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Arhat Pārsva and Dharanendra Nexus
Suri of Raja-gaccha (c. 2nd-3rd quarter of the 12th century A.D.): Two verses from his Pārsva-Jina-stavana pertinent to the present discussion may be cited:28
स्वामिन् ! दुर्जयमोहराजविजयप्रापविण्यभाजस्तव स्तोत्रं किं कमठोरुदर्पदलने श्रीपार्श्व ! विश्वप्रभो ! । तिग्मांशोर्यदि वा स्फुरद्ग्रहमहःसन्दोरहोहद्रुहः खद्योतद्युतिसंहृतिश्रुतिपदे वर्तेत किं कोविदः ॥ ७॥ सश्रीकान् तव वक्त्रदुग्धजलयेरुद्भूतमत्यद्भुतं मोहोच्छेदकतत्त्वसप्तकवच: पीयूषमित्याद्दतः । विश्वेभ्यः फणभृद्विभुः फणिमणिब्याजात् प्रफुल्लत्फणापात्रीभिः पृथुभिर्विभाति परितः स्वामिन् ! प्रयच्छन्निव ॥ ८॥
- श्री पार्श्वजिनस्तवनम्
It was perhaps Ācārya Jinavallabha's grand disciple Jinapati Sūri (active c. latter half of the 12th century A.D.), if not some other and later composer, who had addressed a hymn to the Antariksa-Pārsvanātha of Śrīpura; a pertinent verse therefrom is quoted below:29
प्रस्फूर्जत्फणमण्डलीचलमणिश्रेणीसमाविर्भवच्चञ्चच्चन्द्रमरीचिसञ्चयपरित्रस्यत्तमोमण्डलः । उन्मीलनवनीलनीरजदलश्यामाभिरामधुतिः श्रेयःश्रेणिमनुत्तरां प्रथय नः श्रीपार्श्व ! विश्वप्रभो ! ॥९॥
- श्री अन्तरिक्षपार्श्वनाथस्तवनम्
In the opening decades of the 13th century, the most notable hymnist to meet with was the blind poet Muni Ramacandra of Bịhad-gaccha. Among the several hymns he composed, at least six are in praise of the Jina Pārsvanātha of Jābālipura or Jālor in the surroundings of which he was perhaps permanently residing. (The temple to this Jina was founded on Jābālipura's Kāñcanagiri Hill by the Solanki emperor Kumarapala in A.D. 1166 and was given over by him to the monks of the Bịhad-gaccha). Rāmacandra interweaves the sabdālankāras and the arthālankaras, the two classes of grace-ornaments with considerable skill, with equal attention to prasāda and oja qualities. The configurations he creates of Jina Pārśva and Dharņoraga are almost as evocative as of his predecessors who portrayed Pārsva and Nagarāja Dharanendra in their hymnical compositions, indeed with considerable force. His
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