________________ Introduction round the story, but to convey home to the readers the supreme greatness and importance of the topic with which it deals, implying that even such a great sage as Gutamaswami himself testified to it by emphasizing it to his devout follower king Shrenika. 2. But what is that great topic which makes The topic of the story also so great? It is the Navapada the Navapada the most sacred and significant expression in Jainism, which gives in brief the sum and substance of the whole of the Jaina Religion. It connotes the nine most important Padas or Dignities in Jainism consisting of Panchaparameshthi (the Five High Souls)--viz. the Arihanta (or the Tirthankara or the Jina.), the Siddha, the Acharya, the Upadhyaya and the Sadhu--and the Four-fold. Religion consisting of ARTIESTA, ETTEA, TETIT and a i. e. Right Faith, Right Knowledge, Right Character and Penance. ( All these Nine Dignities are fully explained in notes on St 1.) The Panchaparameshth i are regarded as the gardiens (i. e. the establishers or founders ), the 168 (i, e. governers ) and Tan 8 (i. e. the propagators) of the various doctrines and principles of Jainism such as the Jivavichara, the Nine Tattvas, the Karma
