Jain Journal 2003 07

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

Page 15

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JAIN JOURNAL VOL-XXXVIII, NO. 1 JULY 2003
metropolis of a kingdom regaining their glory and grandeur after their demolition are notable evidences.
I am not the first, and certainly not the last, to conceive and contemplate a project of this nature. Due credit should go to Guerinot of Paris, perhaps a forerunner in this direction, who ably compiled Epigraphia Jaina, of course in the French language, as early as in 1908. Even though it did not contain the original text or translation of the inscriptions, which was not his intention, Guerinot ventured to crystallize the gist and classify according to the Royal dynasties. Speaking of his limitations, it should be remembered that many of the charters were not published during his life time. Since then, so many inscriptions are published that the early anthologies need to be brought upto date and the material therein is to be re-examined, re-assessed and re-arranged. But all this will not deprive of the historical role played by the volumes edited earlier, including A. Guerinot's [Repertoire D'epigraphic Jaina Precede D'une, Esquisse De L'historie du Jainisme, Paris, 1908].
Early scholars made an earnest attempt to compile anthologies of the Jaina inscriptions. The Jaina-Silālekha-Sangraha was published in four parts - Part 1 was edited by Hiralal Jain (Mumbai 1928), which contained the inscriptions of Shravanabelagola and nearby villages, Parts 2 and 3 were edited by Vijayamurti (1952), and Part 4 was edited by Dr. Vidyadhar Joharapurkar. Of these 4 parts, Part 3 has included many Jaina inscriptions of Karnataka, in Devanagari characters, and Part 4 has some details about Royal dynasties of South India. Jinavijaya Muni had edited the Prăcina Jaina-Lekha-Sangraha, with an Introduction in Gujarati (Part II, 1921), and Dr. Vasudeva Sarana Agrawal had edited the Bikaner-Jaina-Lekha-sangraha (Calcutta, Virābda 2482). P.C. Nahar's the Jaina Inscriptions, also titled Jaina-Lekhana Sangraha in 3 volumes, made signal contribution to the study (1918, 1927, 1929)
Possibly, B. L. Rice was the pioneer in publishing Jaina inscriptions in Karnataka. His volume two of Epigraphia Carnatica, devoted exclusively for the Jaina inscriptions of Shravanabelagola, published in 1889, had included only 144 inscriptions whereas its