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Ancient Jaina Hymns
359
The profound erudition of this Ācārya forms the object of the enthusiastic praises of the famous prodigy, the Sahasrāvadhānin Munisundara Sūri, who, in his ‘Traividyā-goşthi'70 ( composed in V.S. 1455, when he was only 9 years old ! ), calls himself 'SriJñānasāgara-Gurūttama-Pāțhita' (p. 19 b), amd again shows his indebtedness to him in the words (p. 1 a, st. 2) -
श्रीज्ञानसागरावस्वगुरूणां ज्ञानवारिधिम् ।
उपजीव्योपदेशं च कुर्वे विद्यागोष्ठिकाम् ।।
In his Gurvāvali”, a basic and widely known, though extremely difficult work on Tapā Gaccha history, composed in V.S. 1466, the same Munisundara Sūri (p.35 ff., st. 325 ff.) extolls him in the strongest terms, saying towards the end of his long and flowery eulogy (st. 352 ) --
तत्कृतिवेला जल्पति पीतत्रैवैद्यवार्धिगाम्भीर्यम् ।
भृगुपुरघोघातीर्थस्तोत्रमुखा विहितचित्तसुखा ।।
It is obviously this stanza with its reference to a 'Bhrgupura-stotra' composed by Jñānasāgara Sūri, which has caused M.D. Desai and other scholars to mention a 'Munisuvrata-stava' among the works of that Ācārya, though no such work has been known to exist up till now.72
Is it to be assumed that it was this statement of the 'Gurvāvali', which led the copyist of our present 'Munisuvrata-stavana', published below, to imagine that he had the lost poem of that celebrated Ācārya before him, and caused him to denote it as such in his colophon on the basis of mere inference ? Or could it really be that famous hymn itself, in spite of apparent chronological inconsistency?
Compared with Jñānasāgara Sūri's 'Ghanaughā-Navakhanda-Pārsvanātha-stava 73, our hymn emphatically proclaims to be indeed the twin-creation of the former, as which Munisundara Sūri represents it in the phrase 'Bhrgupura-Ghoghā-tirtha-stotra'. Both the hymns not only extoll parallel subjects, but both are also built according to an identical scheme, present identical style and
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