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INTRODUCTORY
11
the ancient stories or legends, the contemporary references are mainly forthcoming from west and south like Anandapura, Bāravai, Bharukaccha, Bhinamāla, Mahissara, Koṁkana, Dakşiņā patha etc. Use of the various words typically belonging to the language of Saurāsțra and Gujarat? indicate towards the same fact. A palm-leaf manuscript of the Nišitha Cūrņi was also written in Bhrgukaccha (Lāta) in V. S. 1157 during the reign of Siddharāja,? Seeing these evidences forthcoming from Lāta or Gujarat it would not be improper to assume that the NC. was written in the Lāla country where it could easily be recognised as a famous work within a short period of its composition. Keeping in view that Gujarat, Saurāsıra and the various parts of Deccan were great strongholds of Jainism during the early medieval period, it may be safely stated that the author belonged to this region or at least the NC. was composed in this part of the country. Analysis and Evaluation of the Contents of the NC.
Though in the Nišitha Cūrni the author has never confined himself to the miotic limits of Religion and Ethics, yet it is beyond doubt that being a commentary on a canonical text, the nucleus of the NC. lies in the exposition of the Jaina Ethics, particularly the rules of monastic life as designed for the Sthavira-kalpí Svetāmbara Jaina monks and nuns. The name Niśīthao (night, dark=mysterious, profound ) itself indicates the nature of its contents, and the later commentaries
1. See Geographical Index. 2. Malvania, op. cit., p. 86. 3. Colophon-Arie uut ATET I HITS Fansf: 1 H. 9940 341HGTE TYH शुकदिने श्रीजयसिंह देवविजयराज्ये श्रीभगुकच्चनिवामिना जिनचरणाराधनतत्परेण
TARA aftrafu get fifeartam-Dalal and Gandhi, A Descrittive Catalogue of Manuscripts in the Jaina Bhandaras at Patan, p. 203. 4. Some f the scholars like Weber believe that the interpretation of the
Prakrit word Nisiha as Nišitha is an error and that it should be rendered as Nisedha (See—IA., Vol. 21, p. 97). But seeing the contents of Nisiha and the way the word has been explained in the Nišitha Cūrni it is obvious that the word can be explained as Nišitha only and not as Nisedha..See NC. 1, pp. 8-14; Malvania, op. cit., pp. 8-13.
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