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138
YAŠASTILAKA AND INDIAN CULTURE the Vivekin contemplates objects likely to produce vairāgya, and gives the same example of meditating on the body of a beautiful maiden mangled by birds of prey :
असौ तरलताराक्षी पीनोत्तुङ्गधनस्तनी । विलुप्यमाना कान्तारे विहगैरद्य दृश्यते ॥ विभाति बहिरेवास्याः पनगन्धनिभं वपुः । अन्तर्मजास्थिविण्मूत्रमेदःक्रिमिकुलाकुलम् ॥ ग्यात्तानना विवृत्ताक्षी विवर्णा श्वासघुघुरा ।
कथमद्य न रागाय म्रियमाणा तपस्विनी ॥ Sudatta's verses on the corpse of the young woman in Yasastilaka, Book I, may be called a poetic elaboration of a similar idea, and constitute an eloquent sermon on the emptiness of life."
An idea of the place occupied by religious topics in Yasastilaka may be had from the fact that, of its eight Books, the last three exclusively deal with Jaina doctrines; the comprehensive controversial dialogue between Yasodhara and his mother occurs in Book IV, and Sudatta's dialogue with Caņdakarman and his companions containing the criticism of Saiva doctrines in Book V; while the cult of Caņdamārī and the Jaina reaction to it are delineated in Book I. Only Book II and the lengthy Book III may be said to be free from religious topics as such.
1 Scenes from the burning ground, the vultures and their mates in flocks' and
*the skulls of the dead', are used to illustrate the essential vileness of the human frame in the Maladiyār (Chap. V), one of the early Tamil classics, and believed to be of Jaina origin. Pope's translation, p. 29. Ho remarks that there is no chapter corresponding to this in the Kurral, but the same spirit is recognised in the Tamil Jaina epic Jivakacintāmani XIII. 162-201, very striking verses'. "Everything that cau be said in disparagement of the body of humiliation' is heaped up there. This is a characteristic of Jaina works. In Saiva books the standpoint is somewhat different.” A foundation is laid in this and the preceding chapters for the doctrine of Renunciation, which is definea as the relinquishment of all attachment to worldly wealth without, and to the body within (the lusts of the flesh) in view of their impermanency.' pp. 30, 35.
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