Jain Journal 1997 04

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 31

128
JAIN JOURNAL : Vol-XXXI, No. 4 April 1997
Apabhramśa both as a language and a literature. Though the full bulk of Apabhramsa literature started not before the 9th/10th centuries A.D., the major bulk of Apabhramsa literature are still burried in the Bhāndārs of different places. Devendra Kumar Šāstri's book is a timely contribution to this field of literature.
Šāstriji says that in his bibliography he has included 3000 items on Apabhramsa language, literature and cultural writings as embalmed and treasured up in Apabhramsa. It is a huge task and Sāstriji is to be commended for this strenuous and painstaking endeavour. To prepare a bibliography of a particular subject is a Sisyphean task for which a scholar must devote the major part of his life. When the Indological studies grow to a great extent and when a bulk of literature is accumulated here and there in the different parts of the globe, a book, containing the bibliography of a particular subject, is necessary to control the mass of material scattered all over the world. As research is a continuous process on a particular subject, bibliography of any subject cannot be for that matter complete. But it can be elaborate to a great extent, so that it will appear that not a single material is, perhaps, omitted. That sort of bibliography is highly appreciated and worth mentioning. Sāstriji's bibliography is of such a type which requires no amount of introduction.
His bibliography contains 338 pages with all amount of information on the Apabhramsa language and literature. It has 5 chapters and an appendix which has 4 parts. In the first chapter (pp. 11-99) he has discussed all sorts of problems concerning Apabhramsa. The term Apabhramsa and its position in Prakrit and New IA languages is delineated in a very nice way. Almost all sorts of information are amassed here for the benefit of the readers. In the second chapter (pp.100-192) he has given the list of books on the Apabhramsa language and literature, covering nearly 1300.
In most of the cases, perhaps, he has given the chronological developments of these books and so it started from Pischel (18771880) down to 1996. From a perusal of this bibliography one can easily imagine how Apabhramsa has been studied within the range of a century. Though language is no bar, it has covered the books and articles written in English, German, French, Hindi, Gujarāti. It goes without saying that he cannot cover all the languages of India, not to speak of the world.
In the third chapter (pp. 193-269) the author has given the names of Apabhramsa literature numbering 1204 which are still in manuscript and therefore not edited. Of course, in the meantime some of the books