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1st ALL INDIA CONFERENCE OF PRAKRIT AND JAINA STUDIES
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS Section : JAIN SANGHA AND SOCIETY
Dr. VILAS ADINATH SANGAVE
Fellow Scholars in Jainology, Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is a matter of great pleasure for me to note that in the long cultural history of India spread over several centuries, the scholars in Jainology are meeting together on the historic and significant occasion of this First Conference of All India Association of Prakrit and Jaina Studies. It is also a very happy augury that this First All India Conference of Prakrit and Jaina Studies is being held under the benevolent auspices and encouraging leadership of the senior and world reputed seat of Jaina learning, viz. the Parshvanath Vidyashrama Research Institute in Varanasi, the most holy place of all ancient religions in India. In addition it is also a very happy event of far-reaching significance in the sense that this first All India Conference of Prakrit and Jaina Studies has been synchronised with the observance of the Golden Jubilee Celebrations of the Parshvanath Vidyashrama Research Institute. We can, therefore, legitimately cherish the hope that both the All India Association of Prakrit and Jaina Studies and the Parshvanath Vidyashrama Research Institute would march together in future and would thus succeed in further raising the prestige of studies in Prakrit languages and in Jaina Culture and Society. Separate Section on Jaina Society' :
It is really very heartening to find that in this First All India Conference of Prakrit and Jaina Studies, a separate section on "Jaina Sangha and Society" has been constituted. This is indeed a step in the right direction as roughly from 1945 onwards and especially from the publication in 1959 of the Sociological research treatise entitled 'Jaina Community : A Social Survey', there has been a growing tendency to devote more and more attention towards undertaking the research studies in
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