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The Unknown Pilgrims
women who, without renouncing the world, followed his teachings.1 At the time of his nirvana the period suṣamā-duḥṣamă of the phase avasarpini was drawing to a close.15
Ardent devotion is expressed to Adinatha in the Bhaktamarastotram, a renowned hymn of praise addressed to this Forerunner, this unique and incomparable Lord who effaces sins just as the Sun dissipates dark shadows.16
14 Ibid.
14
Marudevi, who was privileged to be the mother of Adinatha, was the first to attain Liberation. Tradition says that she was greatly distressed when her son decided to adopt the ascetic life. The pain of separation' and the thought of the austerities her beloved son was enduring caused her an incessant flow of tears. One day, when the news was spreading that Adinatha had attained the state of perfect knowledge, Marudevi, accompanied by her grandson Bharata, set out, riding on an elephant and surrounded by all the royal pomp and splendour, to pay homage to the new arhat. On the way, when there came to her ears the cries of rejoicing of the gods who were also gathering around Ādinātha, her tears of grief were changed into tears of joy. The glory of her son, his spiritual power, dawned upon her and this vision so gripped her that in the space of a few moments she traversed all the stages leading to the destruction of all knowledge
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15 Cf. KS 199; cf. also TrisalPCI: Adiśvaracaritra.
16 Cf. Bhaktamara-stotram 7; this hymn, which is recited with great fervour up to this very day was composed by Acarya Manatunga whose date is uncertain. Amrtalāla Śastri, 1969, in the introduction to his translation, conjectures that he lived in the VIIth c.; JSK III p. 206 places him in the XIth c. Another less popular hymn, Ṛṣabha-Pañcăśikā, in Prakrit, was composed by Dhanapala in the 2nd half of the Xth c.; cf. Winternitz, 1977, p. 553.
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