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work, naturally got an opportunity to study deeply the Shatakhandagama Sutras and their Dhavala commentary. Even after the last volume had been published, his interest, study and researches in the subject continued and ultimately fructified in the form of the present 'Shatakhandagama Parishilana'. It is, no doubt, a detailed and critical study, touching the different aspects of this esteemed canonical work. The discussion is divided into eleven chapters, of which the first two deal with the name of the work, its author, source, authenticity, language, style, method of exposition, classification of topics and certain other allied things; Ch. III describes in detail the subject matter of each of the six parts (or Khandas); Ch. IV provides a comparative study of Shatkhandagama with more than a dozen other works on the same subject; Ch. V deals with the known exegetical literature relating to this text is general, and its Dhavala commentary in particular; Ch. VI gives information about Santa-kammapanjiya (Satkarma-panjika), a short commentary of unknown authorship, on a portion of the text; Chs. VII to IX discuss works and authors quoted or alluded to, directly or indirectly in the Dhavala; Ch. X discusses the style and method of exposition employed in Virasena's Dhawala; and Ch. XI contains an index of the numerous quotations which Virasena had gleaned from different earlier works and used in the Dhavala. The study also contains useful appendices at the end, and the author's elaborate introduction as well as Pt. Kailash Chandra Shastri's General Editorial in Hindi at the beginning, all of which go to enhance the usefulness of this publication. It would not be out of place to point out that on certain points, such as the date and place of the completion of the Dhavala and the tentative dates, etc., of early authors including the redactors of this canonical text, the undersigned begs to differ, on good grounds, from the views of Pt. Balchandraji as well as Dr. Hiralalji whom the former seems to have naturally followed in such cases. There is, however, no doubt that Pt. Balchandraji has devoted much time and energy in writing out this comprehensive critical study of one of the surviving original Jaina Agamas, for which the authorities of the Bharatiya Jnanpith and myself, are grateful to him.
Shri Sahu Shriyans Prasadji, President and Sahu Ashoka Kumarji Managing Trustee, and staff of the Bharatiya Jnanpith deserve thanks for bringing out Shastriji's this learned and specialised canonical study. It is hoped that its publication will inspire readers to study for themselves the original work, and that this 'Parishilana' will also be found useful to serious students and research workers in the field of Jaina metaphysics and ontology, particularly the Jaina Doctrine of karma.
Jyoti Nikunj,
Charbagh, Lucknow - 19 15th Oct., 1986
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