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Shri Mahavir Jain Aradhana Kendra
www.kobatirth.org
Hamburg February 1993
Acharya Shri Kailassagarsuri Gyanmandir
PREFACE TO THE NEW EDITION
Not a few of the specialists in the field of history of Indian philosophy are of the opinion that the philosophical significance of the Bhagavadgītā has often been overestimated. But even they cannot deny that it classes among the most important Sanskrit text in terms of the History of Ideas and the influence exercised by it even on outstanding intellectual figures of pre-independent and modern India and that is perhaps the most frequently read work of the whole of Sanskrit literature, in India as well as abroad. Therefore the necessity of making again available Rao Bahadur Prahlad C. Divanji's Critical Word-Index to the Bhagavadgitā hardly needs justification, all the more it is based on a number of different editions of the Gītā. There is no tool like this index, of equal importance both to the professional Sanskritists as well as to all those interested in this text and wishing to read and understand the original itself. Divanji's work remains unsurpassed; on the contrary, compared to it R.J. Venkateswaran's Dictionary of Bhagavad Gita (Delhi 1991) looks like the scribble of an absolute beginner. It is enough to take note of the date of publication, viz., 1946, in order to understand why the work of Divanji has not only become a rarity, at least in libraries outside India, but is also virtually unknown to a large part of the indological community. I was hence particularly happy when I discovered a copy of it in the private collection of Prof. Dr. Richard Lariviere, Austin (U.S.A.) and when he most kindly agreed to provide for the present reprint. Last but not least my thanks are due to Mr. Ashok Jain, Director of Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt. Ltd. for his farsighted decision to carry out my suggestion and to reprint the Critical WordIndex to the Bhagavadgitā.
For Private and Personal Use Only
A. Wezler
