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SĀRÄVALĪ-PRAKĪRNAKA
PUBLISHER'S NOTE
Ardhamāgadhi Jaina Āgamic literature is a valuable treasure of Indian culture and literature. It is unfortunate that due to the non-availability of suitable translations of these works, both, the laymen as well as the learned scholars were unfamiliar with them. Of these āgamic works, the Prakirnakas have almost been unavailable even though they are of an ancient origin and are predominantly spiritual in their content. We are fortunate that Mahāvīra Jaina Vidyālaya, Mumbai has already published the original texts of these Prakīrnakas, duly edited by Muni Punya Vijayajī, but in the absence of translations, in modern Indian languages, they were, generally, inaccessible to the lay. It is for , this reason "hat the co-ordination commit e of the scholars of Jainology had decided to accord priority to the translation of the canonical texts and their explanatory literature and allotted the task of translating Prakīrnakas to the Agama Samisthāna. The Sanisthāna has, to date, translated, into Hindi, and published 15 Prakīrnakas. This has made these valuable texts available to the inquisitive and desirous readers of Jaina studies.
However, those western and Indian readers, settled abroad, who do not read and understand Hindi, are still deprived of the contents of these enlightening works. We are happy that Colonel (Retd.) Dalpat Singh Baya (Sreyas' has translated the Sārāvalī Prakīrnaka into English for the benefit of those readers as well as for those who would enjoy reading them in English as much, if not more, as in Hindi. The exhaustive preface and original text with. foot-notes have been taken from the Hindi edition of the work
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