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Ancient Jaina Hymns
361
long distance from the town itself would satisfactorily explain the fact that the ancient shrine could have survived so long after the Mohammedan occupation, at a time when most Jaina and Hindu shrines must have been destroyed or desecrated. This again would justify the apparent exultation with which the poet dwells on 'caurāḥ kraurā api' as incapable of violating the time-honoured sanctity of Aśvāvabodha-Sakunikā-vihāra.
The hymn is preserved in Manuscript No. 6628 of the Scindia Oriental Institute only, on the basis of which it is published below. It consists of one leaf of very old and brittle paper, closely written in black ink, verse numbers being tinted with red pencil. The script is Devanāgarī, with 'Adhomātrā' being carried through and 'Padimātrā' mixed with 'Urdhvamātrā'. In the centres of both sides, rhombs have been left blank. The text is preceded by the usual Jaina diagram and followed by the following colophon :
श्री मुनिसुव्रतसामिस्तवनं श्रीज्ञानसागरसूरिकृविरचितं ।। श्रीः ।। ।। शुभं 9999: | 11 orelu II ll St II ll ll ll DED: 11 ( sic ! )
The margine bears explanatory glosses in three places ( vide foot-notes to the text ). The rendering of the text is fairly correct and unambiguous, so that only a few corrections were necessary, as may be seen from the critical apparatus.
Out of the 40 stanzas, 34 are in Mandākrāntā ( 1; 2; 6-39), 3 in Vasantatilakā ( 3-5 ), and 1 in Šārdūlavikrīdita-metre ( 40 ).
2. The Devakulādinātha-Stavana
This hymn is addressed to Ādinātha or Rsabhadeva, the first of the last group of 24 Tirtharkaras of the Bharata-kşetra of Jambūdvīpa. It is, however, so entirely void of references to this Jina's life that it could be applied to any Tīrthankara. Not only thus much, but it is even so free from allusions characteristic of a Jina, that it could be an expression of the world-weariness and devotion of the follower of any religion that stands for faith in an omniscient and in every way perfect God, an immortal soul, and a final salvation from the
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