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PREFACE
We have Vedic Index' and 'Dictionary of Pali Proper Names' prepared by eminent scholars. But such an index or a dictionary of Prakrit names was a desideratum.1 The task of preparing Vedic index or Pali dictionary was somewhat easy. It was so because most of the concerned Vedic and Pali works were published with indices. But different is the case with the Prakrit canonical works of the Jainas. All the published works (barring
s published in the West and Bhratkalpabhāsya edited in five volumes by Rev. Muni Shri Punya vijayaji contain no index whatsoever.
So we are extremely happy in placing before the scholars the first part of the Dictionary of Prakrit Proper Names. This is not a work of a single person, but it is a co-operative work done by a team of scholars. I must thank all the scholars who co-operated in this common task.
The dictionary as a whole contains about 8,000 proper names collected from the canonical texts of the Svetāmbara Jainas. The names are collected not only from the original canonical texts but also from their printed Prakrit commentaries, viż. Niryuktis, Bhāsyas and Cūrnis. But as the title of the present work suggests, we have not selected the proper names from the Sanskrit commentaries on those original canonical texts. Of course, they have been utilised for supplementing the informations gathered under each item from Prakrit original canonical texts and Prakrit commentaries thereon.
The work was begun in 1959 by Dr. Hariprasad Shastri, Dr. J. S. Jetly and Shri K. K. Shastri by preparing reference cards from some of the texts with their commentaries. This task was finished by me when unfortunately they left the institute. When all the reference cards were ready the work of compilation was entrusted to Dr. Mohanlal Mehta under my supervision and guidance in the year 1961. Later in the year 1962 he was assisted by Dr. K. R. Chandra in finalising the compilation. These two scholars were again assisted by Pt. Rupendra Kumar Pagariya in finding out the references mentioned in the reference cards. Dr. Mehta left us in 1964. The
1. Of course, there exists one noteworthy work in Gujarati Language 'Jaina Āgamasāhityamām Gujarat' by Dr. B. J. Sandesara (Pub : Gujarat Vidyāsabhā ) the scope of which is limited.
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