Shatkhandagama Pustak 03

Author(s): Pushpadant, Bhutbali, Hiralal Jain, Fulchandra Jain Shastri, Devkinandan, A N Upadhye
Publisher: Jain Sahityoddharak Fund Karyalay Amravati

Page 18

INTRODUCTION.
1. Cooperation of the Moodbidri Authorities and Collation
of the Palmleaf Manuscripts.
ho had so far out this mil
ts and misoi
It will be noticed with the greatest pleasure by every one interested in the publication of this series that the present Volume is appearing with the full cooperation of the authorities at the pontifical seat at Moodbidri where the old palm leaf Mss. of this unique work are deposited and worshipped. The publication of the first two volumes and our ceaseless afforts, as well as of those who realised the value and importance of this venture, brought about this miraculous and most welcome change in the outlook of those who had so far stood apart and looked upon the undertaking with doubts and misgivings. The immediate occasion for the change wis provided by the publication of my article in which anxiety was exprassed concerning the rea, contents of the palmleaf Ms. which goes by the name of Mahälhavala. It aroused a sensation amongst those who had any idea of the possible contents of thoso Mes. I and stirred the hearts of all concerned. An examination of the palmleaf Mss. was, therefore, immediately arranged and I was soon informed by telegrams and letters about the results of that examination. The contact thus established proved lasting and the collation of the Dhavala Mss. With the published part of the work was carried out. The collation of the rest of the work is also proceeding, thanks to the sympathetic attitude of the authorities yud the cooperation of a band of learned people there.
As a result of the search, two more old but incomplete palmleaf Mss. Of Dbavala have been discoverel. These would prove of immense value in settling the text more accurately. At present, the collation of all these palmleaf Mss. in a thorough and accurate manner was not possible, but it might be hoped that this will also be accomplished in the near future. The result of the Moodbidri collations, go far, has been that of the 483 variants noticed in the text of the three volumes yet published, including the present volume, 149 contribute towards the improvement of the text in the matter of sense or expression or both, 62 appear to be optionally acceptable, 157 are phonetic options of the Prakrit language, while 120 are unacceptable, being scribal or other errors. These have been properly classified by us in an appendix and the general results are embodied in the Hindi Introduction (page 49). It was necessry to emend the translation very slightly only at 78 places in all. Our principles of text constitution and translation, as laid down by us in the Introduction to Volume I, are thus mostly borne out by this collation. The position of the euphonic ya may have to be reconsidered, but we must wait for more material. of the 19 expressions which were not found in the available Mss. but were thought to be necessary by us and were, therefore, added and placed within brackets in the