Ardha Magadhi Reader

Author(s): B D Jain
Publisher: Shri Satguru Publications

Page 67

(lxv ) of Europe and America. No systematic search for MSS. has been made in the Panjab which according to the writer's. estimate contains over ten thousand Jain MSS. besides Brahmanical and others. They are preserved in Bhandárs at chief towns of the province and are in charge of laymen who cannot make any use of them. The Panjab University Library contains a catalogue (in manuscript) of MSS. in the Jain temple at Gujranwala. It is probably the work of Pandit Kashi Nath Kunte who reported on Labore Pandits' libraries in the eighties.
In 1917 the writer made a brief report on the contents of the Jain Bhandár at Nárowal (Sialkote district) to the Principal, Oriental College at whose suggestion the Panjab University has now taken an initiative in the search for and cataloguing of MS3. The University spends annually about Rs, 2,000 on MSS. Muui Vallabha Vijaya, disciple of the late Muni Atmárámjí Ananda Vijaya, the reformer of Janism in the Panjab, has kindly secured permission for the writer to visit the Bhandár at Ambálá and has promised a hearty support in getting access to Bhandlárs in other towns.