Jainism in South India and Some Jaina Epigraphs

SR No.: 011025
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: P B Desai
Publisher: Jain Sanskruti Samrakshak Sangh Solapur
Publication Year: 1957
Total Pages: 495
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 33 MB

Page 201

JAINA EPIGRAPHS PART I
General Survey of Antiquities
"Indian Renaissance could derive its only and tangible inspiration from these ancient historic spots where the national monuments are smouldering away in ruin for want of proper usage and care in spite of the strenuous watchfulness of the Archaeological Department in British India and Native States whose resources under the prevailing system of administering national finances are utterly inadequate for the large need that exists."""
INTEREST IN ANTIQUITIES: It was over a decade ago when I had not yet completed my university education that my interest was roused in the historical antiquities of my native land. My eyes which were till then acc'ustomed to pass over the ancient monuments, sculptured objects and inscribed slabs, etc. scattered around me without understanding their meaning, began to probe into the mysteries that lay hidden in them. I saw large numbers of epigraphs lying in an awfully neglected condition in and outside the temples in almost every village I visited. Some of them were uprooted, some were mutilated and some were effaced. The more I read into their contents, the more I realised their value and importance. I felt intensely for the miserable plight to which they were reduced partly by man and partly by nature. I tried to invite the attention of the responsible persons to the sad state of affairs. I earnestly desired that these antiquities should be rescued from further neglect and damage. I suggested ways and means to the proper authorities for their preservation and study, but received no encouraging response. So acting on my own initiative and relying on my own scanty resources, I made up my mind to apply myself in my own humble way to the task of collecting the inscriptions and studying the antiquities. Thus I thought I could save a few at least of the vast number of antiquities from complete ruin and perpetual oblivion. With this object in view I travelled from village to village in remote and out-of-the-way parts of the country, unmindful of the inconveniences and hardships which I had to encounter often and which at times even amounted to starvation.
METHOD OF EXPLORATION: Though an inexperienced amateur apparently lacking in proper training and systematic study, I conducted my explorations, with an intuitive insight as it were, on lines which, it was recognised
1 Inscriptions of Nagai, p. 49; Hyderabad Archaeological Series, No. 8.