Sambodhi 2007 Vol 31

Author(s): J B Shah
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 59

PROF.G.C. PANDE'S CONTRIBUTION TO
JAINA THOUGHT
MUKUL RAJ MEHTA
Prof. G.C. Pande has presented his thoughts regarding almost all Indian Philosophical schools. Jainism, being an important part of Indian history culture and philosophy, has also attracted Prof. G.C. Pande to think and write something on it. I understand that his first work related to Jainism, appeared in April, 1963 in the form of an article entitled - "The Life Of The Upper Classes In The Earliest Jaina Literature". It was published by Rajasthan Jaina Sabha in Mahavir Jayanti Smarika, which was edited by Pt. Chain Sukhdas Nyayatirth. Prof. Pande's view in the article is that the earliest Jinist texts are so exclusively occupied with the life of the ascetic that it is impossible to glean from them any considerable information regarding secular culture. There is also the additional difficulty that information about secular society is fuller in those parts of the canon which abound in myths and legends of a very uncertain chronological position.
Consequently to build a composite picture of society by utilizing all the information scattered in the Jinist canon would hardly be a permissible procedure; it may give us a picture not true of any particular time or place. It must be remembered that the Jinist canon took its present shape in the period from c.300 B.C. to the fifth century A.D., a period of much political, and hence probably much social change.2
A lecture on “Role of The Idea of Kriyavada in Jaina Logic” was delivered by Prof. Pande in the University of Rajasthan in 1974. Prof. Pande delivered two lectures on Jainism, which were held under the auspices of Shri Raj Krishen Jaina memorial Lectures Committee, University of Delhi, on 3rd and 4th February, 1977. The lectures entitled "Jaina Ethical Tradition And It's Relevance" and "The Jaina Conception Of Knowledge And Reality And It's Relevance To Scientific Thought"