Jinamanjari 1999 09 No 20

Author(s): Jinamanjari
Publisher: Canada Bramhi Jain Society Publication

Page 10

Mahabharata battle Krisna gave the Gītā to Arjuna in five languages at the same time. On the orders of Krisna, Vyasa included the Gītā in Sanskrit, in his Jayakhyāna (the original Bhārata). The same tradition continued down to Lord Mahāvīra, who in turn taught it to Gautama Gaṇadhara. Gaṇadhara taught the story to Śrenika, and then finally, Kumudendu - like another Krisna - revealed it to Amoghavarṣa.
According to Kumudendu, the Siribhuvalaya begins with the Prakrit Gītā in its first letters, and read from the top downwards. Similarly, the Sanskrit Gītā begins from the 27th read downwards. The Prakrit Gītā seems to begin with nirvāņa gathas arranged in alphabetical order.
The rest of the Gītā, according to Kumudendu, has yet to be deciphered. Apparently, the verses look as if they were strung together without references to the context, and many new verses (distinctly Jaina, and to be hereafter identified by Jaina scholars) have been included as part of the Gītā. Before passing any final judgment, the entire work has to be closely scrutinized.
Kumudendu is not satisfied with this. Again and again he brings the same verses in various bandhas. For example taking the penultimate akṣarās only from line 53 of chapter 18, and in the śreni of chapter 15 again taking only the last letters in chapter 14 we get repeatedly in the Sanskrit Gita. He has arranged the Gītā as the equivalent of Tattvärthasūtra and of Rşimandala which can also be derived from the same text. In chapter 19, he has given a mathematical table for the letters of the Gītā.
Kumudendu translates into Kannada in the sangatya metre the Gītā for the benefit of Amoghavarșa. Thus Kumudendu has shown in his astonishing work that the Gītā as also the voice of ahimsa which is an integral part of Jaina tradition from remote times transmitted by Neminatha to Krisna.
_The original paper, which first appeared in the bimonthly The Voice of Ahinsa, Jan-Feb. 1955, Aliganj, Etah, India. Edited by Dr. Kamta Prasad Jain, is by Dr. S. Srikanta Sastri has been re-presented here now with the transliteration of the text and its meaning.
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