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Poetical Biography of Śri Vijayadharma Sūri 209
the causes of the present dissension of the Jaina Community, into its quarries, its weaknesses and the short-sighted policy of the majority of their spiritual guides.
The prevailing of this polemical spirit, however, should not surprise us too much since it seems to be a characteristic feature of many of the ancient Rāsas, in which the greatest part of the ecclesiastical history of Gujarati Jainism is handed down, and which venerable Mangalavijaya has successfully revived in his 'Dharma Jivana Pradipa'. All the Răsas are epic poems, and consist of a number of sections composed in different meters and melodies (desi, cālī). Endrhyme is obligatory, alternation of Doha and Dhāla sections as has been carried through in the 'Dharma Jīvana Pradipa') optional for the species. The oldest Rasas dealing with subjects of Jaina history, are of the 13th century. The species flourished during the period from the 14th till 16th century, and has since then come out of fashion. The older specimens, written in a very archaic Gujarati, are interesting from the linguistic standpoint. Some show real literary merits But all of them are equally valuable for the historiographer, since they represent trustworthy historical records (Good specimens are contained in the above-mentioned collection of Rasas edited by Vijaya Dharma Sūri. ). Venerable Mangalavijaya's Rasa truly examplifies - in nearly all respects the old species, and, like the ancient Rāsas, it must be sung in order to display its full charm and to exhale the whole sweetness of the pure, innocent devotion and genuine piety in which it abounds. Then, the whole strange world of Jaina asceticism, of which the hero as well as the author are true representatives, with its pensive worldweariness, its peace and contemplativeness and its spirit of bittersweet renunciation, becomes alive before our mental eye :
न च राजभयं न च चोरभयं इहलोकसुखं परलोकहितम् । वरकीर्त्तिकरं श्रमणत्वमिदं रमणीयतरम् ।। 1 ।
नरदेवनतं
It has a peculiar charm to watch, standing out in bold relief against this unworldly back-ground, the shape of the clear-sighted,
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