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FOREWORD
It gives me immense pleasure to introduce to the world of orientalists this valuable reference book, entitled Leśya-kośa, compiled by Mr. Mohan Lal Banthia and his assistant Mr. Shrichand Choraria who is a student at our Institute. It is a specimen volume of a larger project prepared by Mr. Banthia to compile a series of such volumes on various subjects of Jainism, enlisted in a comprehensive and exhaustive catalogue that is under preparation by him. The compilers do not claim that the volume is an exhaustive and complete reference book on the subject as contained in the literature that is extant and available in print and manuscripts, accepted by the Digambara and the Sveta mbara sects of Jainism. In fact, Mr. Banthia has proposed to publish another volume on the subject, containing the references to the subject embodied in the Digambara literature. The Leśyā-kośa will inspire the scholars of Jainism for a critical study of the subject, leading to a clear formulation and evaluation of the doctrine and its bearing on the metaphysical speculations of ancient India.
The concept of leśyā is a vital part of the Jaina doctrine of karman. Every activity of the soul is accompanied by a corresponding change in the material organism, subtle or gross. The leśyā of a soul has also such double aspect-one affecting the soul and the other its physical attachment. The former is called bhāva-lesya, and the latter is known as dravya-lesya. A detailed account of the mental and moral changes in the soull and also an elaborate description of the material properties of various leśyās are recorded in the Jaina scripture and its commentaries.
In the Ājivika, the Buddhist and the Brāhmaṇical thought also, ideas similar to the Jaina concept of leśya are found recorded. The lesyà qua matter is the 'colour-matter accompanying the various gross
1. Pp. 251-3 (of the text). 2. Pp. 20ff.
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