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the spellings of Jain words. Many youth have helped us in improving the English grammar in these books. The names of people who helped us in the preparation of this series are also listed in this section.
Jain scriptures are written using Devanägari characters. To pronounce these characters in English correctly, it is necessary to put various diacritical marks on some English vowels and consonants. However, most internet browsers and word processors do not display and print all these transliterated characters. The main objective of these books is to teach the principles of Jainism to Jain youth and lay people who do not have the knowledge of this transliteration convention. As a result, a simplified diacritical mark scheme has been adopted for this series. The transliteration used here is neither authentic nor totally consistent. While it will serve the purpose of learning Jain principles, this book should not be used for learning correct pronunciations. The estimated cost of preparation and reprinting this education series will be $75,000. We have received some support in terms of advance payment from various Jain organizations and contributions from various individuals. We need your financial support to complete the project. Please support JAINA education activity generously. We distribute the religious books on a cost basis. Born out of the suggestions from Pathshälä level 2 teachers, The First Step of Jainism (JES 203 - Level 2) for young children was compiled and coordinated by Sudhir and Anita Shah of Woodbridge, Connecticut. Many topics and games are taken from www.anekant.org website dedicated to Jain education. This website also contains a teacher's aid, interactive topics, and fun activities for everyone to enjoy and learn from.
We would like to show our appreciation to Balbhadraji for the endless hours of editing done on content and language. We greatly appreciate the support provided by Muni Yashovijayji and the artist Gokuldas Kapadia for allowing us to use some pictures from the book 'Tirthankar Bhagawan Mahävir Illustrated'. We would also like to thank Shri Amar Muni and Padma Prakashan for permitting us to use some pictures from their illustrated Ägams series. We thank Diwäkar Prakashan, Agra for the use of their pictures.
Please note that the JAINA Education committee members are Jain Päthashälä teachers and are not Jain scholars. Hence, you may find some errors in the presentation. Certain items may be applicable to one Jain sect and not applicable to other Jain sects. Please pardon us for any mistakes, oversights, understatements, or overstatements in the material. We request you to use and review the material objectively and provide suggestions to enable us to incorporate them easily in future revisions.
In line with Jain Philosophy, the JAINA education series is not copyrighted. However, if you need to copy and distribute any of the material, please do it respectfully and on a cost
THE FIRST STEP OF JAINISM
Insation
