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DHANAPALA AS A PROSE WRITER
creation hymns of the Ṛgveda ( x 129, 191) and Subalopaniṣad (v.1,IV). The third verse belauding Näbhisūnu (the son of the king Nabhi i.c. R$ abha) has the outward covering of the Brahmanic Brahman as indicated by "ättänyarūpadvayah". He has been prayed to afford fortunes being the obviator of sin from the triad of worlds. Dṛśyangalaksmi as compared with Nami, Vinami and their scimitar, makes a covert allusion to Laksmi as the consort of Brahmā and Viṣṇu both. Viratilabha appertains to the doctrine of mokṣa or emancipation born of awareness to pleasure and pain (Virati freedom from pleasure) which are not alien to the quixotic disposition of Brahma.
Verse four alludes to the freedom from attachment having objects of senses scared away (Vibhinnavişayam moham) abiding in the hearts of the human beings (hṛdi prāņi nām). The Primeval Jina like the Primeval being is an embodiment of mental concentration as a shower of ambrosia on the ears when discoursing upon the Primeval way of sermonising on piety as righteousness.
Verse five illustrates the conception of the goddess of speech and her form radiant like the Autumnal moon, cleansed bright by the tassel of rays from the teeth, abiding in the interior of the lotus in the form of the face of god, the scion of Nabhi, the best of men (son of Viṣṇu or Brahma, the best of men or the highest among the human beings). She has been prayed to protect the world.
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The sixth verse belauds the eyes of Vira-(a valiant) as also Mahavira Jina; these have been prayed to safeguard the eyes of a valiant got sore by the strokes of the circular weapons or by joltings of the chariots or by the attacks of the enemy arrays which have their bodies dug deep into the centre of the earth up to the knees whereas those of Mahāvīra get pained by the strokes of the circle of births and deaths having bodies dug into the earth covering the knees. Valiant gets swoons in the warfare and his eyes get swollen up.'
Verse 13 allude to the dwarf incarnation of Viṣṇu who with the stretch of three strides scaled the Universe placing his left foot on the head of Bali the demon. This verse alludes to the writer's faith in the Vaisnava cult.2
Verse 32 refers to Śvetämbara Širomani, the crest gem of the Śvetämbara sect of the Jains whereas punningly it also means the crest gem of the white firmament.3
1. पुरुषोत्तमनाभिसूतेर्देवस्य वक्त्रकमलोदरमावसन्त्याः गिरामधिपतेः देव्याः मूर्त्ति: TM Vol. I p. 13, 14. 2. उत्पन्त्यजवद् व्योम्नि केचित् प्राप्तपदत्रयाः ।
विशन्त्यन्ये प्रबन्धेऽपि लब्धे बलिरिव क्षितिम् ॥
3. TM. Vol. I p. 19.
