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Shri Mahavir Jain Aradhana Kendra
www.kobatirth.org
Acharya Shri Kailassagarsuri Gyanmandir
Namo Tassa Bhagavato Arahato Sammāsambuddhassa
Preface
The Perfectly Enlightened One, the Buddha, himself realised the supreme knowledge (= Bodhijñāna) under the Bodhi tree at Uruvela (known as Buddha-Gaya) and travelled through villages, cities and Janapadas of Jambudvipa to propagate his Dhamma-ambrosia for the good and welfare of the many and liberated thousands and thousands of people from suffering through repeated existences (= samsära). What he taught and preached verbally, was beneficial to both the gods and men. Immediately after his Mahāparinibbāna his disciples collected his teachings at the Council of Rajagaha and verbally propagated the same in different colloquial dialects of north and central India. Unfortunately, a great part of this collection was lost and only a part was somehow preserved. It is a good news for the entire Buddhist world that the Theravada tradition has preserved and maintained the teachings in Päli in its pristine purity in a chain of teacher and taught and they are available even today due to enthusiastic zeal and faithful allegiance of the Theravädin Buddhists of Myan-mar, Srilanka, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Bangladesh etc.
In the nineteenth century, the lost Pāli tradition of India was revived by the utmost efforts of some dedicated scholars of modern India. The study of Pali language and literature started in full swing in schools, colleges and universities. In some institutions separate departments for the study of Pali have been established. Among the general readers too interest for the study of Pali and Buddhism grew up to a great extent. Due to its scientific and logical approach, tendency for the study of the Pali literature carrying the messages of ancient India has been increasing day by day among the common people. But as Päli is the ancient classical language, it is not easy to learn it by the students and general readers. They have to depend on the Indian and foreign translations of the Päli texts. Side by side necessity arose to have Päli dictionaries in these languages.
Owing to the non-availability of a standard Päli-Hindi dictionary Hindi-speaking people of a greater part of India, students and researchers of Päli and general public, have to face difficulties to study Päli and collect data for various purposes from Pāli literature. The late Pandit Bhadant Ananda Kausalyāyan compiled a small Päli-Hindi dictionary. This is undoubtedly a pioneer work but it does not contain sufficient Pāli words and general meaning of the words have been given there without discussing their literal meanings. Therefore this is not so much helpful to the post-graduate students and researchers of the universities as well as to the general public interested in theoretical and practical aspects of Buddha's teachings, specially their technical and philosophical vocabularies. From these points of view an authentic Pali-Hindi dictionary had been a long desideratum. The present Pali-Hindi dictionary is just an attempt to fulfil the needs of the day.
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