________________
BOOK I, LECTURE 6.
287
SIXTH LECTURE,
CALLED
PRAISE OF MAHÂVÎRA. Sramanas and Brâhmanas, householders and heretics, have asked (me): Who is he that proclaimed this unrivalled truly wholesome Law, which was (put forward) with true knowledge?? (1)
What was the knowledge, what the faith, and what the conduct of the Gñâtriputra ? If you know it truly, O monk, tell us as you have heard it, as it was told you! (2)
This wise and clever great sage possessed infinite knowledge and infinite faith. Learn and think about the Law and the piety of the glorious man who lived before our eyes 2! (3)
This wise man had explored all beings, whether they move or not, on high, below, and on earth, as well as the eternal and transient things. Like a lamp he put the Law in a true light. (4)
He sees everything; his knowledge has got beyond (the four lower stages) 3; he has no impurity; he is virtuous, of a fixed mind, the highest, the
1 The question is supposed to be addressed by Gambûsvâmin to Sudharman.
? Kakk hupahê thiyassa = kakshuhpathe sthitasya, literally, 'who stood (or stands) in the path of the eyes.' We are scarcely entitled to infer from this phrase that the author had actually seen Mahâvîra as tradition would make us believe.
S Abhibh ûya-nânî. Concerning the five stages or kinds of knowledge, see above, p. 152. The Kêvala knowledge is intended.
