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Two Unpiblished Chaitya Pariptis on Citod-tīrtha
415
The subjects of tīrthamālās and caitya-paripāțīs
The tirthamālās, as a class of literature, originated in time before the caitya-paripāțī class. They continued to be composed in later centuries as well. The earliest can be traced from c. mid 11th century A. D. These compositions fill in the gaps in the knowledge of history regarding the Jaina tīrthas, their temples, the Jinas to which they were sacred, and sometimes also give small but significant bits of information, otherwise unknown from other sources.
Generally speaking, the other class of Jaina literature rarely informs us on rulers and the holy places. But the tīrthmālās exclusively concentrate on Jaina holy places and often are fairly informative on them. Even from the viewpoint of deciding the true geographical location of a place, antiquity of a notable caitya, history of the language, history in general, also the trade routes, the prosperity of the towns and cities that lied on the route, etc. This class of literature provides a valuable source for knowing the status of Jainism in the particular centuries and regions. Besides this, these tirthmālās are often the only source of information on Jaina holy places and the temples that subsequently were destroyed by the invaders and sometimes abandoned after the migration of the Jainas from the concerned places. They, at times, also give information about the Jina images that were moved from their original sites to other sites in a particular period. Afterwards, another class of such compositions, the caitya-paripātīs, as aforenoted, developed in old Gujarāti (also called Maru-Gurjara-bhāsā). Earlier, the languages employed in composing the tīrthmālās were Sanskrit and Prakrit. The two paripātīs edited here are in old Gujarati language. Two Citod-tirtha Caitya-paripāțīs
As explained in the foregoing, a caitya-paripāti describes the travels of a congregation proceeding on a pilgrimage to a holy place or places from a certain town or city. It describes the route they followed for their destination, and also the towns or villages, or any other holy place or Jaina temples they visited on the way. The two Citrakūta-caitya-paripātīs presented here describe the path taken for reaching Citod, the visit on the way to the Jaina temples and the Jinālayas and the Jina images enshrined therein. The First Caitya-paripāți
The author of the first work is the disciple of Bhāvsågara sūri. He has not mentioned his own name, the last line reads as this follows:
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