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APRIL, 1968
249
which has neither grace nor literary charm The Prananamımānsă is written on the same pattern of satra and commentary as the celebrated work of Vadı Deva Suri But it compares favourably with the latter in that it avoids the unremitting elaboration of arguments and prolixity of expressions which have stood in the way of its popularity It contains all the arguments that are necessary to elucidate a problem and the range of information is not substantially inferior to that of the more ambitious works referred to above It would satisfy the critic in the words of Jayanta Bhatta who frankly avowed that he had no original theory of his own to offer to the readers and his purpose for writing the work was to give a rounded exposition and treatment which would satisfy the needs of the average run of students who would learn all that was essential without unnecessary exertion
It is not to be expected that Hemacandra's work can be understood independently of the aid of a teacher Hemacandra did not sacrifice matter for that would involve injustice both to the subject-matter and to the students But he had to compress his information within a limit so that it would not frighten the young learners by its sheer bulk The result has been that Hemacandra is rather terse and more suggestive than expressive It is an ideal text-book and inspite of its truncated character all the relevant problems of logic and epistemology have received an adequate treatment in it It is absolutely clear that a student of Jaina logic and epistemology will derive a comprehensive knowledge of the subject from the study of this work The popularity of this book is due to its comprehensive character alone
The Pramānamimānsā is most probably the last work of Hemacandra and from all available manuscripts of the work which end abruptly in the same place it is evident that he could not finish it Whatever might be the reason, the book remains incomplete It is a great loss that we do not get the entire book which was in the contemplation of the author
Reprinted from the Preaface', Pramanamimansa, A Critique of Organ of Knowledge Satkarı Mookherjee and Nathmal Tatia Courtesy Bharatı Mahavidyalaya, Calcutta
