Essay name: Tilakamanjari of Dhanapala (study)
Author:
Shri N. M. Kansara
Affiliation: Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda / Department of Sanskrit Pali and Prakrit
This is an English study of the Tilakamanjari of Dhanapala, a Sanskrit poem written in the 11th century. Technically, the Tilaka-manjari is classified as a Gadyakavya (“prose-romance�). The author, Dhanapala was a court poet to the Paramara king Munja, who ruled the Kingdom of Malwa in ancient west-central India.
Chapter 2 - The works of Dhanapala
9 (of 19)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
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67
popularity of the non-Jain tenets, the wretchedness of
those who desert the Lord, the life in the hell, the
pangs of the bird-life, the unhappiness of the human
existence, the sorrows of the heavenly life, the dura-
tion of the roaming in the cycle of births and rebi-
rths, the fear of pain and the way out of it.
In the 49th gāthā, the poet expresses his deep
desire to have a "Darsana" of the Lord, and in the
M
last i.e. the fiftieth
-
gāthā, he expresses his
humility, the pr purpose of this hymn and skillfully
22 incorporates his name in it.
It is one of the most profoundly devotional and
highly scholarly hymn to the memory of Lord Rsabha
Jina and was honoured as such by such veterans and Jain
authorities like Hemacandra, who is said to have prefe-
rred to sing this hymn rather than compose one of his
own,
for the sole reason that it was rare to have such
23 unique devotion to the Lord! The language of the hymn
is ed studded with alliterations and occasional
figures of apparent contrast. It also affords some
gleanings into the change of the personality of the
poet consequent to his conversion to the Jain faith and
its deep influence.
22.RP(K)•p.131.vs. 50 ab : इअ झाणगिपलीवि अकाम्नन्धण बा�-
बुद्धिणा चि गए�
[ia jhāṇagipalīvi akāmnandhaṇa bāla-
buddhiṇ� ci gae|
] 23.KPPr.p.102.
