Aspects of Jaina Monasticism

Author(s): Nathmal Tatia, Mahendramuni
Publisher: Jain Vishva Bharati

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2. A number of important attempts, though with very limited aims, have been made in the past for compiling works of the nature of a Jaina Encylopaedia. The Abhidhana-Rajendra, for instance, in seven volumes, is a gigantic work in which original Prakrit and Sanskrit Svetambara texts have been quoted in extenso, sometimes in full, to explain the technical terms of Jaina philosophy. Similarly the JainendraSiddhanta-Koșa, in four volumes, and the Jaina Lakṣaṇāvalī, in three volumes, are valuable works of reference in the same field based mainly on the Digambara texts and summarising mostly the work done on the texts they have quoted, giving a critical study only in a limited number of cases with Hindi versions. The Jaina Siddhanta-Bola-Samgraha, in eight volumes, is also a valuable work written in Hindi, which introduces the reader to the rich heritage of Jaina technical terms in a style which is easy to understand. The Prakrit Proper Names, composed in the style of the Dictionary of Pali Proper Names, though not as informative as the latter, is another work which can be regarded as complementary to the above works of reference. But there still remains the vital necessity of an encyclopaedia in English covering the entire range of Jainology, where articles are written in a style which is lucid and reliable for accuracy and insight. The Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics edited by Hastings, The Hindu World by Benjamin Walker, and the two volumes of The Great Ideas-A Syntopicon (published in the series of Britannica great books) may serve as models for our work.
3. The Encyclopaedia of Jainism will contain enteries representing broad subjects on which articles are to be written by experts covering the entire topic with necessary references. We give here a tentative list of such subjects, about 550 in number. The entries comprise Sanskrit, Prakrit and English terms-all arranged in the order of the Roman alphabet. Adequate care has been taken in the selection of the entries so that no important subject is left out and no unimportant subject is entered, in order to make the Encyclopaedia fully representative and at the same time avoiding unnecessary augmentation of the bulk. Calculating the average length of each articles at ten pages, the total number of pages in the Encyclopaedia is estimated at 4500. The question of the space to be allowed to each entry is very difficult to decide in advance. The principle should be that no vital information is left out, but all information is given as concisely as possible.
4. The reference works on Jainism published up to date are almost all written in Hindi and as such are of little use to the foreign scholars working in the field of Jainism. It has, therefore, been decided to write the Encyclopaedia in the English language.
5. The tentative list of entries that the Encyclopaedia is intended to comprise is given below: