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GENERAL EDITOR'S NOTE
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The K. P. Jayaswal Research Institute has great pleasure in bringing out Gunaprabha's auto-Commentary on Vinaya-Sutra, edited jointly by the distinguished scholars, Prof. P. V. Bapat and Prof. V. V. Gokhale. It is almost two decades now that the editing work was entrusted to them. As a matter of fact Prof. Bapat was one of the early advisers of the Institute when it launched upon its publication programme of the Tibetan-Sanskrit Series.
The present edition is based on the photograph copy of the Vinaya-Sutra in the famous Rahul Collections of the Bihar Research Society. It, however, contains only the first of the seventeen chapters of the Vinaya-Sutra called the Pravrajya-Vastu. The Institute also made available to the editors a deciphered copy of the Vinaya-Sutra-Vritti prepared by the Decipherment Pandit, Shri Jagdishwar Pandey. In editing it the learned editors have made a thorough comparison of the text with the several Tibetan editions of this work. The Intro luction briefly, yet specifically, summarises the chief features of the five sections into which the PravrajyāVastu is divided and duly brings out the main aspects in which a deeper study can fruitfully be taken up. Besides, it also highlights the peculiarities of the language and style of the author, Gunaprabha, who was an eminent scholar of the Vinaya of Aryamula Sarvästivādins.
I trust and believe that the present Volume will be a welcome addition to the existing literature on the subject.
Jatashankar Jha
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