Holy Abu

Author(s): Jayantvijay
Publisher: Yashovijay Jain Granthmala

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autumn of 1929. "On his .vihára: he went to Äbu and studied the inscriptions. During the winter of 1930-31 he visited 97 villages in that vicinity to collect inscriptiops. His literary activities from now on were concerned with archæological sites with Jaina significance. He had hiş share of worldly troubles. He spent caturmāsa of 1937 and 1938 at Karachi where he was seriously ill and had an operation for the removal of a cataract, which unfortunately was not a success. But he did not permit this impairment of vision to interfere long with his activities. After the two seasons at Karachi, he resumed his vihâras and the manifold duties of a Jaina sādhu. During the next few years considerable time was spent in pilgrimages to Pālitāņā and other sacred places and in active efforts on various institutions, such as the Viddhi Dharma Jnāna Mandir and Pāțhashāla at Valā, and in performing various religious ceremonies or attending the opening ceremony of the Āgama-mandir and other shrines in Pālitāņā and Rohishālā. · All these have been described in detail in several Gujarāti biographies. Of course, the Jaina communities where he sojourned were more conscious of his religious activities than his literary ones. But it is these that I want to emphasize.
asize. . -
As a layman, he had already shown his scholarly tastes and ability. He was the editor of a work on grammar and a kosha ( dictionary ) as also of the Yashovijaya Granthamālā and a bi-weekly magazine devoted to Jaina Culture, as mentioned above, when he was at Banāras. Then in 1920 he published the Index to Hemachandra's Abhidhana Chintāmaņi which added immeasurably to the practical usefulness of the lexicon. In 1923 appeared the first volume of his edition of the Uttaradhyayana with the commentary