History of Canonical Literature of Jainas

Author(s): Hiralal R Kapadia, Nagin J Shah
Publisher: Prakrit Text Society Ahmedabad

Page 252

COMPARISON AND EVALUATION
235
Palaeography—It was in 1936 that I was given a Research grant for Jaina Palaeography. The results arrived at by me in this connection have been embodied in two papers? : (i) Outlines of Palaeography with special
o Jaina Palaeographical data and their evaluation and (ii) The Jaina Manuscripts.2 Some of them are: (i) The word leha occurs in Samavāya (LXXII), Uvāsagadasă (s. 7),
Pajjosaņākappa (s. 210) and Jambuddīvapaņņatti (s. 30). (ii) Samavāya (XVIII) supplies us with a list of 18 lipis. Pannavaņā
(s. 37) gives us practically the same list ad verbatim. But Hemacandra's com. (p. 256) on Visesāo gives altogether a different list of 18 lipis. A third type of the list is furnished by
Kalpadrumakalikā (p. 203). (iii) Samavāya (LXVI) notes 46 letters of the Bambhi (Brāhmi)
script; but Abhayadeva Sūri is not in a position to say for certain
as to which these 46 letters are. (iv) Shapes of some of the letters in different scripts are recorded
in the cononical literature. For instance shapes of ţa and tha are noted in the com. (p. 256) on Visesā”, those of dha and ņa by Malayagiri Sūri in his com. (p. 1889) on Nandi and those of ca and dha by him in his com. (p. 469) on Avassaya, that of ma in the Puskarasāri lipi in the Cuņņi on Kappanijjutti (v. 44) etc. Five types of Mss. are mentioned in Thāna (IV, 2), Nisīhavisehacuņņi, Haribhadra Sūri's com. (p. 25) on
Dasaveyaliya etc. (vi) Rāyapaseņiya (s. 43) furnishes us with a list of nine materials
associated with writing. Educational topics- These are discussed in the canonical literature, and they have been treated by me in Jaina System of Education, prepared in
(v)
1.
2.
Both of these papers are published in 'The Journal of the University of Bombay, the corresponding numbers being vol. VI, pt. 6, May 1938 and vol. VII, pt. 2, September 1938. My article A detailed Exposition of the Nāgarī, Gujarati and Modi Scripts partly published in the Annals of B. O. R. I. (vol. XIX, pt. IV) and "SYRIA 341 CalusĖ045, awalery Hell 2482 RIHOI" published in 6 instalments so far, in the 'Forbes Gujarati Sabha Traimāsika', may be also consulted.