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Hemaraj Pande's Caurāsī Bol
Padmanabh S. Jaini
In 1956, Professor Hiralal R. Kapadiya published an article called "Dikpata Caurāsī Bol [Pratyukti]: (84 Bol Vicara) Rekhādarśana," describing the contents of an important metrical Hindi work by Upadhyaya Yaśovijayji1. At the end of this text we learn that it is a refutation of the [Sitapata] Caurăsi Bol, i.e., Eighty-Four Points of Controversy between the Digambaras and the Śvetāmbaras, a composition by Hemaraj Pande :
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हेमराज पांडे किये, बोल चुरासी फेर,
या विधि हम भाषा वचन, ताको मत कियजेर. (१५८)
Professor Kapadiya informs us that he had asked a Svetambara monk Candanasägaragani to search for a manuscript of this Digambara work. A handwritten paper manuscript of it indeed was found in Surat and was identified as the original work of Hemaraj Pande. However, Professor Kapadiya received from Surat only the first four and the last five verses of this manuscript, which he reproduced in his article. At the end of the fifth verse the author's name appears as Kavi Hema, who composed it for the benefit of one Kaurapal in the city of Agra. Unfortunately, the Surat manuscript was never fully edited or published, and we hear nothing more about it.
My search in the catalogues of Jain bhandaras in Rajasthan, prepared by Dr. Kasturchand Kasliwal2, yielded several entries for this important manuscript. I am indebted to Mr. Subhash C. Jain of Jaipur who, with the kind help of Dr. Kasliwal, obtained for me a xerox copy of one of these manuscripts, together with correct readings of several obscure words in it. The manuscripts, listed as No. 320, has a total of 9 pages copied in Samvat 1723 (=A. D. 1666). Verse number 24 of this manuscript, which lists the 18 defects (dosas) that are absent in a kevalin in the Digambara tradition,
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