Heart of Jainism

Author(s): Mrs Sinclair Stevenson
Publisher: Mrs Sinclair Stevenson

Page 15

PREFATORY NOTE
Amongst the many friends, Indian and English, whose help has made the production of this little book possible, the writer .wes a special debt of gratitude to the Rev. G. P. Taylor, M.A., D.D., who years ago first directed her attention to Jainism as an almost untrodden field for research, and who ever since has allowed her to make the fullest use of his unrivalled stores of oriental scholarship; to Mr. J. N. Farquhar, M.A., from whom she has received constant help and suggestion, especially in the compilation of the Historical Summary and the paragraphs on Jaina writers; and to her husband, who, when she was hindered by illness, not only prepared the index, but also undertook, together with Mr. Farquhar, the whole of the proof correcting.
Amongst her Indian friends, the writer would like to thank two Jaina paņņits, who successively lectured to her in Rājkot (Kāțhiāwād) almost daily during a period of seven years, for the patience and lucidity with which they expounded their creed. Each of these gentlemen, the one representing perhaps the more modern, and the other the more conservative, points of view, most kindly re-read the MS. with her.
In her study of Jainism, however, the writer is not only indebted to paņdits, but also to nuns in various Apāsarā, to officiants in beautiful Jaina temples, to wandering monks, happy-go-lucky Jaina schoolboys and thoughtful students, as well as to grave Jaina merchants and their delightful wives. Nearly all these informants spoke Gujarāti,