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SUBHA SITAS IN GUNAPĀLA'S JAMBUCARIYAM *
I bave given in this article some selected Subhāṣitas employed by Munivara Guņapāla in bis Jambucariyam (JC) which is a Prākrit work, in prose and verse, having sixteen Uddegas and giving a narrative account of the life of Jambu, the first patriarch of Jaina church after the last Tirthamkara Mahavira. The work, which is No. 44 of the Bhavan's Singhi Jain Series, was for the first time brought out by Acharya Jinavijayaji Muni in 1959. Guņapāla flourised, tentatively, in the eleventh century of the Vikram Era or even before that and was the pupil of Pradyumna Suri, who was himself the pupil of Virabhadra Sūri of the Nājla Gaccha.
The Subhāşitas employed in the JC are like short sayings of wise and good men, and therefore they are of great value. They are portable wisdom, the quint-essence of thought and feeling. They are so pointed that they hit harder and stick longer in the memory. Their excellence is particularly due to the comprehension of some useful truth in few words rather than to the expression of some rare or abstruse sentiment. A perusal of the Subhasitas given here in this article will immediately make it clear that they have got in them the germs of morals which can be developed further and to a large extent and that they are deep in significance as they are wide in range. There may be some exceptions but most of them, as will be seen, are drawn from experience itself which is, indeed, the mother of all sciences. If noble actions are the substance of life, good sayings are its ornament and guide. This is amply illustrated by the Subbāşitas given here.
N.B. The first figure indicates the number of the Uddeśa and the second stands for that of the stanza.
Tato (Ignorance) १ अन्नाणेधो जीवो, जत्थ भयं तत्थ ममाए सरणं । Bafit 15970, qefat 39
H (.8) 1. A person blinded with ignorance asks for shelter or help wherever there is fear. It is only out of ignorance that the insects and butterflies fall into fire. (8. 68,)
safat (Inability) २ तिणमेत विहु कज्ज, गिरिवरसरिसं असत्तिमंताणं ।
होइ गिरि वि तिणसभो, अहिओगसकककसे पुरिसे ॥ (५.७) 2. For a person who is unable, a work which is as insignificant as a blade of grass appears as big as a mountain, while for a person who is intensely persistent, even the mountain is as trifling as a blade of grass. (5. 7). • Bharatiya Vidya, Vol. XXVIII, Nos. 1 to 4. 1968 and Vol. XXXI Nos. 1-4 SA-17
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