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stories, in fact, depict the life of men with a golden tiage as well as that with dark patches Men with a golden tinge are inherently good and they are already on the right path as good examples for others, But even men with the deepest patches stand the chance of rehabilitation if they can be brought back to the right path Then there are cases wbere a man has slipped from the right path to get wholly lost. An account of such men serves as a useful warning Quite a number of stories uphold the cause of women, the fallen, the downtrodden, the backward sections of the community. Jainism believes in the infinite capacity of the human soul and the core message in Mahavira's kriyavada is that man is the architect of his own fortune provided he asserts as a master and remains not submissive as a slave.
When in the course of my own studies of the Agamas, I became aquainted with the existence of such a fabulous crop of short stories, I set myself, under the inspiring guidance of my senior colleagues, notably Munisri Nagarajji of the Terapanth sect, to the task of bringing this harvest within the reach of the common man My endeavour was, therefore, directed to the faithful reproduction of these stories in readable Hindi As I proceeded in my work, DCW vistas opened in front of me so that by dow it bas been possible to print 27 parts in Hindi and many more parts will follow in years to come. I was encouraged by the reception given to my labour and this made me think of bringing out the same stories immediately through the English medium to reach a much wider section of the public in India and outside. The English version of Jaina short stories produced by Prof K C Lalwani is now going out and I have no doubt to say that Prof, Lalwani has made a good job of it. It is expected that the book lovers irrespective of caste or creed will derive ample benefit and pleasure from it
Upadhyay Muni Mabendrakumar
