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INTRODUCTORY
It is due to the sincere efforts put in by these orientalists and many others who drew inspiration from them or followed in their footsteps that now Jainology has come to be an important branch of Indology and Oriental studies, and a bibliography on any branch of Indology can hardly do without a reference to Jaina works on the subject, and no account of important religions of the world, or a comparative study of religions, is complete without Jainism being included in it.
The various misconceptions have been mostly dispelled, and the hitherto prevailing ignorance about this system and its adherents is gradually thinning down. Its independent existence, greater antiquity in relation to not only Buddhism but even Brāhmanism, and the wholesome, abiding values inherent in its philosophy, tenets and way of life, with a universal appeal and message of peace and goodwill for all and every one, have become admitted facts.
