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The Unknown Pilgrims
all, was the friend of all and whose sole desire, while himself advancing on the path of asceticism and true knowledge, was to draw others in his wake. He was very well instructed in the doctrine and had the gift, in his discourses, his writings and, above all, in his poems and songs, of bringing it within the reach of all. In love with his dharma, he radiated spiritual joy and, as a wandering troubadour, sang its praises by praising the tirthankaras. He was thus a channel of the purest of pure Jaina bhakti.
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Sadhvi Hemaprabha has made good use of the available documents manuscripts and inscriptions - and, with a very balanced sense of history, has given an overall picture of the epoch in which this muni lived. The most significant facts of Devacandra's life are recounted soberly and with discretion in regard to personal comment. Sadhvi Hemaprabha is well able, with careful discernment, to insert commentary of a suitable sort which will guide and be of interest to her readers, neither over-emphasising her points nor giving useless repetitions.
The biography is followed by a presentation of each of the works, both in prose and poetry, of the sage. We have here a penetrating analysis both of the content of these works and of their style. Sadhvi Hemaprabhǎ excels in the presentation of poetic works, being herself carried away by the beauty of the author's spiritual songs, which convey vividly the joy of the atman. She explains, with delicacy, what this bhakti truly is, the necessity of it and its influence upon the faithful. The mother-tongue of Devacandra was Rājasthāni, but he had sojourned a long while in Gujarāta and was familiar with its language. His poctic compositions are in Rajasthani or archaic Hindi, in which words of local dialects are intermingled. Several of his poems were composed to be sung to rägas (modes) of classical music.
The numerous poems given in this work - they occupy 192 pages - are arranged in five sections according to the subjects they treat. In the case of the majority, Sadhvi Hemaprabha gives, in notes at the foot of the page, the meaning of words of local dialects as they occur.
The life, works and poems of Śrimad Devacanda transcend the bounds of his own gaccha. Indeed, welcoming as he was to munis and śrāvakas of all communities, he has left us a treasure which belongs
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