Jain Journal 1998 10

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

Page 28

RESEARCH IN SANSKRIT AND JAINA LITERATURE
SATYA RANJAN BANERJEE
PART I: THE DISCOVERY OF SANSKRIT*
1. Preamble
Before I begin the subject, "Research in Sanskrit and Jaina Literature", let me confess at the very outset that in this short limited space and time it is not possible for me to discuss the problem to a great extent. The utmost that is possible is to give a kaleidoscopic view of the subject, so that we can form our basic ideas on what we mean by research and how the Sanskrit and Jaina literature are affected by it.
Though, we think, that research is the contribution of the modern world, particularly with the introduction of European education in India, but, in reality, we can say at the same time that research in Sanskrit and Jaina literature has been going on from time immemorial-from hoary antiquity down to the modern age. The process or method of research throughout its history - ancient, mediaeval and modern-has not always been the same. The conception of research varies from age to age, from country to country, and even from person to person, depending on the interpretations of the documentary evidence and the development of human ideas and thoughts. It was always objective in all respects though guided by subjective impulse or principles. Keeping this fact in mind, I shall discuss the problem in a nutshell by dividing it into three broad periods - ancient, mediaeval and modern-pointing out as far as possible the basic tenets of research in all these periods.
2. What is Research
Though this is not the place where I should dilate upon the defintion of research, I can only say that lexicographically research means diligent and systematic inquiry or investigation into a subject in order to discover or revise facts, theories, applications etc." In whatever way we try to describe the term, it is, in a sense, self-explanatory', and therefore, understood by all. The crux of the whole problem is that as there is no specific and systematic type of definition to fall back upon,
The part I of this paper was read at a National Seminar organised by Sahitya Akademi and Ramkrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Calcutta, on 24 May 1992.