Unknown Pilgrims

SR No.: 007014
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: N Shanta
Publisher: Sri Satguru Publications Delhi
Publication Year: 1997
Total Pages: 820
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 19 MB

Page 85

General Introduction
- know not only other languages than their own but also the cultural context of these same languages.
This not being the case, I am taking the risk of transmitting all these voices which blend into a single common voice. This transmission can only take place through a symbiosis expressed in language belonging to both cultures. One cannot help but do violence
h to the Sanskrit, in order to render it easier for the reader, and also to the English, which must needs assimilate new words and ideas, indeed a very different thought-world. As we proceed each Sanskrit word expressive of an idea is explained; subsequently, the same Sanskrit word is used, rather than a translation of it, which would inevitably vary in adequacy and belong to a different scale of values.
Pilgrims
A sādhvi is, by definition, anagāri, without a dwelling, and her life is a perpetual pilgrimage. Why? It is justified by the teaching, taken literally and lived out strictly. A study of this teaching, which is worked out in detail, is consistent throughout and is explained in numerous texts of Scripture and in the commentaries, is indispensable for an intelligent knowledge of the sādhvis' life; hence in Part II the quintessence of the doctrine is given.
Unknown
Lack of knowledge in their regard is both existential and historical: - up till now, almost without exception, very little importance has been attached to the type of existence lived by the sādhvis - and although history has not been totally silent in their regard, the little that has been passed on to us over the centuries remains
- unknown to the sādhvis themselves, who for the most part know only the ancient tradition and history of their own community,
- unknown also to the Jaina community at large which on the one hand pays little attention to research upon the subject and on the other hand is scattered all over the country in small groups;
- unknown to the rest of the world, wherefore: