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INTRODUCTION
When I was called upon to present in a simplified form for the benefit of readers today the excellent monograph on Jainism, The Heritage of the Last Arhat, originally delivered as a lecture by Dr. Charlotte Krause at Madras almost a generation ago, I realised that the task was not so simple as it appeared on the surface. I believe that in a subject like religion or philosophy discussed at a high level of thought, not only the contents and the approach, but also the language and expression in they are couched are of supreme importance, for the inner dignity of the theme is constantly sustained and reinforced by the elevation of the language employed. My primary task was, of course, to simplify the deeply impressive study on Jainism by Dr. Krause so as to make it easily intelligible and appealing to the average educated reader of the present day. I have been aware, however, that a process of over-simplification in language, from the point of view of the reader, often leads to a veritable lowering of the thought-content in such subjects. I have, therefore, accepted it as my foremost obligation to the original study of Dr. Krause to preserve the dignity of the whole intact, even while simplifying the thought-processes, no less than the construction and syntax involved in her unique presentation of the theme. As a result, I have sought to attain my objective by assimilating as much of the phraseology and expression of her original work as was consistent with my aim, into the new pattern of a simplified structure of both language and thought, which has thus come into being. The only thing I can say at the moment is that my task will have been fulfilled if the reader feels that the method I have adopted had ultimately resulted in producing a simplified version which yet carries the impact of the original, retaining its full dignity and power of appeal.
As regards the matter of this study, it will be seen that most of it deals with the basic tenets of Jainism, in the
Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat
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