________________
PREFATORY
When I was asked by the Bhogilal Leherchand Institute of Indology, Delhi, to convene a seminar on any Nirgranthist subject involving art, my initial reaction was politely to decline accepting this responsibility. My major pre-occupation for over two decades with the ongoing project of the American Institute of Indian Studies on the Encyclopaedia of Indian Temple Architecture at its Varanasi Center, left very little free time as well as surplus energies for getting involved into any other serious undertaking. However, the persuasive pressure by Pt. Dalsukh Malvaniya, Dr. U.P. Shah, and equally by my friend Shri Narendra Prakash Jain-one of the primal pillars of the BLI could not be set aside. In the field of Nirgranthist researches, for some years ago now, indeed since 1974, I was deeply engrossed with the problems concerning Arhat Pārsva, his teachings, and the Nirgrantha Church that eventually grew from his foundational creed; the relationships of his Church, its doctrines as well as the monastic discipline with those of the Church of Arhat Vardhamana alias Jina Mahavira and, together with it, its basic philosophy, tenets, and ascetic practices were some of the problems that had not been seriously investigated. It had always been taken for granted that Jina Vardhamana Mahavira reformed the old church of Jina Pārśva. However, this view, as is now increasingly becoming clear, represents an oversimplification of a highly complex phenomenon and has had neglected several vital aspects and significant details, and, as its consequence, the issues that arose therefrom. One other problem requiring attention was to find an explanation for the well-known association of Nägarāja Dharanendra with Jina Pārsvanätha. For this Jina remains distinguished from the other Jinas by the presence of this very special feature in his concrete representation, and hence this very specific connection needed explanation. Keeping this exigency in view, I suggested that, the main focus may be on "Arhat Pārsva and Dharanendra nexus" for the Seminar under contemplation. Around this thematic pivot may revolve the relevant investigatory papers. Accordingly, four papers providing an intimate background, discussing as they would do Pārsva's teachings and the sect which evolved after him, the agamic and narrative literary references that may clarify (or at least hint at) the origins of the legend behind the connection of the Jina with the Nägendra, the anthropological as well as ontological interpretation of this special nexus, and notices taken as well as the portrayal of this feature rendered in the elative hymnic compositions in praise of Pārsvanatha. The mythological, theological, liturgical, and socio
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
