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PREFACE
The ancient philosophical treatises which deal with the topic of deeper metaphysical and epistemological expositions have a very important place in the studies of Jain philosophy. Ācārya Kundakunda's Samayasăra can be considered as one of the most important of such treatises, as far as the Jain authors are concerned. It has the same value in Jain tradition as the treatises/scriptures like Bhrama Sutra in the Vaidika tradition and Visuddhimaggo in the Buddhist tradition. In short, we can say that for anyone to understand the essence of Jain philosophy, Samayasāra has to be studied.
The Samayasāra is a typical classical text in Sauraseni Prākrta language in a very pithy style. Its main topic is the Self (SAMAYA) which is in fact the very core of the Jain philosophy. The speciality of the work is that it depicts the nature of the Self mainly from the transcendental standpoint (niscaya naya). The whole stress in on knowing the Self in its pure form and to identify one's own soul with this immaculate and transcendental reality. For comprehending this, the author, Ācārya Kundakunda, has vividly described all the the nine tattvas (categories of truth) which are the foundation of Jain philosophy.
The present work which is a valuable contribution of my worldly father, Shri Jethalal S. Zaveri (popularly known as “Jethabhai') to the world of scholarship. Already there exists an English translation of the Samayasāra by Prof. A Chakravarti, with commentary based on Amritacandra's Ātmakhyāti and published by Bhāratiya Jñānapītha. There are also several other editions of Samayasāru with Hindi translatin, including the one, in which the Samaya-pramukha is Ācārya Vidyānanda Munirāja and the editor is Pt. Balabhadra Jain, and published by Jaina Vidyā Samsthāna, Shrimahavirajī (Raj.) in 1997 (third edition), which has been made the base for the text and parenthesis in our version. A question may
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