Ancient Jaina Hymns

Author(s): Charlotte Krause
Publisher: Oriental Institute

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REMARKS ON THE TEXTS
of the bulky contemporaneous literature in praise of their achievements, it is particularly the “VastupālaTejapāla-Prasasti” that interests us here. Its author is Jayasimha Sūri, pupil of Vīrasūri?, and Acārya of the Munisuvrata Temple of Broach. The Prasasti is believed to have originally been incised on a stone slab in the Sakunikā-vihāra Temple which Ambada had reerected, but is now only preserved in a MS. In this Prasasti, Jayasimha Sūri relates how he once requested Tejpala on a visit of the latter to Broach, to replace the bamboo staffs on the 25 chapels (“devakulika”, st. 67) of the Munisuvrata Temple of the "Maņdalesvara Ambada" by golden ones, so as to match their golden pinnacles ("kalyāņa-kumbha", st. 67) obviously those which Santu had donated, and Devabhadra Sûri mentioned. With the consent and assistance of his elder brother Vastupāla, Tejapāla had complied with this request of the Acārya (st. 64-69). The Prasasti also extolls Vastupāla for having installed images of Pārsvanātha and Mahavira in Ambada's Sakunikā-vihāra Temple (st. 63).
The Prasasti is not dated, nor does it mention the dates of those events. The circumstances of the poet are not known either, except the fact that he composed another work in honour of the two brothers, viz., the drama “Hammira-Mada-Mardana"}, the oldest MS. of which is dated V. S. 1286, and which is stated to have been acted at Cambay at the order of Vastupala's son Jaitrasimha'. It celebrates the victory of the two
(1) Published in "Hammira-Mada-Mardana", Gaekwad's Oriental Series, X, p. 59 ff. vid. also M. D. Desai, 1.1., paras. 528 and 552 and Winternitz, 1. 1., II, p. 547.
(2) Hammira-Mada-Mardana, 1. 1., p. 2, st. 5. (3) Vide supra. (4) M. D. Desai, para, 552.
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