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JAIN JOURNAL: Vol-XXXVI, No. 3 January, 2002
Introductory Speech by Dr Satya Ranjan Banerjee
His Excellency the Governor of West Bengal, Shri Viren J. Shah, Honourable Justice K.M. Yusuf, Reverend Swami Prabhanandaji Mahārāj, Reverend Swami Sarvalokandaji Mahārāj, Professor K.M. Lodha, friends, colleagues, scholars, ladies and gentlemen,
Speech IV
It gives me immense pleasure to announce before the scholarly world the first International Seminar on Lord Mahavira and the 21st century in Calcutta. This Seminar is being held in collaboration with the Ramkrishna Mission Institute of Culture. The Ramkrishna Mission Institute of Culture, as you all know, is a Cultural Institution which promotes the culture of the world with primary emphasis on different aspects of Indian Culture. It is, therefore, quite in the fitness of things that this Institution has agreed to hold such an International Seminar on Lord Mahāvīra and the 21st Century.
Sometimes in the month of December 1999, (perhaps on the 25 or 26th) a group of influencial Jain community decided to celebrate the 2600th Birth Anniversary of Lord Mahāvīra whose final concluding ceremony will be held on the 6th April 2001 in the evening. That committee would also hold an International Seminar as an annexe to that celebration. The outcome of the decision of that committee is the present International Seminar.
You all know that Indian Culture is represented by three ancient languages-Sanskrit, Pali and Prakrit. Sanskrit represents the Sanskrit literature and all its background, Pali for Buddhist literature, while Prakrit stands for Prakrit literature. In course of time, it so happened that Sanskrit and its literature represents Hinduism, Pali for Buddhism, and Prakrit for Jainism. Unless these three languages are nurtured, Indian history, culture and civilization cannot be complete. For a long time, the study of Prakrit was being neglected and was mainly confined within the canopy of Jain Sadhus and Sadhvis who have kept the language and literature of Prakrit for centuries together.
Jain Education International
The first European who mentioned just the name Prakrit was Sir William Jones in 1789. The first scholar who wrote an article on Prakrit and Jain sects was Henry Thomas Colebrooke (in 1801 and 1808). The first man who translated the Kalpasūtra of Bhadrabahu was Rev.
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