Chakkammuvaeso

Author(s): Madhusudan Modi
Publisher: Oriental Institute

Page 10

INTRODUCTION
I
The Title
The present work is named Chakkammuvaeso sk. Şatkarmopadeśa ⚫ The Discourse on Six Duties'. These duties are the duties of a Jain householder. (1) the worship of the deity; (2) the devotion to one's good preceptor; (3) the study of the Jaina scriptures; (4) self-restraint; (5) penance; and (6) munificience.1 These are the six duties of a householder according to the Jain doctrine.
The writer has devoted the greater portion of this text to the eightfold worship of the deity with (1) water; (2) fragrant ingredients; (3) rice; (4) offering of food(5) flowers; (6) a light or a lamp; (7) incense; and (8) fruits. To sum up the importance of this eightfold worship, the writer has devoted one Sandhi to the cumulative worship of the Jina and its religious ritual.
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The mere description of this eightfold worship along with the ritual of the cumulative worship of the Jina would have been extremely dull. The writer has, therefore, devoted nine Sandhis to nine stories, each Sandhi narrating a story for each of the nine topics. The interest in the work is sustained by these nine stories. 3 The first Sandhi of the work is in the nature of an introduction while the next nine Sandhis contain eight stories' edifying the eight forms of worship, together with the ninth one for the cumulative worship with eight objects taken together.
The last four Sandhis take up the bare narration of the remaining five duties of a householder as usual stuffing them in full with the doctrinal description of the Jain creed. Only the last Kadavaka of Sandhi: 14: sums up the work, giving the date of the composition of the work and the time taken up by the writer in composing it.
1 Ch. I. 8-9.
पूया देवह सुहगुरवासण समइसुद्ध सझायपयासण संजमतवदाणइ संजुत्तइ जिणदंसणछकम्मर वुत्तइ ॥
2 Ch. I. 13.9-10.
जलगंधक्खयचरुयहि कुसुमिहि दीवधूवसुफलहि अइगरुयहि पवकमलइ पुज्जइ जिणणादह जो भतिए सुइणाणसणाहह ।
3 The edificatory stories are extant among the Śvetāmbaras also. The discussion of this topic is taken up in the last section of this introduction while discussing the sources.