________________
A Homage to
A Savant
Departed
National Professor Suniti Kumar Chatterji breathed his last at 4 P.M. on Sunday, May 29, 1977 following a heart attack. Though he was widely known as a linguist he was at the same time a great conversationist. His versatile genius traversed the realms of art and literature, history and philosophy. We intimately remember his love for Jainology. He had not only contributed some invaluable articles to journals but also constantly encouraged those who worked on the religion of the Nirgranthas as an epic of spiritual and cultural expression which is at the same time a much neglected branch of Indology. The editor particularly remembers the letter he received from him which he wrote after reading his book 'Atimukta', a small collection of Jaina legends of yore. He wrote “... we are receiving books on Jaina religion and ritual, history and philosophy in Bengali but I have not seen such a collection of Jaina short stories before. It seems that your small but beautiful book written in elegant but lucid Bengali is the first attempt to present the treasure of Jaina kathanakas to the learned circle. ...I am writing this letter out of heartfelt joy and as you have given me this joy, 1 congratulate you.” This only proved his generosity befitting of a savant. The matter did not end there, and one evening he came to his house and spent a couple of hours talking on subjects touching on linguistics, his tour in Russia, food and mythology and, lastly, the different dialects of Rajasthan. This is only to illustrate how unassuming he was and how he encouraged others and was even eager to discover any gem of talent in a man. The editor has always received his personal love and affection and his loss is a bereavement to him beyond description. We pay our sincere homage to the departed soul by reprinting an article of the doyen of linguistics on Jaina Dharma & Ahimsa.
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