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300
Nalini Balbir
the three illustrative verses available both in the VMM (2 verses) and in the AC (1 verse) shows that it is actually the case:
Metre of VMM 2.35 sikhariņi / Answer to the riddle: sikhariņi (< sikharini + 1)
Metre of VMM 2.36 mālinī / Answer to the riddle : mālinī (< mā + alini)$1
Jambu-jyoti
Metre of AC 2.54 indramälä (see below) / Answer to the riddle: indramālā.
But Ajitasena's definition has the advantage of making this feature a structural element specific to the variety and not a matter of chance. It is both an additional challenge for the one who asks the riddle and a hint for the one who is to answer it, provided he is decently trained in recognizing the metre of a stanza read to him.
Ajitasena's example reads:
sambodhanam kim suralokanathe ? bhramad-dvirephä surabhi-sphuță
mālā
kā ?
Kā yāti nākāj Jinapüjanärtham? vṛttam kim äbruhy upajäti-lakṣma ? Which word is used to address the lord of the world of gods? Indra! What is it that is famous for its fragrance, where bees turn around? -A garland of flowers-mālā
Who comes from the sky to worship the Jinas ?-A line of Indras Indra
Jain Education International
What is the metre that has the characteristic of an upajati ? indramālā
The pattern of the riddle-verse agrees with what we find in the VMM : in the vṛttanämajäti, the first two or three questions can relate to any topic, but the last one always gives an indication about the structural pattern of the metre to be guessed (... a metre having nine light and eight heavy syllables. for the śikhariņi in VMM 2.35, ... a metre having the same number of light syllables as the number of mountains [ 8 ] and the same number of heavy syllables as the number of oceans [ 7] for the mälini in VMM 2.36). Here also the metrical pattern of the stanza fits with the hint given about the metre: three indravajräpadas (a, c and d) and one. upendravajrapada (b) makes an upajati, since this syllabic metre of 11 syllables is precisely made of the combinations of these two varieties, in any
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