Ancient Jaina Hymns

Author(s): Charlotte Krause
Publisher: Oriental Institute

Page 80

ANCIENT JAINA HYMNS author of the present hymn, assuming “Naya+vimala" in the last stanza to be a lapsus calami for “Naya + vijaya”, which latter is the name of Yasovijaya's Guru, who might have been glorified by the poet in this way. The proud language and the erudition aisplayed therein, would be in congruence with such illustrious authorship. Yet the mentioning of "Dhiravimala" in st. 13 leaves no doubt that its author can be nobody else but the latter's disciple Nayavimala alias Jñanavimala Sūri. Since he gives his name as "Nayavimala", the hymn must have been composed before this name was changed to "Jõānavimala Sûri" at his investiture with the Acarya title in V. S. 1748-9; and since he mentions, in the same stanza, Vijayaprabha Sūri as pontiff, it must have been after the death of the preceding pontiff Vijayadeva Sūri in V. S. 1713 (or anyhow, after Vijayaprabha Sūri's investiture with the Acārya title in V. S. 1710).
Still, the word "aindra” is not a wrong clue, if interpreted as pointing towards eventual connections of the poet with Yaśovijaya. Such connections are indeed established. For it is well known that Naya vimalaJñanavimala wrote Bālāvabodhas on two of Yasovijaya's works, viz., (1) on his "Sīmandhara-stavania" (V.S. 1763) and (2) on his "Atha-yogadrsti-sajjhāi” (undated).? Muni Caturavijaya: has inferred from Yasovijaya's “Aştapadi'' and from the "Navapada-pūjā”4 going under the latter's name, that personal relations existed between Yasovijaya on one side and the three philosopher poets Jõānavimala, Anandaghana, and Devacandra on the other side. This is quite impossible in Devacandra's case, who was born in V. S. 1746, i. e., three years
(1) I. G. K., II, p. 5 ff.: p. 7; and III, p. 1312 and 1631.
1 J. G. K., II, p. 39; p. 336; and I I, p. 1637. (3) J. St. Sand., p. 01.
(4) Vide "Srimad-Yalovi,ayaji Upadhyāya-kfti Sri Navapada i Pia", Jaioa Atmånanda Sabha, Bhavnagar, V. S. 1931, Introd. p. 7 1.
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