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GENERAL EDITORIAL
Ācārya Haribhadra (c. 750 A.D.), Uddyotanasūri (779 A.D.) and Siddharşi (906 A.D.) were great Teachers and eminent Authors. Uddyotana was an immediate şişya and Siddharşi, a paramparā-śişya of Haribhadra from whose works both of them derived inspiration. Their works Samarāiccakahā, Kuvalayamālā and Upamitibhava-prapañcā kathā are significant didactic tales, full of moral fervour. They aim at curbing, if not altogether eliminating, baser human instincts, so that men and women grow into balanced individuals, respect others as much as themselves, and contribute to building up a really cultured society. Their works have been my favourite subject of study. The eminent Indologist, the late H. Jacobi , wrote an original paper on the Upamitibhava-prapañcā kathā (Bonn 1891), and later, edited both the Upamitibhava-prapancā kathā (in collaboration with P. Peterson) and Samarāiccakahā for the Bibliotheca Indica. The Upamiti is a remarkable allegory. The Samarāiccakahā is a classical piece rich in cultural data. The Kuvalayamālā contains abundant linguistic material for a researcher in Middle IndoAryan in addition to the wealth of cultural details.
I myself wanted to edit the Kuvalayamālā; and, had, in fact, got one forme of it even printed, by way of specimen, as early as 1931. But, owing to my other literary preoccupations, I had to keep it aside for some time. As the General Editor of the Singhi Jain Series, I was very much impressed by the methodology and meticulous scholarship of Dr. A. N. Upadhye, Kolhapur. His editions of the BỊhatkathākośa and the Lālāvaī were included in this Series. I had given the basic material of the Līlāvaī to him; and his superb edition of it with a scholarly Introduction won the praise of eminent scholars like L. Renou in Europe and Dr. V. Raghavan in India, as is obvious from their reviews. Impressed by his scholarship and painstaking habits, I felt like requesting him to edit the Kuvalayamālā. I placed at his disposal some rare material, especially the photographs of the Jaisalmer Mss.
Dr. A. N. Upadhye acceeded to my request, rose to the occasion and has now fulfilled one of my great desires. I am quite aware of the trials through which he has passed while working on this edition which absorbed a major part of his time during the last fifteen years and more.
In my kimcit-prāstāvika to the First Part, I have already explained the circumstances under which this edition was undertaken. The late H. Jacobi was very keen that the Kuvalayamālā should be critically edited and published. The late H. Lüders and W. Schubring (who passed away on 13-4-69) showed keen interest in this work. The First Part containing the Prākrit Text and Various Readings was published in 1959; and the Kuvalayamālā-katha in Sanskrit by Ratna
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