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Studies in Jainology, Prakrit
vague nature of some words in this gahā and finding a metrical Maw in it, presents a textually criticised alternate gaha.4 The original gahā is:
gommatasuttallihane Gommatarayena jā kiyā desi so rão cirakālam ņāmena ya Viramattamdi,
“May (Cāmundarāya) named Víramārtanda. Gommatarāya be ever victorious, who prepared the vernacular (commentary) while Gommatasāra was being written”.IS
The gahā presented by Pt.J.K.Mukhtar is: gommațasuttallihane Gommatarayena jam kaya desī, so jayau ciram kalam (rão) nāmena ya Viramattamdi.
While writing the Gommațasāra (at the time of preparing that first copy of the Gommatasāra), Gommataraya who prepared the desi (who prepared its chaya in Kannada, the desī language) and who is well known as Viramatlamdī, may this King be victorious for long.
Further, Pt.J.K.Mukhtar comments: Here we should take desi to mean the Kannada chāyā and not the Kannada vrtti or tīkā for which requires, on the part of the author, far better capacity which cannot be, at that stage, expected of Cāmundarāya, to instruct whom the Gommațasāra was being composed. But, unfortunately, this chāyā of the Gommatasära by Cāmundaraya too is not available.
With some hope in this regard, I closely scrutinized the Kannada Prāntiya Tādapatrīya Granthasūci and was, at the first sight, extreinely glad to note MS No. 55 of the Gommațasāra”l? in the Kannada script with the following note added by the editor: 'This MS contains a Kannada vrtti written in Salivahana Śaka 1821 by Camundarāya and to the vrtti is appended a Kannada prasasti in detail. But the very next moment the date mentioned therein
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