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treasure of Apabhraṁśa language. The great Apabhraṁśa poets like Puspadanta, Vīra, Harişena, Nayanandi, Raidhu and Gaņi Devasena remember him with gratitude. The celebrated scholar of Buddhism and Hindi literature Pandit Rahul Sankrityayan says, "Among all the five periods of Hindi poetry, Svayambhu is the greatest. He is one of the dozen immortal poets of India."
Muni Sri Jinavijaya got the opportunity of seeing the manuscript of Paumacariu at Poona in 1919-1920 while examining the rich Bombay Government collection of old manuscripts. In fact, this collection was finally shifted to Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Poona. After going through the manuscript of Paumacariu, Muniji was impressed by the poetic genius of Svayambhu and he inspired Dr. P.D. Gune and Pandit Nathuram Premi to write upon the importance of this great work. Much later, in 1942 he encouraged Prof. Bhayani to take up the study of Svayambhu's Paumacariu, the earliest Puranic epic in Apabhramsa available until then in manuscript form.
It will not be out of place to mention that the Paumacariu has ninety sandhis and is divided into five kāṇḍas known as- Vidyadharakāṇḍa, Ayodhyākāṇḍa, Sundarakāṇḍa, Yuddhakāṇḍa, and Uttarakāṇḍa. For the purpose of his doctoral thesis, under the supervision of Muni Jinavijayaji, Prof. Bhayani decided to edit the first of the five kāṇḍas (Vidyādharakāṇḍa) comprising twenty sandhis.
For the preparation of the critical edition of the Vidyadharakāṇḍa of Paumacariu, Prof. Bhayani was able to secure only two manuscripts, one from Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Poona and the other from the Godika Temple at Sāmgānera, Jaipur. The Poona manuscript is dated Vikrama Samvat 1521 or 1464 A.D. and Sāṁgānera
Spiritual Awakening (Samyagdarśana) and Other Essays
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