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PUBLISHERS' NOTE
The present volume represents a thesis approved for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology of the Banaras Hindu University in 1969. The authoress, Dr. Mrs. Madhu Sen, was a Gyanoday Trust Research Scholar in the Parshvanath Vidyashram Research Institute, Varanasi. The scholarship was provided by the Trust in Ahmedabad founded by Pt. Sukhlalji, who has been guiding from the very beginning the activities of the Institute.
The P.V. Research Institute is a Jain Research Centre recognised by the Banaras Hindu University. It is the first and the only Jain Institute of its kind. It was founded and is being run by the Sohanlal Jaindharma Pracharak Samiti, Amritsar. It has been continuously rendering valuable services to Jainological Studies for the last thirty-eight years. Under its patronage, many scholars have worked for the Ph.D. and D. Litt. degrees. At present, six Research Scholars are preparing theses for Ph.D. Every Research Scholar is given a scholarship of Rs. 250/- p.m. for a period of two years. There is also a provision for studentships of Rs. 50/- p.m. each to the M.A. Students who have taken Jainism as their special group. The Institute has brought out twenty-one books by now. It has undertaken the publication of a 'Comprehensive History of Jain Literature' in ten volumes covering 5000 pages. A monthly journal of Jainology entitled 'Shramana' is being regularly published by it for the last twenty-seven years.
The publication of this valuable work is associated with the memory of Lala Rattan Chand Jain of Amritsar, who was the leading light of the Samiti which was established in 1935. He was an inspiration to his friends. His enthusiasm was catching. He was an admirer of Acharya Shiromani Pujya Sohanlalji for
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