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Jaina Literature and Philosophy
knows it full well that I when written with its circular bottom to its left stands for g in the Jaina script. The late Babu Rajendralal Mitra mistook the Jaina character for gas a as can be seen from his work “A Catalogue of Sanskrit Manuscripts in the Library of His Highness the Maharāja of Bikanera ” ( Calcutta, 1880), No. 1537" (p. 702 ) and No. 1780(p719 ) respectively.
Now I may say a few words about some of the symbols given in the two plates of this appendix. The very first symbol given in the first square of the first plate is read as bhale (H) in Gujarāti. It may be ornamented at times for which the reader is referred to the 68th and the 69th squares occurring in the last line of the second plate. Bhale occurs in the beginning of Jaina Mss. in various ways, some ofwhich are as under :
& Ol1, 11 & 011, 115 & Oll, 11 4 & Oll, dll, Ull, y 011 4,4 & II, 115 & 0, 11 & 0 0 II, 11 & 0 and 14 I 013
The second symbol occurring in the second square of the first plate appears to be the same as one evaluated as it by Pandit Gaurishankar Hirachand Ojha in his work The Palæography of India, plate XXVII. It is sometimes found in the beginning of Jaina Mss. 4, like the one preceding it and the one following it. Usually we have the first symbol noted above. At times this (&), .too, appears without a portion above the horizontal stroke i. e. as as Thus Jaina Mss. begin in a number of ways.
In Prof. A. B. Keith's Catalogue of the Sanskrit and Prakrit Manuscripts from the Library of the India Ofice ( vol. II, pt. II ) one comes across the phrase “ Jaina diagram ” 6.
A question is likely to be raised here as to what is meant by this Jaina diagram. My surmise is that it stands for (i) any one of the
1-2 Văņānga-sutra is written for Thānānga-sútra and Vāņānga-tripătha for Thānāúga-tripātha. 3 See the following pages in order :
23, 2, 127, 4, 16, 61, 63, 95, 83, III, 38 and 118. 4 Sce p. 204.
See p. 181. 6 See vol. II, pt. II, pp. 1241, 1243 ctc.
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