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आचाराङ्ग FACULTY OF ASIAN STUDIES, ASIAN HISTORY CENTRE
14 April 1997 CANBERRA ACT 0200 AUSTRALIA Dear Prakrit Jain Vidya Vikas Fund,
The exact nature of the original language of the Jaina texts is without doubt an important question for all those who have a scholarly interest in Jaina religion and literature. The plan to hold a seminar on this topic is a very welcome one and it is to be hoped that the important papers presented therein will be published to allow for the dissemination of information to a wide audience. I have no hesitation in wishing the proceedings every suc
cess.
Sincerely Royce Wiles
Scotland,
U.K.
16/4/97 Dear Professor Chandra,
Thank you for your letter advising me about the forthcoming seminar on the “Original Language of the Jain Canonical Texts”.
It is very gratifying to learn that such an academic function has been organised and that so many distinguished scholars arc participating in it. As you will know, sixty or so years ago Heinrich Lüders saw the desirability of describing thc linguistic stratum underlying the Pāli scriptures. The fragmentary results of this research appeared in his Beobachtungen über die Sprache des buddhistischen Urkanons and Buddhist philology has continued to benefit from his insights. Unfortunately, with the exception of Alsdorf, no wester rescarcher has attempted to consider the question of the original language of the Jain scriptures, so that it is very much to the credit of Indian scholars that they are beginning to ad
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