Proceedings of the Seminar on Prakrit Studies 1973

Author(s): K R Chandra, Dalsukh Malvania, Nagin J Shah
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 22

Fifth Seminar on Prakrit Studies Welcome Address
by
H. C. Bhayani
(Chairman, Preparatory Committee)
Revered Panditji Sukhlalji, Mr. Vice-chancellor & Friends,
On behalf of the preparatory committee, I have great pleasure in according a hearty welcome to you all to this Fifth Seminar on Prakrit Studies, which has been organized by Gujarat University with the financial aid of the University Grants Commission. Gujarat along with Rajasthan and Malwa has a long, vigorous and continuous tradition of cultivating Prakrits, and in many areas of Prakrit and Apabhramśa literatures the contributions of scholars from these regions have been most significant in bulk and quality. From Devardbigani, Sanghadasa, Haribhadra and Uddyotana, through Abhayadeva, Haribhadra and Hemacandra, down to Hargovinddas Sheth, Sukhlalji, Jinvijayaji, Bechardasji and Punya Vijayaji we have a long line of brilliant scholars and their excellent works. Leaving aside, what has been irrepairably lost, even if we look at the works still preserved at the famous manuscript Bhaṇḍāras at numerous places in Gujarat and Rajasthan, they highly impress us as witnesses to uninterrupted literary activity in Prakrit, spreading over centuries upon centuries. It is thorefore, in fitness of things that scholars and students of Prakrit are meeting here for their discussions and deliberations that would further research and tackle problems in the field of Prakrit studies.
We all know and it has beea stressed repeatedly at all the previous Prakrit Seminars that even in the primary task of editing and publishing Prakrit texts we have a balance sheet of the little done and the vast undone. Even a casual survey of a single large collection, say like the one here at the L. D. Institute of Indology, would instantly bring home the yawning gulf between the required and the actually available resources, personnel etc. for this purpose. Secondly, we also know that very little of what has been published so far has been exploited and utilized properly for literary, cultural and linguistic histories. Under these circumstances, for achieving substantial progress, we shall serious thought to formulating a practical ten-year plan for bringing out the more important of unpublished texts. Of cousre, when we take into account various requirements problems of Prakrit
have to give
and