________________
ANCIENT JAINA HYMNS
(36) "astabhedi-pūjā"=pūjs by 1. water, 2. sandal-paste, 3. flowers, 4. frank-incense, 5. light, 6. rice-grains, 7. sweetmeats, and 8. fruit, as is usually performed to this day by Würti-pujaka Svetämbaras.
2. DEVAKULĀDINĀTHA-STAVANA
(2)
"sahajam"=disposition.
(4) "gat-kåyāh"=the six categories of living beings, viz., earth-, water-, fire-, 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 "atisayas" of a “Tirthankara: cp. general chapter.
(78) "the boat consisting in the pair of your two feet, was not obtainable".
(10) "Vrşabha"=Rsabha, or Ādinàtha.
(18) "In this world, there is a scarcity of your likeness", i. l., your equals 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 you, spreads so far that (reaching the ends of the world) it forms, as it were, flower-chaplets for the Dikkumaris". The latter are goddesses belonging to the Dikkumāra 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) "Nábheya"=''son of Nabhi", i, e., Rşabha or Adinatha.
3. VARAKĀNA-PĀRŚVANĀTHA STAVANA (3) "prathama" refers, in the original context of the Bhaktàmarastotra (st. 2d), to the first Jina Adin 1 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) “savate"=3rd Person plur. Pres. Tense of "ļu" "to go".
(20) "samud"="joyful", a synonymon of “ajoka", meant here as an allusion to the Agoka-tree, the first of the eight "pratibāryas", which are referred to, in their conventional order, in st. 20-27, each in one stanza.
132
Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat
www.umaragyanbhandar.com
