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18.
In his opinion the worship of the deity thrice a day is essential for all Jainas whether they be monks or householders.105 His peculiar attitude to married love,106 his advocacy of the importance of affection for a corelegionist, 107 and his aversion for non-Jain literary romances108 properly fits in with his personality of as taunch Jaina preceptor. Jinabhadrasuri can easily be marked out as a sectarian partial to his own view-point,109 in his dogmatic attitude to everything non-Jaina Kathas, uo his comparison of the Vedas to a story abounding In faults of wicked persons, 111 his sarcastic remarks with reference to sensual proclivities of Brāmaņico-Puranik gods like Śiva, Prajāpati and Indra.118
Thus, in Jinabhadrasari, we have a mixed personality of a Jain teacher at once an ardent preacher of austere life and a scholarly literary artist capable of composing a high class Sanskrit romance in the true blue tradltion of Trivikramabhatta of the Nalacampu fame.
II : Other Predecessors and Contemporaries Noticed by
Jinabhadrasūri :
Among his predecessors, Jinabhadrasūri has mentioned Haribhadrasuri (V. Sam. 757-827) and Siddharşi (V. Sam. 10th century) as saintly authors celebrated for their welknown works like the Samaraicca-kaha in Prakrit and the Upamiti-bhavaprapancakatha in Sanskrit, respectively.
The author has also saluted Abhayadevasüri, Municandrasuri, Jinavallabhasūri, Anandasuri, Devabhadrasūri, Hemacandrasūri, Bhadreśvarasurl, Santisuri,118 Ratnaprabhasūri and Rāmacandra, all of whom were his senior contemporaries and respected elders in view of their being religious preceptors of the same faith or celebrated authors or both together.114 Most of them are welknown personages in the history of Jaina monachism and flourished between 1096 A. D. and 1173 A. D. during the reign of Siddharāja Jayasimha and Kumārapala, both of them famous Calukya rulers of Gujarat.
105. Op. cit., Intro. vs. 33. 106. Op. cit., p. 41 (5-12). 107. Op. cit., p. 130 vss. 316, 319. 108. Op. cit., p. 14, vs. 55. 109. Op. cit., p. 132, vs. 324 ; and p. 161, vs, 415. 110. Op. cit.. Intro. vs. 55. 111. Op. cit., Intro. vs. 8. 112. Op. cit., p. 57 (7ff.). 113. MRA, Intro. vs. 22ab. 114. Cf. PCCr. Intro. p. 9,
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