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PREFACE
The present collection of diverse writings including lectures, papers, glossaries and notes easily lays itself open to the chargeof being a conglomeration of materials divergent in their aims and scopes. An additional oddity is that it is multilingual : a few papers (one of them actually an introduction reproduced from a book), introduction etc. are in Gujarati and one paper is in Hindi. To make the collection, therefore, tolerable at all to the readers, I, can apprehensively point at one fact only, viz., all the writings pertain to exploring and clarifying character and range of Deśya .. Prakrit words and forms in their multifarious aspects. The traditional connotation of the term 'Deśya' or 'Deśr' is considerably extended here to include later Sanskritizations and back-formations based on Prakrit, Apabhramśa and regional-dialect expressions, and occasionally even Late Sanskrit words. This can be considerably controversial, but in my studies of this brand of lexical material, I have found it increasingly difficult to confine myself to any rigid definition, and I feel confident that Hemacandrācārya, with the admirable liberalism evidenced in the unique combination of scientific and practical approaches in his Deśya lexicon, would have quite appreciated it.
It is earnestly hoped that the several issues raised and discussed here may help rekindle interest in Deśya studies.
I cannot express adequately my great indebtedness to the trustees of the Kalikāla-sarvajña Sri Hemacandrācārya Navam Janma Śatābdi Smsti Śikṣaṇa Samskās Nidhi, and especially its
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