________________
11. THE ANUPREKSAS AND JAINA RELIGIOUS POETRY
297
Bhāvanās, in his Yogasästra 4. 55-110, besides devoting a large number of supplementary verses (antaraslokāḥ) to the topic in his own commentary on the work. There are, for instance, only three main verses in the text on Samsara-bhāvanā, while there are 90 supplementary verses in the svopajña commentary, containing an imaginative description of the grief and despair of the gods at the prospect of their fall from heaven (vv. 69-89). The following striking verse also occurs in the commentary (Verse 53, op. cit.): स्याच्छैशवे मातृमुखतारुण्ये तरुणीमुखः । वृद्धभावे सुतमुखो मूर्खो नान्तर्मुखः क्वचित् ॥ Hemacandra eloquently describes the universal discipline and equilibrium maintained by the sustaining power of Dharma in the verses on Dharmasvākhyāta-bhāvanā (4. 96 ff.):
आप्लावयति नाम्भोधिराश्वासयति चाम्बुदः । यन्महीं स प्रभावोऽयं ध्रुवं धर्मस्य केवलः ॥ न ज्वलत्य लस्तिर्यग् यदूर्ध्वं वाति नानिलः । अचिन्त्यमहिमा तत्र धर्म एव निबन्धनम् ॥ etc.
After Hemacandra comes Siddhasena Süri who wrote his Sanskrit commentary on Nemicandra's Prakrit work Pravacanasaroddhāra in 1192 A. D. In this commentary Siddhasena devotes more than 130 verses to the Bhāvanās, some of them being composed in elaborate metres. Siddhasena's exposition is not without literary merit, as will be seen from the following specimens:
सुमतिरमतिः श्रीमानश्रीः सुखी सुखवर्जितः सुतनुरतनुः स्वाम्यस्वामी प्रियः स्फुटमप्रियः । नृपतिरनृपः स्वर्गी तिर्यङ् नरोऽपि च नारकस्तदिति बहुधा नृत्यत्यस्मिन् भवी भवनाटके ॥ यत् प्रोद्दाममदान्धसिन्धुरघटं साम्राज्यमासाद्यते यन्निः शेषजनप्रमोदजनकं संपद्यते वैभवम् । यत् पूर्णेन्दुसमद्युतिर्गुणगणः संप्राप्यते यत् परं सौभाग्यं व विजृम्भते तदखिलं धर्मस्य लीलायितम् ॥
Among later accounts of the Anuprekṣas one of the most noteworthy is that of Asadhara in his Anagāradharmāmṛta 6. 57-82. He wrote this work about the middle of the thirteenth century and added to it a svopajña commentary after the manner of Hemacandra. He employs elaborate metres, and a good specimen of his style is furnished by the following verse on the rarity of Bodhi or the attainment of the Right Path.
दुष्प्रापं प्राप्य रत्नत्रयमखिलजगत्सारमुत्सारयेयं नो चेत् प्रज्ञापराधं क्षणमपि तदरं विप्रलब्धोऽक्षधूतैः । तत् किंचित् कर्म कुर्यां यदनुभव भवत्क्लेशसंक्लेशसंविद्बोधेर्विन्देय वार्तामपि न पुनरनुप्राणनास्याः कुतस्त्याः ॥
A brief but interesting exposition of the Bhävanās in Apabhramsa verse is found in Somaprabha's Kumarapalapratibodha written in 1184 A. D.2 on the conversion of king Kumarapala of Gujarat to Jainism and his instruction in that religion by Hemacandra. The work is written in Prakrit, but certain
2
1 The date is mentioned at the end of the work: करिसागर विसंख्ये श्रीविक्रमनृपतिवत्सरे चैत्रे । पुष्यार्कदिने शुकाष्टम्यां वृत्तिः समाप्तासौ ॥ The Vikrama Samvat is 1248. Winternitz: History of Indian Literature, Vol. II, p. 571. 38
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
