Development And Impact Of Jainism In India And Abroad

Author(s): Gunvant Barvalia
Publisher: Arham Spiritual Center

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Development & Impact of Jainism in India & Abroad
which two are found in Cambridge University library, one in Ahmedabad, etc. Similarly, manuscripts which had been commissionned by one Pasavira in the year V.S. 1721 are found in Berlin, Leipzig, etc. It so happens that the manuscripts preserved in these places had been sold by the same manuscript agent 'Bhagavandas Kevaldas' from Surat, which may explain that they got scattered.
(c) Few Jain monks acharyas, had gifted their collection to particular persons Jain scholars and thus they are preserved there in foreign collections. For example, in the British Library London, a Jain monk named '.Jambuvijayaji' has gifted the collection of 197 invaluable manuscripts containing texts in Apabharmsha, old Gujarati and Rajsthani languages.
(d) Some of the British administrators, during their service and stay in India came in contact with Jainism, were interested in collecting Jain manuscripts and gifted them to some institute or library. For instance, Herny Thomas Colebrooke had gone to Bengal as a 'writer' in 1782 and was in the service of the East India Company in Calcutta. He collected about 2749 items of Jain work and he officially presented this to the East India company which is now preserved in British Library London as 'The Colebrooke collection'.
Still many institutes and libraries of foreign countries purchase Indian works from various manuscript agents or art dealers and enrich their collections. They also continue to acquire gift from scholars or institutes.
In the middle of the nineteenth century several door to door surveys were conducted in various parts of India, by eminent scholars, mostly under the patronage of the British Indian Government, and they listed the manuscripts with the primary objective of saving these valuable documents on Indian cultural heritage.
There are about 60,000 Indic manuscripts preserved in 20 different countries of Europe and North America. Several other countries in Asia also have nearly 1,50,000 manuscripts in Indian scripts and languages. Among such countries are Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, China (including Tibet), Japan, Myanmar (Burma). Of these manuscripts 67% are in Sanskrit; 25% are in modern Indian languages and the rest in Arabic, Persian, Tibetan and other languages. It can be assumed that out of these Sanskrit and modern Indian languages about 7-10% may be of Jaina orign.
About the importance of catalogues ----
Late Rev. Muniraj Shree Jambuviyaji maharaj has written in the foreword of Catalogue of the Jain manuscripts of the British Library that " catalogues of manuscripts are of the utmost significance because even with the availability of a printed publication, the importance of the original material never diminishes. Important scriptures have been printed and published with many inaccuracies and such defects can only be verified by comparison with original palm-leaf or paper manuscripts. Publication of catalogues brings to light the rich collection of Jain manuscripts that exists in foreign countries. Such collections contain rare and important texts of Jainism and this catalogue offers a wealth of scriptural knowledge."
Some of the collections in foreign countries are the property of Jain scholars who did
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