________________ 18 The author could not be held responsible for the change'simhavnta' from 'simhavinna'. Under the head of 'plsniparni' there occurs 'dhitila' instead of 'anghribala'. On page 150 we have 'hanji ca vardo barbarakas tatha' instead of 'phanji ca saiva brahmasuvarcala'. What a corruption ! Under the heading of 'kimsuka' we have 'ksira srestha' and 'Vitasoka' in place of 'ksarasrestha' and Again, under the heading of 'Saptaparna' the copyist makes a drastic change. He writes 'guccha puspa' for 'gudhapuspa'. Under the heading of Aragvadha we find 'karnivan sa ca revatah'; while it should be 'karnikaro'tha recanah'. Such instances are innumerable. Only few are pointed out here. We cannot expect the copyist to be the expert of the subject. Hence he has commi. make such mistakes. The learned editor Muni Shri Punyavijayaji has done a great service to the cause of this subject by preparing this valuable Appendix. From this we can have a clear idea of how the corruption of the words of the Nighantu has taken place. Many persons like us get confused when they are confronted with the new forms that the word has assumed. And there are innumerable words that have assumed new and strange forms. When candraspada' is changed into 'candrasvadu' it gives altogether a different meaning. By preparing this Appendix Muni Shri Punyavijayaji has done one important and great work. It has made me realize the fact that many corrupt forms and many meaningless names have found place in the Nighantus and their commentaries. It is not unknown to the scholars of this subject that the authors of the Nighantus and their commentators have made a jumble of terms denoting plants, creepers, trees, herbs, vegetables etc. The Nighantusesa is a work of that great veteran scholar Ac. Hema. candra who earned the title Kalikalasarvajna (the Omniscient of the Kali Age). Years ago it was printed, without the commentary, in the Nirnayasagara press, Bombay. It was not available in the market since long. Muni Shri Punya vijayaji has taken great pains in critically editing it along with the commentary which is printed here for the first time. He has greatly enhanced the value of this edition by the important appendices with which he has adorned it. Who else could have done such a scholarly work? We salute him who has made this unavailable work again available. This science of Nighantu seems to be like a wild jungle where the persons concerned have sown haphazardly what they liked. No one took the trouble of seeing and examining the plants, creepers, trees, vegetables, herbs etc., having entered the jungle. All of them have composed the Nighantus, sitting in easy chair. They have made so many unncessory additions and alterations as if to display their scholarship. This is the reason why we do not recognize so many plants, herbs, etc.
