________________
Editorial
Introduction to the work
The Agama Sutras have two main divisions, 1 e. the Anga-Pravista and the Anga-Vāhya The Anga-Pravista Sūtras are considered to be the nearest to the original and most authentic of all as they are composed by the principal diciples of Lord Mahavira They are twelve in number 1 Achārānga, 2 Sūtrakrtānga, 3 Sthānānga, 4 Samawāyānga, 5 Vyākhyā-Prajñapti, 6 Jñata Dharma-Kathā, 7 Upāsaka-Daśā, 8 Anta-krita-Daśā, 9 Anuttaropapātika Daśā, 10 Praśna-Vyakarana, 11 Vipäka-Sruta, 12 Dristiwāda The twelfth Anga is, at present, not available
The eleven Angas, which are available, are being published in three volumes under the title of Anga-Suttani. The first volume has four Angas, ie, 1 Āchārānga, 2 Sūtrakritānga, 3. Sthānānga and 4. Samawāyānga. The second volume contains only the 'Vyākhyā Prajna pti' and the third contains the rest six Angas
The present work is the second volume of the Anga-Suttāni. It has the original text of the Vyākhyā-Prajñapti with its recentions A brief preface has been added in the beginning An elaborate preface and the word-index have not been added to it It is planned to publish them in two independent volumes Accordingly, the fourth volume will contain an elaborate preface to the eleven Angas and the fifth one will contain the word index thereof The present text and the method of editing
The text of the present Agama has been redeemed on the basis of the seven manuscripts (two being palm-leaf manuscripts) and vritties (commentaries) According to the method of text redemption in vouge, we do not proceed on the basis of regarding only one manuscript as main, but redeem the original text with the help of Artha-mīmānsã (critical meaning), former and later contexts, preceding text (Poorwa-Patha) and the text of other Agama-Sūtras and the explanation in the Vritti (commentary) The original commentary of the Bhagwati is extinct at present The (commentary) was available but we could not get it. We have made use of the original Tīka and chūrni portions quoted by Abhayadeva Süri in his yritti. The scribes, from time to time have abridged the text Many forms
