Jain Granth Prashasti Sangraha 01

Author(s): Parmanand Jain
Publisher: Veer Seva Mandir Trust

Page 6

FOREWORD
The idea ot writing a history of literature with the various works classified according to language religion, subject-matter, regional or dynastic affiliation, or literary form ctc, is not quite indigenous in India. It is the eminent ouental scholars from the West who were amazed at the antiquity, importance and richness of Indian literature that tried to take a historical survey of some tract or the other of Indian literature When one looks at the various volumes of the Grundriss der Indo-Auschen Philologie and Altertumskunde (Encyclopedia of Indo-Aryan Research ) edited by Buhler and his colleagues or at the Geschichte der Indischen Litteratur, 1-3 ( A History of Indian Literature, vols 1-2, so far published ) by M. Winternitz, one has to admire not only the stupendous labour of the surveyors but also the continued researches of various scholars which supplied material for such a survey. It is such histories that have given us an allIndia outlook, beyond the limitations and prejudices created by the difterences of religion and language, and it is this approach that would enable us in the iung run to evaluate the literary achievements and cultural heritage of India in the march of world civilization.
Jainism possesses many an important religious aspect. its Atman-Karman philosopby; its course ot spiritual evolution without any intervention of Divinity, the stress laid on ascetic morality; and its ethico-moral principles like Ahimsa. As a representative of the Sramanic culture, which appears to have been prevalent along the fertile banks of Ganges in