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JAIN JOURNAL : Vol-XXXIII, No. 4 April 1999
NEWS ON JAINISM AROUND THE WORLD
A Seminar held at Ahmedabad on the Original
Language of Jain Canonical Works A seminar on the original language of Jain canonical works was held at Ahmedabad at the Jain Hatheesingh Wadi on the 27th and 28th of April, 1997 under the joint auspices of Prakrit Text Society, Prakrit Vidya Mandal and Prakrit Jain Vidya Vikas Fund in the presence and blessings of His Holiness Acārya Sri Vijaya Suryodaya Sūriji and Vijaya Silacandrasūriji. The opening ceremony was in the form of a general meeting which was adorned by the presence of reputed guests like Sheth Shri Shrenikbhai Kasturbhai, Shri Pratap Bhogilal of Bhogilal Leherchand Institute of Indology, Delhi, and Shri Narendra Prakash Jain of Messrs Motilal Banarasidas, an international publishing Firm. On that occasion linguistically re-edited First chapter of the Ācārānga by Dr. K.R. Chandra was released by Pt. Dalsukhbhai Malvania and other five books were also released by the same eminent persons. Thereafter in the seminar thirteen papers were read and highly academic deliberations were held on them. Notable scholars who presented the research papers were Professor Dr. S.R. Banerjee (Calcutta University), Dr. M.A. Dhaky and Dr. Sagarmal Jain (Varanasi), Dr. R.P. Poddar (Ladnun), Dr. H.C. Bhayani, Dr. K.R. Chandra and Dr. R.M. Shah as wall as Dr Jitendra Shah (Ahmedabad) and other scholars from Ahmedabad, Udaipur, Patan, etc. Nearly 50 local Professors took active part in the deliberations.
The outcome of the deliberations was : 1. The original language of the teachings of (Jināgama) Mahāvira was Ardhamāgadhi, 2. Ardhamāgadhi is older than Sauraseni, 3. and Sauraseni Agama works are composed at a later age.
Note: Dr. Jagadish Chandra Jain in his 'Prākrta Sāhitya kā Itihāsa' very clearly says that 5th century B.C. is the date of composition of the earliest works of Jaina (Ardhamāgadhi) Agama, whereas the date of the Digambara's (Sauraseni) earliest work is 1st century A.D.
Dr. K.R. Norman in a letter (dated 28/5/1997 addressed to K.R. Chandra) is also of the opinion that Ardhamāgadhi was the original language of the Jināgama and the Sauraseni Āgamic works are relatively later.
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