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NARAYAN M. KANSARA
SAMBODHI
literature, Jainism as expounded in the Nilakeci, archaeological sources bearing on early Jainism, spread of Jainism in North India between circa 200 B.C. and circa 300 A.D., relics of Jain community in Eastern India, medieval Jain reactions to other majority groups, some Prakrit words and their Sanskrit equivalents, spiritual hierachy in Jainism, the nature and purpose of the Jain Puranas, towns and trades in the Samaräiccakahā, equivalent views about the ultimate reality in Buddhism and Jainism, relavance of the Jaina Siddhanta Texts in natural sciences, the Jain declaration on nature, Vinaya in Jainism, the Hindu and Jain approach to law and religion, Jain heritage in ancient Bengal, Tantra and Jainism, research methodology by ancient Indians, Jain images in the Khandagiri caves, implications of the "nägnya-parişaha" in the Tattvarthädhigama-sutra, the Jaina community and Akbar, and on the epithet nataka for the Samayasara of Kundakunda.
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As has been noted by the editor in his note, Prof. J.C. Jain has been legend in the of Prakrit and Jainological studies. Preparation of a felicitation volume in his honour on a single theme was a difficult task indeed, but is was made possible by the contributors who considered its publication to be a pleasent duty and sent their learned articles with the remarkable promptitude. Some of the savants, despite their illness and other constraints also sent their articles. Among them Prof. K.D. Bajpali, a father-figure in the field of Indological studies and a friend of Prof. Jain has since passed away. His death is a great loss to the scholarly world, but present volume contains his last article.
Prof. Norman has drawn our attention to the two Major Rock Edicts written in an eastern dialect, with 1 or r in all places and the nominative singular ending e. This new evidence reinforces Dr. Norman's suggestion that the dialect variations in the Asokan inscriptions must be examined very carefully, and can be disregarded if they conflict with other evidence, and then it would be open to us to conclude that the dialect upon which Pali was based had its home much nearer Magadha; and that when the Magadhisms and Sanskritisms in Pali have been disregarded, there, in fact, very little difference between the language of Theravadin canon and the language of Häthigumpha inscription.
