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________________ PREFACE This work is dedicated to Muni Sri Punyavijayaji in recognition of his notable contributions to Jain researches and in appreciation of his generous support and encouragement of my studies over a period of four decades. Never confined by sectarian bias, he was always available to share with scholar and layman, alike, the riches of his learning. Concomitant with his concentration on the preparction for publication of Jain canonical texts was his purpose to direct interest to the secular literature composed in Prakrit, Apabhramsa and Old Western Rajasthani for the special Jain cultural content of the genre. He arranged and reorganized the holdings of Jain bhandars in Gujarat and Rajasthan. In the process of cataloguing their collections, he rescued from virtual anonymity a number of rare texts, many of them of inestimable value for their illuminations. He facilitated their access to researchers and, in this way, made possible significant contributions to the appreciation and comprehension of Indian miniature painting. His vast collection of manuscripts, which he presented to "the L. D. Institute of Indology of Ahmedabad, forms the foundation of its admirable library. His influence on Jain studies will long be felt and his memory preserved with reverence and affection. The major portion of my studies was pursued during my tenure of fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities. I was also the recipient of a grant for
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________________ research on the Old Gujarati language from the Committee on the Advancement of Research of the University of Pennsylvania. I am especially grateful to these institutions for their generosity. I am appreciative of the courteous assistance afforded me in my search for manuscripts by the directors and staffs of the institutions listed alphabetically, as follows: the Seth Dosabhai Abhecand Jain Sangh Collection of Bhavnagar, the Asiatic Society of Calcutta, the Sri Atmarama Jainajnana Mandir of Baroda, the Baroda Museum and Picture Gallery, the Bombay Branch of the Asiatic Society, the Boston Museum, the Sri Hamsavijayaji Collection of Baroda, the Hemacandracarya Jainajnana Mandir of Patan, the Heeramaneck Galleries of New York, the India Office Library in London, the Hukum Muni Bhandar of Surat, the 'L. D. Institute of Indology of Ahmedabad, the Sri Mahavira Jaina Vidyalaya of Bombay, the B. S. Nahar Collection of Calcutta, the National Museum of New Delhi, the Oriental Institute of Baroda, the Prince of Wales Museum of Bombay, the Rajasthan Paratattva Mandir of Jaipur, the Narendrasingh Singhi Collection of Calcutta and the Rajendrasingh Singhi Collection of Calcutta. I am grateful to Miss Kanta Bhatia, the Bibliographer for South Asian Studies of the Library of the University of Pennsylvania, for her many kindnesses and valuable assistance over the years, and to Dr. Richard J. Cohen, the Assistant to the Chairman of the South Asia Regional Studies Department of the University of Pennsylvania. My former student and a dedicated scholar to Jain researches, his expertize made possible the transfer of my materials to my computer and the expedition of this work to a fruitful conclusion. His preparation of the camera-ready copy of this book has facilitated its publication. My thanks, too, to the South Asia Regional Studies Department of the
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________________ University of Pennsylvania for the services kindly made available to me. It is my pleasure to single out for their help and hospitality Sri Kantilal D. Kora, the director of the Shri Mahavira Jaina Vidyalaya of Bombay, and the directors of the L. D. Institute of Indology of Ahmedabad, Pt. Dalsukh Malvania and Dr. Nagin J. Shah who turned my visits to their libraries into occasions more of agreeable sociality than of impersonal service. Nor can I overlook Dr. H.C. Bhayani for my appreciation of his interest in my researches. I note with sadness the great loss of my good friend and colleague, Dr. Umakant P. Shah, the eminient historian of Indian art, and, at the same time, I am cheered by the remembrance of the many happy hours we shared in cur work. It is meet, I feel, to echo, here, the observation of my teacher, Professor W. Norman Brown, who wrote in the preface to his book, The Story of Kalaka, "It is permissible to record here my appreciation not merely of the courtesy and scholarship of Jain monks and laymen but_also of their lofty ideals and noble lives. They are of the greatness that is India. There is a spirit of helpfulness, tolerance, and sacrifice coupled with their intelligence and religious devotion that marks them as one of the world's choice communities." Let my study be but a token of the measure of my admiration for the manifold contributions of Jains -- scholar, artist and sponsor, alike, - to the cultural heritage of their country. I close with my heartfelt thanks to the special few who were there for me when I almost was not. Ernest Bender, Professor Emeritus, University of Pennsylvania