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(vii) Here a comparative study has been done with a view to analyse the status of various people in society. Fine Arts' depicts the development in the fields of architecture, sculpture, painting, music, dance and drama, and shows the artistic bent of mind that had developed with the predominant sense of having a luxurious living.
Education and Religious-life form the two concluding chapters. A study of various systems and schools of education, particularly the Jaina system of education, has been attempted in the former one. The concluding chapter on Religion records the activities of the various religions, i.e. Jainism, Brahmanism, Buddhism etc, which flourished side by side and also shows the impact of religion on the social life as a whole.
To complete this cultural account a list of various diseases and another of geographical names mentioned in the NC. along with their identification with the modern place-names have been appended at the end. I hope that this cultural study of the Niśīlha Cūrni will further attract the attention of the scholars towards the vast unexplored cultural material lying in obscurity amongst the various unpublished or recently published Jaina texts.
The present work is a revised version of the original work submitted in the form of a thesis for my Ph.D. degree in the year 1968 under the guidance of Dr. A.K. Narain, the then Professor and Head of the Department of Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology, Banaras Hindu University. Professor A.K. Narain primarily suggested me the subject and took great pains to guide and encourage me during research. I owe a great deal to him for the successful completion of the work. I am indebted to Dr. M. L. Mehta, Director, P.V. Research Institute, Varanasi, who immensely helped me in understanding the language of the Jaina Prakrit texts and readily helped me whenever I was in doubt. I am deeply under obligation to Pt. Dalsukh Malvania, Director, L.D. Institute of Indology, Ahmedabad, who painstakingly went through
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