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प्रथम अध्ययन का पुनः सम्पादन [२] Introduction
In preparing this edition the Acārānga published by the Mahāvīra Jaina Vidyālaya, Bombay (MJV) has been made the base of our text because in it there has been made use of a number of manuscripts in comparison with other editions. Moreover it preserves on a large scale medial consonants which is lacking in other editions. Inspite of these merits still at a number of places there are readings which deserve replacement by older forms which are available in the manuscripts of this text itself or in other older Ardhamāgadhi texts. For this purpose, i.e. for the restoration of archaic forms, a word to word index of forms from the five older Ardhamāgadhi Agama texts, viz. Ācārānga, Sūtrakstānga, Rşibhāṣitāni, Uttarādhyayana and Daśavaikālika was prepared. With the help of this data younger forms (Mahārāstri) are replaced by older (Ardhamāgadhi) ones. . In support of this kind of replacement we have quoted particular Ardhamāgadhi texts or quotations in them from other texts where the concerned forms are traced. Once an older form is quoted again it is generally not mentioned for support at other places of its recurrence. In this way original medial consonants are restored in a number of cases.
Further we have not changed the initial and medial dental nasal ‘n’to cerebral nasal ‘n’. Conjuncts like 'jña', ‘nya' and 'nna’ are represented by ‘nna' in place of cerebral ‘ņņa’ which is specially a feature of Mahārāștri Prakrit. Original nasal in a conjunct with the consonant
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