Sambodhi 1977 Vol 06

Author(s): Dalsukh Malvania, H C Bhayani, Nagin J Shah
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 69

PRAKRIT STUDIES
S. N. Ghosal
When
Revered President, Fellow-delegates, Ladies and Gentemen,
When the news reached me at the last session of the Oriental conference, at Ujjain that I was to preside over the Prakrit and Jainism section in the present session I was a bit uneasy. It was surely a heavy task and a man of my stature was hardly competent to discharge the task properly. But however difficult the task might be it is to be performed if one is entrusted with it. So I gathered courage and the encouragement and help from some of my friends made the task comparatively easy for me. Before I proceed I heartily thank the organisers of the Oriental Conference for having bestowed upon me this honour, of which I am hardly worthy and which is at the same time a definite indication of their confidence in me.
Gentlemen! We all know that it is an age of science and technology. In this age of materalism people are more concerned with material comforts and prosperity, which can be achieved only by the proper cultivation of science and technology. So people are very keen about the pursuit of these branches of knowledge and try to utilise them for the enhancement and growth of their material prosperity. The students also devote themselves to the cultivation of these disciplines, as these are assumed to open avenues of employment to them and afford them better situations in life. Under such circumstances it is very easy to assume that oriental scholarship suffers from neglect. It is considered unsuited for the present age. It in fact becomes a symbol of backwardness, narrowness and superstition, Its study is openly denounced and only those few, who go astray from the common run of men
and have a special aptitude for it (oriental culture), lug it as a special treasure and invaluable tradition. 2: How oriental scholarship is neglected in the present days is best known from a study of the fact that in colleges and universities to-day Sanskrit is assigned a very insignificant position. It is no longer considered as worthy of being studied as a compulsory subject. Very few students come to read it. Even those, who came to read it, are not given that aniount of care, which they deserve and which is necessary for the proper instruction of the subject. In fact in some states even in the secondary stage the study of Sanskrit is not considered necessary. It appears in the curriculum as an