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Shri Mahavir Jain Aradhana Kendra
www.kobatirth.org
INTRODUCTION
Acharya Shri Kailassagarsuri Gyanmandir
xlv.
and death) being outside the scope of the anthology. If we examine carefully the contents of the VL, we see that the author has paid attention to these three objects of human life in selecting the stanzas and arranging them in the form of Vajjās. The commentator Ratnadeva, however, says in the course of hisremarks on the first stanza, that the author has compiled the present collection of Prakrit gāthās for the benefit of ordinary people, who are ignorant of Sanskrit (f) and yet have a fascination for erotic matters ( a ). Thus, according to Ratnadeva, the subject-matter of the VL, is primarily or mainly concerned with Kama or enjoyment of carnal pleasures. Laber's remark (loc. cit. p. 7), on which apparently Winternitz History of Indian Literature, Vol. III. p. 156) relies, that two thirds of the VL is concerned with Kama, seems to have been based on Ratnadeva's judgement about the contents of the VL. But it seems that this view involves an overstatement of the facts of the case. It is true that in Hala's Gathasaptasati the main emphasis is on Kama, and we find there a large number of stanzas with an expressed or implied erotic purport. But the situation is different in the case of the VL, which maintains a balance between Artha and Kāma, while Dharma occupies a subordinate position, as will be clear from the analysis attempted below.
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The three opening sections ( सीयार, गाहा and कव) in the VL (with a total of 26 stanzas) are of an introductory nature and cannot be classified as dealing either with Dharma, Artha or Kāma. Further there are four sections (67 गिरह, 6 सरय, 70 हेमंत, and 71 fefer), with a total of 10 stanzas), which are of a purely descriptive nature and cannot be included under Dharma, Artha or Kama. The same is true of the prologue ( 5 stanzas) and the epilogue (2 stanzas). Leaving all these seven sections and fortythree stanzas out of account, we have 88 sections and 752 stanzas as the real corpus of the VL. The foot-note will show how the 88 sections and 752 stanzas are distributed over the three goals.
