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JAIN JOURNAL
Mandir at Patan from 13 such bhandāras the total number of mss in them being 14789. Patan is a place rich in bhandāras. These 13 apart, which are now merged into the Jnan Mandir, there are half a dozen more which have a fairly impressive collection with themselves. Since these are not included in the Catalogue, it is not complete of the total supply of mss at this centre.
Closely analogous is the second Catalogue under review called a 'New Catalogue' which lists collections at Jesalmer, another important centre of Jaina Scholarship in medieval times. Its 'newness' is justified by the fact that the first Catalogue was compiled by Sri C. D. Dalal and published 50 years back in 1923 in the G.O.S. Vol. 21. The first Catalogue contained entries of 400 mss, whereas the 'new' one has 2697 entries, shown under seven heads.
Both the works have been compiled by Muni Punyavijayji. His passing away now will create a definite gap in this field.
To be really useful, if the reviewer may take the liberty to express a personal viewpoint, a catalogue of mss should not be a dry list, but something more living and inerest-creating. This could have been done if a few lines about the theme of the mss were provided. A catalogue of mss is not strictly speaking a catalogue of a library where books are readily available to members. Where mss are difficult for access and may have a single copy at some remote place, and where the title is not, and cannot be sufficiently, let alone fully, expressive of the theme, a gist of the content would have been a welcome feature. A further though minor point is, is it worthwhile to make a list of mss a very costly production, as has been done in the present cases ? With our very limited resources and very limited interest in mss and with many standard things still awaiting publication, the reviewer feels that the proper place for such lists are the columns of journals, as in the past, rather than very costly productions, even with Govt, subsidies, as have been undertaken by the L.D. Institute.
The third book under review is a Dictionary of Piakrit Proper Names. This is part II of the Series. Though it has some usefulness, a complete Jaina encyclopaedia on the lines of Encyclopaedia Brittanica would be a real break-through in the field of Jaina scholarship. But this should be based on the contribution of specialists and should not be a mere compilation by one or two men.
-K. C. Lalwani
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