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JAIN JOURNAL
carefully examined all the original sources and gone through the many books on the subject, published in Hindi, English, Gujarati, Kannada, etc., and seen the material scattered in the files of the Jaina and general research Journals, he would not, perhaps, have burdened his account with his own theories and opinions which are often mistaken and misleading. He seems to have been choosy in his sources as also in making the use thereof. It would, however, take long to comment on every criticisable point in this volume.
The book is divided into 14 chapters, 2 appendices, a select bibliography, index and a correction list. Chapterwise headings are : I Rsabha to Aristanemi (pages 8); II Parsvanatha (pp. 5); III life of Mahavira (pp. 14); IV spread of Jainism-Early phase (pp. 7); V Jainism in Mathura (pp. 29); V1-Jainism in Orissa (pp. 10); VII Jainism in North India—200 B.C. to 600 A.D. (pp. 23); VIII Jainism in South India--Early Phase (pp. 29); IX Jainism in North India—600 A.D. to 1000A.D. (pp.22); X Jainism in South India—600 A.D. to 1000 A.D. (pp. 43); XI The Svetambara Canonical Literature (pp. 36) ; XII The Non-canonical Syetambara literature (pp. 81); XIII The literature of the Digambaras (pp. 22); IV Jain Thinkers (pp. 12); App.A.-Ajivikism and Gosala (pp. 9); and App. B Early Jainism and Yaksa Worship (pp. 8).
Apart from other things, it would be obvious from the scheme of contents and the space devoted to different topics, that the name 'A Comprehensive History of Jainism' is hardly justified. It is at best, in the main, a brief histoical account of the existence and influence of Jainism in different parts of India from circa 200 B.C. to 1000 A.D., which, too, needs be taken with a grain of salt, and not accepted as the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. 'A comprehensive history of Jainism' is yet a desideratum. Nevertheless, we heartily congratulate Dr. Chatterjee for his interest in and contribution to the historical literature relating to Jainism and the Jainas. Hope, he would kindly excuse us for the candid evaluation of his work ; we look forward to its second volume in which he proposes to cover the period 1000 A.D. to 1500 A.D. and also include chapters on Jaina iconography and philosophy.
- Jyoti Prasad Jain
Jain Education International
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