Chapter on Passion

Author(s): N L Jain
Publisher: Parshwanath Vidyapith

Page 20

(6)
:
Chapters on Passions
(ii) Form: It is composed in Prākṣta verses in Āryā metre in
comparison to prosaic aphorismic SK. However, most of its verses qualify to be called as aphorism having nine qualities of: (1) Fewer words (2) Devoid of ambiguity (3) Abstraction (4) Hidden meanings (5) Faultlessness (6) Logicality (7) Factuality
(8) Authenticity, and (9) Composition by the Attained (Aptas), chief disciplines,
self-enlightened and the like.
That is why they are called versified aphorisms (GāthāSūtrās) or Doctrinal verses as we have called here. Many of the verses contain seeds and syllables with profound meanings.
The second verse states the number of such verses in the text is 180. However, there is a total of 233+12 (appended verses) = 245 verses classified in Table-2. However, if 10 repetitions of appended verses are excluded, the verse count comes to be 233+2 = 235 only. Thus, it means that there are 235-180 = 55 verses as non-doctrinal ones as classified in Table-4 later.
It is observed that out of these verses, there are 92 verses only to be called as doctrinal verses, the rest 86 are called explanatory verses (Bhāşyā-gäthā). They form 720 padas and 5760 letters
Table 2: Categories of Verses (a) Interrogative verses (b) Informative verses
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(Table-3) (4, 5, 14, 62, 70, 115, 175, 180) (Table-5,notes on 2) (Table-4,notes on 2)
(c) Explanatory verses (d) Aphorismic verses
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