________________
81
Jain literature, which without it I would not have been able to do. They are (1) On the literary and linguistic importance of Jain literature (my opening lecture ) (2) On Bharatakad. vatrimsika; (3) On Sivadas's Vetalapancavimsatika (4) On the so-called Textus Simplicior of fihafa (5) On Uttamacaritrakathanaka. (Printing is enormously costly now in this country. The last fascicle of our “Zeitichrift der Deutschen Morgentandischen Gesellschaft" was printed at the expense of 1000 Marks !).
All these treatises, written in German, are critical work, They show that the European editions of these works are very unsatisfactory, and that the editors and others who have written on these works did not fully understand them. This is especially true of भरटक दात्रिशिका and of शुकसप्तति; where the editors were not aware of the fact that part of the verses contained in these works are written in old Gujarati, for and hence did not understand them. In the meantime these treatises prove the absolute necessity of learning Gujarati, and especially old Gujarati, for Sanskrit scholars. But before I employ the sum of 75 £. you kindly sent me, I beg you to tell me, if you approve of my employing it in this manner. Printing is so costly now, that I fear that perhaps I shall not be able to publish all the five treatises. At all events it seems to me desirable to publish them now. They have been ready for publication as early as in autumn 1918; but it was impossible to me to get them printed. The sum you kindly sent me is perhaps sufficient for printing these treatises, which are very important for the general appreciation of Jain literature in general, and of the study of the Gujarati language. At any rate I can have printed some of these papers. Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat www.umaragyanbhandar.com