Kesarimalji Surana Abhinandan Granth

Author(s): Nathmal Tatia, Dev Kothari
Publisher: Kesarimalji Surana Abhinandan Granth Prakashan Samiti

Page 1228

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Jain Literature as a Source of
Social and Cultural Life of Medieval Rajasthan (1400-1800 A. D.)
Dr. G. N. SHARMA, M. A., Ph. D., D. Litt.
Ex-University Prof. of History,
Ex-Emeritus Professor (U. G. C.) Ex-Director of the Centres of Jain and Rajasthan Studies
University of Rajasthan, JAIPUR
of the sources of the political history of Rajasthan there is no end. Many works printed and hand-written, dealing with the lives of the kings and courtiers are available. They supply graphic accounts of wars, treaties and conquests of military importance. But there is a paucity of the works which deal with the history of organic or national growth. However, this drawback in the writing of history can adequately be made good by the works of the Jain writers who, broadly speaking, deal with the life of man and woman in its varied aspects and his or her achievements in the fields of religion, society, art and literature. They throw light on the pilgrimages of the sanghas, pastime, festivals, fairs, education and several customs, usages and traditions, prevailing during the period. These writers also throw light on the town-planning and the planning of the gardens. A mass of the Jain literature consists of manuals dealing with rituals, rites and code of daily discipline. They also make useful contribution to our knowledge of moral behaviour expected from the people and the princes. There are also some works which have nothing to do with histroy, yet their prologues, epilogues and colophous often furnish valuable data regarding social, economic and cultural life of the age, to which they belong.
Such writings in the forms of manuscripts and printed publications are available in various Bhandaras, repositories of Rajasthan and other places. These priceless treasures consist of Rāsas, Vats, Dhālas, Dohās, Copais, Caritras, Gathās, Kathās, Vārtās, and Gitas in Rajasthani and Kavyas and several digests in Sanskrt, Prākļit, Apabhraṁsa and Rājasthāni languages. The manuscripts preserved in several Jain temples are extremely valuable, which if surveyed, pooled together and catalogued, can give valuable hints on several courses of events which happened in Rajasthan. The manuscripts, preserved in the temples of Sadri, Bhinder, Ghänerão, Nāgāur, Jālore, Alwar, Bharatpur, Lädnu etc,, are among the major Bhandāras which have much to furnish and tell.
1 The Amber Bhandara, Jaipur, The Jaisalmer Bhandara and the Bhandāras of Bikaner, Nāgaur,
Jodhpur, Sādri, Ghāņerão etc., are the Bhandāras of great repute.