Indian Antiquary Vol 42

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 46

42
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[FEBRUARY, 1913.
PARAMAJOTISTOTRA An Ou Braja Metrical Version of Siddhasen adivákara's Kalyanamandirastotra.
BY L. P. TESSITORI, UDINE, ITALY. I found this vernacular version of the famous stotra by Siddhasenadivakars in a Jaina MS. pertaining to the Indian Collection in the Regia Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale of Florence. The MS. is registered in Pavolini's catalogue under No. 674. It consists of 15 leaves, with 12 lines on each paye, but it is unfortunately incomplete, some leaves at the end having been lost. As the colopbon is wanting, it is not possible to fix the date of the MS., but the general appearance of the paper and of the script are sufficient to show that it was copied at a comparatively modern time, On the cover we read the title, Digambarastotrani, which is quite probably the title we should find in the colophon, if the last leaf of the MS. bad been preserved to us. It is, in fact, a collection of stotras, partly in Sanskrit and partly in Bhâsbå, of which only the first four have been preserved, These are the following :
(a) The Paschamangala by Rupachanda, in Old Braja, from page lb down to page 8a. It contains 25 stanzas in all, divided into five parts named respectively: (1) Prathamamangala, (2) Janamamangala, (8) Tapakalyanaka, (4) Jñanakalyánaka, (5) Nirvdnakalydnaka. It is a mangalagita .commemorating the five most salient points in the life of the Trailokyanaths Sudevajinavara, from the dreams seen by the mother of the Jins down to his attainment of the nirvana. In the last stanza (25th) the author records his name.
(6) The Vish&pahárastotra by Dhanamjaya, in 89 Sanskrit stanzas. (c) The Aiki bhdvastotra by Vadiraja, in 26 Sanskrit stanzas.
(1) The Paramajotistotra, in Old Braja, from page 14a down to the foot of page 15b, deficient at the end, owing to the loss of the snbsequent leaves of the MS. The text reaches to the beginning of stanza 26 and, therefore, 18 stanzas are wanting.
Though iocomplete, this Paramajotietotra is, no doubt, of the greatest interest. It derives its Valge partly from its excellence as a translation ; partly also, and perhaps chiefly, from the particular form of language, in which it is couched. The work is, in fact, a metrical version of Siddhagenadivákarn's Kalyanamandirastotra, in which the author has displayed an ability that is very rarely found in similar works. It was, indeed, no easy matter to put into a different language the often intricate meaning of the Sanskrit stotra, retaining all the puns that are met at almost every step in the latter; and, what is more, to put it into stanzas having verses rhyming with each other and corresponding exactly in number with the rasantatilakas in the original ; even to outdo the very Sanskrit text in conciseness, by recasting the whole content of each vasantatilakd-without omitting ang important particular-into stanzas numbering a smaller amount of syllables. How far the author has succeeded in this effort, the reader will judge for himself. In some passages, indeed, the vernacular version seems to be much more elegant than the Sanskrit original by Siddhasena itself. The work takes its Dame of Paramajotistotra from its beginning, after the exemple of the Kalyanamandirastotra itself and of many other stotrus of a similar kind, such as the renowned Bhaktámara.
As to the probable author of the version-though it cannot be presumed that any positive conclusion on this question will ever be attained, owing to the scanty evidence.--I think there is a circumstance that may perhaps lead to his determination. Namely, the fact that the Paramajotistotra shares with the Panchamangala, the first work in the collection, not only the same language, but even the same linguistic peculiarities; and that the external affinity between the two works is such that it cannot be explained except by the assumption that both of them were composed in the same place and at about the same time, and, perhaps, even by the same poet. If it be correct to go as far as