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Poetical Biography of Sri Vijayadharma Sūri
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vijaya Jaina Granthamālā ) in which 20 old historical Rasas dealing with Jaina ecclesiastical history, have been edited, and the Prācīna Tīrthamālā Sangraha ( Bhavnagar, Yaśovijaya Jaina Granthamālā, 1922 ), a collection of 25 Tīrthamālās, i.e., small epics dealing with Jaina places of pilgrimage and their history, likewise composed in Old Gujarati. Both the collections contain learned and most valuable introductions and ample notes on Chronology, History, Epigraphy etc.
On the field of Epigraphy, Iconography and Chronology, the Ācārya has likewise been an indefatigable worker, since, on his extensive walking tours, he used to collect and arrange all materials he happened to come across. His most valuable works on this field are however still unpublished. Only a small monograph, entitled ‘Devakulapatākā' has come out till now, which gives an account of the history of Delwāļā ( Mewar ) and is accompanied by abundant epigraphic material ( Bhavnagar, Yaśovijaya Jaina Granthamālā). Editorial Activity
Another work of Vijaya Dharma Sūri must be mentioned here, which alone would have been sufficient to make his name a lasting one : the foundation of the, Yaśovijaya Jaina Granthamālā, 1904, in Benares, which afterwards, was transplanted to Bhavnagar, where it still exists. It was an enterprise destined for the publication of works pertaining to the different branches of Jaina literature such as Kāvya, Nyāya, Vyākaraṇa, Philosophy, and meant at its time, an astonishing innovation, which – thus many leading dignitaries speculated – would result in attacks on the Jaina tenets and institutions from different sides. But after the prejudice had once been broken by Vijaya Dharma Sūri, many publications of Jaina classical writings and canonical scriptures have followed, undertaken from various sides, and Jaina studies have, since then, ever been increasing in India. If, indeed, attacks on the Jaina dogma did follow, from the heterodox side, they could not but enflame the religious zeal of Jaina champions to a higher enthusiasm and sharpen their mental
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