Jain Legend Vol 1

Author(s): Hastimal Maharaj, Shuganchand Jain, P S Surana
Publisher: Hastimal Maharaj Shugan C Jain P S Surana

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The eternal truth that work contemplated upon by great men for the welfare of all, can never be stalled was realised with the coming of
c rya r to Jaipur in the month of May 1970. They suddenly found the scholar they were seeking since five – six years with comprehensive knowledge of Jain Pr k ta, Apabhram a and other old Indian languages. The esteemed Jain scholar r Gajsingh Rathod who had just then retired from the Rajasthan Assembly took over the editing of Jain history.
Commentaries (Treatises) such as on Samay y mga cr mga, Viv haPraj apti, CauvannaMah purisa cariyam; Pr k ta texts such as
va yaka cri, Vasudevahi d , Tiloyapaatt, Sattarisayadv ra, Paumacariyam, Gacch c rapai aya, Abhidh na R jendrako a (7volumes) etc; a kha d gama, Dhaval , Jayadhaval ; volumes of Sir Monier's Sanskrit to English dictionary; Sanskrit texts such as Tri a i al k puru acaritra, dipura, Mah pura, Vedavy sa's Puras; Apabhram a works such as Pu padanta's Mah pur a were all referred to and by the end of the Medat rainy season retreat the first volume of Jain Dharma K Maulika Itih sa went to press. The second volume also commenced by the time the 1s' volume was printed at the Medat retreat.
With the completion of the four volumes of the history of Jain Religion,
c rya r was very happy and a wave of cheer spread among the Jain community, thereby increasing hundred-folds the enthusiasm of the History Committee. Along with the publication of the first volume, the Committee published the last volume as “Three Historical T rthamkara” Both Jain and non-Jain scholars openly showered praise on the work and its author, the c rya r. With the magic of his writing skills the c rya r has made a dry subject like history seem so lucid and fascinating that thousands of devoted and self-taught (readers) read it everyday.
In 1974, c rya r completed the second volume of Jain Dharma k Maulika Itih sa which was published by the History Committee in 1975. Even this volume was welcomed with cheer by the Jain community. Esteemed Jain scholar r Dalsukhbhai Malvaniya poured out his heartfelt experience and praise on the publication of this text thus:
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