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THE JAINA GAZETTE Part III Price Rupees 8 only. This volume contains 479 inscriptions and is entirely devoted to Jaisalmer and its adjoining villages. Jaisalmer is a place of unique importance as a great centre of the activities of the Swetambara Jains and as a place where a large collection of Jaina sacred books is carefully preserved. Mr. Nahar has visited this place and collected the inscriptions in person. Some of the inscriptions are very interesting and useful to students of history. Three of them are referred to in the Introduction. They are 1. Tapapattika Inscription which gives an account of the austerities and penances as laid down in the Jain Agamas and an account of the Five Kalyanas of the Tirthankaras 2. The Prasasti in the Parsvanatha temple at Lodarva written in verse within Satadala Padma Yantra, and 3. The inscription of Pattawali which enumerates the names of teachers from Lord Mahavira to Devardhi Gani Kshamashramana under whose supervision the then existing Jaina Canons were reduced to writing at the Council of Vallabhi in Gujerat. The volume contains five appendices giving the dates, names of sovereigns and ruling princes, list of clans and gotras, names of Gachchas with Acharyas and places of consecration found in the inscriptions. These appendices will be found very useful for reference. The elaborate introduction in Hindi is very interesting and useful. Twenty-one plates of the inscriptions and eleven plates of some of the beautiful views of temples adorn this volume.
Both the volumes are nicely got up. The volumes are bound to be of immense help to students of Indian History and especially of Jainism. To do justice to the comprehensive nature of the title “Jaina Inscriptions," we think that inscriptions of the Digambar Jains also should have been included in the volumes. It is impossible to have a correct account of Jainism purely from the information furnished by one sect only. A critical introduction in English based on the inscriptions will greatly enhance the value and usefulness of the volumes. We congratulate Mr. Nahar for his excellent volumes which must
have cost him much labour and money. Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat
www.umaragyanbhandar.com
