Higher Education and Research in Prakrits and Jainology

Author(s): Gokulchandra Jain
Publisher: Sampurnanda Vishva Vidyalaya Varanasi

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2. As Jaipology and Prakrits have most unexplored and wide scope, and fertility of the new areas for Interdisciplinary studies and research, it deserves special attention and incentive on the part of the University Grapto Commission as well as the universites.
3. It is surprising, rather unfortunate that no full-fledged Department with adequate staff and proper facilities, has yet been created by the Commission for the study of Prākrits and Jainology in any University of India.
4. The unfortunate incidents of converting the junior teaching posts of Prākrit into other discipline, have been noticed since Fourth Five Years Plan and need not to be mentioned here. But it is the duty of the University concerned to avoid such malpractice. The commission also needs to see into the matter.
Recommendations
The discussions and deliberations of the seminars and conferences held during last three decades brought out with great clarity the main objectives of Higher Education and Rescarch in Präkrits and Jainology. The ways, along which these studies ought to develop in our academic institutions, have been suggested. The importance and cultural value of the studies in their varied aspects have been clearly magnified. On the basis of the sccommendations of the seminars some aspects of Perspective Planning could be suggested.
The Prākrit Languages form an essential link between the old IndoAryan and the ancient civilisation embodied in it and the New Indo. Aryan and the modern culture of the country. They form the very backbone of linguistic studies in our country, and contribute equally to the better understanding of both Sanskrit on the one side and Modern Aryan and Dravidian languages on the other. The necessity of cultivating more intensely the study of Apabhramsa for a praper historical appreciation of Modern Indian languages, and to grasp their essential unity, is beyond dispute.
Prākrits have also played their part in linking India with its ncighbouring countries in its cultural expansion, and their studies are expected to renew these ties with the nations of South-East Asia and strengthen them,