Life of Hemchandracharya

Author(s): Manilal Patel
Publisher: Singhi Jain Shastra Shiksha Pith Mumbai

Page 18

FOREWORD
XV
It was my revered Guru, the late George Bühler, one of the pioneers of Jinistic studies, who first drew the attention of scholars to the works of Hemacandra and their importance for the history of Indian literature. His Life of Hemacandra, though written as far back as 1889, far from being antiquated, is still the most authentic work on the life of the great Jaina monk. More than that, Bühler's treatise cannot be too strongly recommended to every student of Indian history as a perfect model of historical research. No one has shown better than Bühler, how works of the Prabandha type, such as Prabhācandra's Prabhāvakacaritra, Merutunga's Prabandhacintāmani, and Rājasekhara's Prabandhakos'a, full of legends and worthless anecdotes as they are, may yet, by a careful critical investigation, be used as sources of history.
It was, therefore, a great pleasure to me, when Dr. Manilal Patel, Professor in the Vidyābhavana, Viśva-Bhārati, informed me that he had translated Bühler's classical essay into English, and that it was to form a volume in the excellent Singhi Jaina Series published by the Rev. Jina vijay a Muni, from Visva-Bhārati, Śânti. niketan, and I am happy to be able to introduce this important work from the pen of my Guru in its new garb which will make it accessible to fellow-students who have hitherto been unable to read it in the original German.
M. WINTERNITZ.
2
The Prabandhacintamani and the Prabandhakos's have lately been published in excellent editions by Jinavijaya Muni, Singhi Professor of Jaina Culture at Vis'va-Bharati, Säntiniketan, in the Singhi Jaina Sorios, where also an edition of the Prabhāvakacaritra is in preparation.