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Jaina Grantha Bhandars in Rhin
STOTRA LITERATURE
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The Jaina Acaryas wrote hundreds of the small prayers in praise of Tirthankaras and other great personalities. These are called stotras or stutis. The stotras are found in Prakrit, Apabhramsa, Samskrit and Hindi languages. Although according to the Jaina Philosophy God is neither the Creator nor the Destroyer of the Universe and in this sense they do not praise the Tirthankaras yet as the Tirthankaras are the omnicient and have attained the Nirvana and because they guided the people, how to get rid of the ties of the Karmas, their praise is sung and hundreds of the works have been written in the shape of stotras. The stotra works written by the Jaina scholars are numerous. There is not a single Grantha Bhandar in which
some stotras are not available.
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1. Amer Sastra Bhandar, Jaipur.
2. to 3. Ibid.
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Samant Bhadra, a great Philosopher of 6th century wrote two stotras. One is Yuktyanuśāsana' written in the praise of Lord Mahavira and the other is Swayambhu Stotra which is in praise of all the twenty four Tirthankaras. There are two commentaries on these stotras. One is written by Asadhara and the other is by Pandit Prabhäcandra. Yuktyanusasana is a philosophical stotra which serves both the purposes.
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Muni Mäntünga composed Bhaktamāra stotra in Samskrit. The stotra is very popular in the Jaina community and has great reputation among the Digambars and Swetambars both. The time of the scholar is not known but according to some scholars, the poet might have lived as early as the beginning of the 3rd century A.D The stotra is learnt by heart by every Jaina layman. It has 48 stanzas.
Acarya 'Jinasena is the writer of Jinasahasranama.
It is divided into 10 Chapters and describes the one thousand names of the Jina. The stotrà is also a favourite stotra. Three commentaries are available on this stotra, One is of Amar Kirti', the other is of Viswa Sena pupil of Visal Kirti of Kastha Sangha, and the third is of Śrutasagar, a famous scholar of 17th century. Acarya Padmanandi of 7th century composed Darśana Stotra which is remembered by every Jaina layman.
4. Sastra Bhandar, Digambara Jain Terapanthi Mandir, Jaipur.
