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First Edition: Delhi, 2000
PADMANABH S JAINI All Rights Reserved
ISBN: 81-208-1691-9
Foreword
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P. S. Jaini's career represents a fascinating scholarly journey. In introducing his collected Papers on Jaina Studies to the interested academic and lay world, some words about his intellectua background might be felt to be of some value.*
Padmanabh Shrivarma Jaini was born into a devout Digambara Jain family residing in Nellikar, a small town near the famous Jain centre at Moodbidre in Tulunadu, that magical and culturally distinctive area in the southwest of the state of Karnataka. In similar manner to many Jains at the beginning of this century who were influenced by calls within the community to change their names in order to foster a greater sense of identity, Padmanabh's father had abandoned his caste name of Shetty and taken the surname of Jaini, in this case in imitation of J. L. Jaini, a noted translator of the Tattarthasutra. Although the local languages of Nellikar were Tulu and Kannada, Jaini's highly literate parents also encouraged the study of Hindi, and the household contained a large number of regularly consulted books from North India on Jain and other subjects.
When he was ten and had completed his elementary education, Padmanabh Jaini's parents sent him far from home to the north to board at a Digambara Jain gurukula at Karanja in Vidarbha (Maharashtra) in order to continue his schooling at secondary level. This establishment, Mahavira Brahmacharyasrama Jaina Gurukula, had been founded by Brahmachari Devchand, who was later to become the celebrated monk Acarya Samantabhadra. While the curriculum contained "modern subjects such as English and the Sciences, the school was run firmly on traditional Jain principles
Printed in India BY JAINENDRA PRAKASH JAIN AT SHRI JAINENDRA PRESS,
145 NARAINA, PHASE-I, NEW DELHI 110 028 AND PUBLISHED BY NARENDRA PRAKASH JAIN FOR MOTILAL BANARSIDASS PUBLISHERS PRIVATE LIMITED,
BUNGALOW ROAD, DELHI 110 007
I would like to acknowledge the assistance of Professor P. S. Jaini and Ms. Kristi Wiley in the preparation of this Foreword.
