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Writing about the problems of the study of Jainism in 1938, Dr. B. C. Law, an eminent scholar of Jainology had occasion to observe that "the Jainas should found a society for the publication of important texts and commentaries and English translations of them to enable the world to realise and appreciate the noble teachings of Mahavira."
The article in which he observed as above was published in the March issue of the Jain Gazette with a note that the Central Jain Publishing House has brought out 10 volumes of the Sacred Books of the Jainas.
What prompted Dr. Law to observe as above was the paucity of books in English on Jainology, particularly the absence of the English version of the Agamas and old texts which are all in Prakrit. The picture is not very different today even after seven decades, as the laudable work as mentioned in the Jain Gazette, started by men like J. L. Jaini, Ajit Prasad and others, had to be abandoned after their demise.
In this Mahavir Jayanti Number of Jain Journal, we are reprinting some of the writings of those stalwarts, as our homage to them, who were pioneers in the field, and had not only projected Jainism in the right perspective to the world through their innumerable writings but had upheld the glory of Jainism by their dedicated lives.
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