Charlotte Krause her Life and Literature

Author(s): Shreeprakash Pandey
Publisher: Parshwanath Vidyapith

Page 38

[xxxi]
After seeing her father off in Bombay, Charlotte Krause went straight back to Shivapuri in February 1929. It must have been at this time that Charlotte Krause resolved not to return to Germany, fully aware of the consequences. Most important among these was the loss of her post in the university in Leipzig, because it could no longer be retained for her and so her academic career in Germany came to an end. For her, the stay in India at that time was a most profitable and receptive period of learning, followed by a productive period of lecturing and publishing. Her publications during this time are less the result of special indological research, than the reflections of an experienced and committed western observer. They are critical and prove a very sound and differentiated judgement. In her article The Social Atmosphere of Present Jainism (1929 ) she analyses the nuisance of caste-practices by the Jainas in North and Central India and the conflicts between Svetāmbaras and Digambaras over the claim on Tirthas. Other examples of her publishing activity from this time are An Interpretation of Jaina Ethics ( 1929 ) and Individual and Society ( 1931 ).
In the year 1932, after seven years of intensive life and work in Shivapuri, Charlotte Krause left the community and went to Gwalior. She became the tutor of Princess Kamalā Rājā, the sister of the then Rajā of Gwalior and afterwards she served as the DeputyInspector General of Female Education in the Gwalior State.
During World War II she was not interned like other German nationals but was allowed to remain free due to the protection of Rājā Jivāji Rao Scindia of Gwalior who granted her sanctuary in the Scindia Oriental Institute in Ujjain, where she held the post of a curator from 1942 to 1947. During these years she published several works in English, Hindi and Gujarati. Her indological publications concentrate on two major areas : one pertaining to hagiographical research, viz., Jaina Sähitya Aur Mahākāla Mandira ( 1944 ) and Siddhasena Divākara and Vikramăditya ( 1948 ). The other encompasses critical editions of hymns and