Bhagavati Aradhana (Mularadhana): A Book on Santhara or Samadhi-Marana
This work, by Sivarya, was written almost two millennia ago and till today it is the most voluminous work, running in a total of 2164 Prakrt verses, on the sensitive subject of Voluntary Peaceful death or Samadhimarana or Santhara that covers the subject in all possible details. Starting with a brief introduction to the subject detailing seventeen types of deaths including three types of desirable deaths and the rest of them as undesirable deaths, three types of Samadhimaranas, etc, it proceeds to define and explain four-fold Aradhanas comprising Darsanaradhana, Jnanaradhana, Caritraradhana and Taparaaradhana. This is followed by a detailed exposition, in four sections called Dvaras and thirty-nine subsections called Pratidvaras that cover various aspects of the practice of Samadhimarana like eligibility to undertake this practice, search for a suitable guru, maximal, medium and minimal practices and the results thereof. In this work the author cum translator, Dr. Colonel Dalpat Singh Baya has given a comprehensive introduction in the form of Preface that runs into nearly 200 pages before proceeding to translate the Prakrt verses into English language. Here, too, he has taken care to give explanatory foot notes where needed. The book has been appended with three comprehensive appendices giving selected glossary of Jaina terms relevant to the subject matter of the book, an alphabetical order of verses giving the verse number and the page number where it occurs and rounded up by a comparative study of verses of Bhagawati Aradhana and similar verses of other Jaina works and it was possible to find nearly 500 such verses of this work that have either been borrowed from other older works or have found mention in other works of later authors with certain minor linguistic variations. This book, the very first attempt to translate a work of this magnitude into English language, is sure to fulfil a great and much felt need of reaching out to those of Jaina faith that have migrated ex India generations ago and find it hard to study their scriptures in any language other than English. how far the author cum translator has succeeded in his endeavour is for the scholars to judge.
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