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EDITORS' PREFATORY
When it was decided to publish an annual Journal of the Sharadaben Chimanbhai Educational Research Centre, a bipolar perspective for it was envisaged : First, the Journal must, for the larger part, focus on the Jinistic researches; it likewise should be firmly oriented toward objectivity; second, it should reflect good editorial standard, albeit within the ambit of the prevailing conditions, and the availability of the resources on the Centre's side and in the Indian publication field. For these twin objectives in mind, it was decided to invite, in the first instance, the scholars whose eminence in the Jinistic field of research is well-established. At the same time, the doors are to be kept open for the articles by less known scholars as well as by the promising beginners if their contributions matched the basic expectations including good substance and accurate and articulate presentation. While preparing the manuscript of this first issue of the Nirgrantha, since we had to finalize it within the tightly scheduled time-frame, the level of excellence kept in mind could not, regrettably, be attained. The invitations in most cases had been extended orally and this, too, before the style-sheet was circulated : As a result, the homogeneity of style for the 'Annotations' or 'Notes and References' connected with the various articles could not be ideally maintained. What is more, a few scholars working outside India, who had been verbally invited when they per chance had met us, could not send their articles. The first issue, therefore, has to go without their contributions.
The field of Nirgranthist researches, unlike Brahmanical and Buddhist, can count on only a few truly serious scholars who care for sound methodology and in-depth investigation. The choice for contributors is, therefore, considerably restricted. Also, there are some scholars, doubtless celebrated, who, unfortunately, seem to write with sectarian bias, whether strong and overt, or subtle and camouflaged. We obviously have not requested them to contribute to this Journal.
One of our friends in the publication trade had advised us to publish articles written in English language alone for ensuring the Journal's wider circulation on national and international levels. Such an editorial policy, however, would have deprived the Journal of the benefit of the contributions by scholars who exclusively or largely, but indeed notably, write in Gujarati or in Hindi. It was, therefore, resolved to make the Nirgrantha a trilingual Journal, like the Sambodhi of the L. D. Institute of Indology, Ahmedabad. After all, several famous journals published in Europe entertain articles written in different languages, in German, French, Italian, and in Spanish besides English. So, what is objectionable if in India, where several provincial languages of high literary standards are spoken, in the very least a trilingual journal is projected ?
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