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Author's Note
I have discussed in the present work the problem of epistemology as depicted in the Jaina canonical literature. Originally, it was planned to have two parts; the Agama-school and Tarkaschool; and thus, embrace the entire field of Jaina epistemology as well as logic. But, the volume of first part became so large that it surpassed the reasonable limit of a thesis. Consequently, the second part has been left for further presentation.
The field of Jaina philosophy remains, more or less, unexplored. Very few scholars have tried to present it critically. We can mention in this respect Dr. S. Mukarjee and Nathmal Tatia. The edition of Syādvādamañjart by Principal A. B. Dhruva covers all the points relating to Jaina metaphysics. It has discussed a few topics of epistemology also. Dr. P. L. Vaidya's edition of Nyāyāvatāra is definitely a valuable contribution to Jaina logic. Dr. Upadhye has translated Pravacaaasāra and edited it with a critical introduction. But, he could devote only a few pages to philosophy. Principal Chakravarti's contribution towards metaphysics is valuable. Messrs J. L. Jaini, Ajit Prasad and S. C. Ghosal, are old names; but, their main contribution consists in translations. Their independent works are merely iatroductory. Pt. Sukhlal, Prof. Mahendra Kumar and Prof. Dalsukh Malavania have contributed a lot towards philosophy, epistemology and logic; though in Hindi. Their critical editions have helped me a lot in preparing the present work. But, none has tried so far to present the problem of Epistemology in its totality and an independent study. I humbly beg to say that this is the first attempt in this respect.
The present thesis is divided into six chapters. In addition, it includes an introduction, containing a brief survey of the works on the topic. It presents a summary of Jaina authors
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