[INDOLOGY] Unidentified verse on Jaina gyān bāzī chart

jacob at fabularasa.dk jacob at fabularasa.dk
Mon Oct 2 12:20:00 UTC 2017


Dear List,

A frequently occuring verse on 18-19th cent. Jaina gyān bāzī (snakes and 
ladders) charts is consistently designated as "savaiyo [=savaiyā] 23". 
The verse always occur on its own without mention of any other numbered 
savaiyā verses. I have tried identifying any collection of verse to 
which it might belong, but so far I have only drawn blanks.

A tentative reconstruction of the verse (which appears in many more or 
less garbled versions on various charts) might look as follows:

लाख चोरासी भ्रमण महा नव नाड़ी पतन यतन सें ताजी।
चोपट शत्रुंजी की कहा रामत एह अनामत ब्रह्म की बाजी ॥
बाजी रमे तस क्रोध समे भव मां न भमे दिल होत है राजी।
पाप घटारण मोह विदारण ज्ञान [अ]वधारण ज्ञान की बाजी ॥

I am not trained in reading braj bhāṣā and its dialectal derivatives 
(if, indeed, the above can be classified as such), so forgive me for any 
obvious mistakes.

Any suggestions as to where this verse might stem from would be highly 
appreciated.

Kind regards,
Jacob

Jacob Schmidt-Madsen
PhD Fellow (Indology)
Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies
University of Copenhagen
Denmark






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