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________________ NANDISUTTAM AND ANUOGADDARAIM* The agamas are invaluable as religious scriptures to the Jains. But, in addition, they are a valuable source for the history of religious institutions in India and a complete picture of the composite Indian Culture. A very rich linguistic, socio-cultural and historical material lies embedded in them. Neglect of these texts leaves incomplete the picture of Indian culture portrayed only on the basis of the Pali canon and Sanskrit literature. One of the reasons for their neglect by modern scholars is the absence of a critical edition of all the Jain agamas based on modern, scientific methods of research. Such a critical edition is a desideratum. The task of preparing it, the text of which could lay claim to finality is highly complicated and really tough. The basic sutra texts of the Jain agama reveal inter-relations and cross contamination. The Prakrit languages present dialectal variations and the MSS, in hundreds, variant readings. The Jain sthaviras, when writing the sutra, curni, tika, vrtti etc., extensively quote passages from the old sutras and from their commentaries. Naturally, one comes across almost similar or completely identical passages in hundreds pertaining to the same subject. These passages reveal difference in interpretation of certain words due to different traditions of interpretation. Ancient and modern scholars have emended the readings without consulting MSS belonging to different groups and without taking into account the different traditions of interpretation. Copyists, not fully conversant with the old script, committed mistakes in copying the MSS written in old script and thus corrupted the text. Sometimes sectarian zeal is responsible for expunging passages from the text without MS evidence. Muni Punyavijaya, one of the three editors of the Nandisuttam and Anuyogaddarain (edited by Muni Punyavijaya, Pt. Dalsukh Malvania and Pt. Amritlal Mohanlal Bhojak) published as Jaina-Agama-Series No. 1 by Shri Mahavir Vidyalaya, Bombay-26, 1968, pp. 1-53+1-70 (in Gujarati+1-127 (in English) + 1-476 (List of Abbreviations, Tables of Contents, Texts and Appendices) Price : Rs. 40.00 For Private & Personal Use Only www.jainelibrary.org Jain Education International
| SR No. | 001868 |
| Book Title | Studies in Jain Literature |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | V M Kulkarni |
| Publisher | Shardaben Chimanbhai Educational Research Centre |
| Publication Year | 2001 |
| Total Pages | 114 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English, Literature, & Story |
| File Size | 14 MB |