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The Followers of the Ever Growing One
185
monkey-god. 140 This work, consisting of five hundred and four gāthās (verses) was wriyen at Jesalamera:
In the city of Sri Jesalamera in the second half of the year 1407 (1351) of vikrama, the anniversary of Jina Vira (Mahāvira), the life of Anjanāsundari was written down.
Whoever despises (this text), that jiva will remain in the continuous cycle of saṁsāra. Whoever respect it will reach the eternal place (mokṣa).
Thus ends the story of Sri Anjanāsundari Mahāsati. This is the work of Sri Gunasamsddhi Mahattarā, disciple of Sri Jinacandra
Sūri.141
Here is a Sādhvi who was also a poetess!
Despite the sparsity of documentation, we find that in different epochs, with various gifts to contribute and with the encouragement of the ācāryas of their own day, cetain sādhvis proved capable of sustaining a highly valuable collaboration.
In a recent study upon Jaina literature in Rājasthāna, twenty-eight names of sådhvis of that region are given who, in one way or another, have made a contribution to literary production. Of these the great
140 Hanuman plays a major role in the epic, the Rāmāyaṇa, of which the Jainas have their own versions, the most important being those composed by Ravişeņa and by Hemacandra (TrisalPC VII)
141 sirijesalamerapure vikkamcaudahasatuttare varise
virajina jammadivase kiyamamjanasumdaricariyam. 503 jo āsāyana kunai anamtasaṁsāru bhamai so jivo jo āsāyaṇa rakkhai so păvai sāsayam thāņam. 504 iti sriAnjanasundari mahāsatikathānakam samāptam. kritiriyam śrijinacandrasūriśişyaņi śriGuņasamțddhi mahattarāyāḥ. Jesalmer Coll. NC, No 1278; pp. 281-282.
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