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(viii)
The reader will find in comprehensiveness this work and a comparative outlook in the treatment. A thought is like rainwater stored by different traditions into their own pots and given different names. No topic is the exclusive property of a particular system. One cannot have its full view by visualizing it in a particular pot. I have tried here to give the views of different systems fully, as to make them clearly understandable. In a way, it is a study of the entire topic rather than a single system.
The present work, the result of my studies as a Ratan Chand Jaina Fellow, has kept me engaged for several years. I owe a deep sense of gratitude to the trustees of the above Fellowship for their generosity. I am highly indebted to Dr. P. L. Vaidya, Mayurbhanja Professor of Sanskrit, Benares Hindu University, under whose able guidance I have worked and completed the thesis. His instructions and timely encouragement have been a source of inspiration to me. Prof. Dalsukh Malavania has gone through some chapters and given valu. able suggestions. His deep scholarship in the field of Jainism has been a great asset to me.
Dr. Indra Chandra Shastri
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