first main category of gods of the Jaina Pantheon, the Bhavanavåsins, and are the guardians of the heavenly quarters (Tattv. IV, 11).
(23) "vikalpanih" Acc. plur. (26) "Nābheya"="son of Nábhi", i, e., Rşabha or Ādinātha.
3. VARAKĀNA-PĀRSVANĀTHA STAVANA (3) "prathama” refers, in the original context of the Bhaktămarastotra (st. 2a), to the first Jina Ādin+tha, and therefore stands there in the literal sense. As the present hymn, however, is addressed to the 23rd Jina, it must here be taken in the sense of "foremost", "best".
(12) "sita"="sugar". (14) "mahasah"="swiftly". (15) "favate" =3rd Person plur. Pres. Tense of "lu" "to go".
(20) "samud"="joyful", a synonymon of "aļoka", meant here as an usion to the Asoka-tree, the first of the eight "prätiharyas", which are referred to, in their conventional order, in st. 20-27, each in one stanza.
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