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INTRODUCTION
from the said hymn wherein he has invoked for removal of calamities Sri Santināth and the presiding deities of the five Pithas of the Sürimantra viz. Vāni alias Sarasvati, Tribhuvanaswāmini, Sridevi alias Laksmi, Yakşaraja Gapipițaka as also twenty four Sasana Yakşas and Yaksinīs, Planetary deities, Guardian deities of the quarters, Indras, sixteen Vidyādevīs, the four kinds of deities, Vyantaras and Yoginis devoted to the protection of the Tirtha that is the Jain fold. The Colophon mentions that in the hymn the author employs the Siddhi relating to Ganadhara Vidyā obtained by the good grace of the preceptor Sri Somasundara of Tapāgaccha. The writer has in his possession hymns by the same author of Sūrimantra and the presiding deities thereof which are not hitherto published. It appears from them that the author was a great Upāsaka of Sūrimantra.
We shall now shortly state such details of his life as are available. He was born in 1436 and initiated in 1443 Vikrama era. He was ordained Vācaka in 1466 and Achārya in 1478 and died in 1503 Vikrama era at the age of 67 years. He had such an extraordinary memory as enabled him to attend to a thousand matters simultaneously. He was therefore known as Sahasrāvadhānī. He was a great poet and dialectician and being of dark complexion received the title of Käli (Black) Sarasvati and Vädigokula-Şandha i. e, a bull in the herd of cows of dialecticians. Owing to his great Māntric powers such prominent goddesses as Padmāvati used to be at his beck and call and helped him in carrying out his self-less work for the welfare of all living beings. Sahasramalla a King of Sirohi proclaimed in his kingdom at the instance of the Achārya prohibition against killing of living beings and Sri Munişundarasūri warded off the calamity of famine threatened by swarms of locusts in the fields. He wrote several works amongst which are Adhyatma-Kalpadruma, UpadesaRatnakara with a commentary, Jayānandacaritra, Tridasatarangini (which included the available Gurvãvali) and several hymns including Sri Jinastotraratnakosa being a collection of hymns (I Prastāva of 23 hymns is published in Stotrasangraha, part II).
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