Book Title: Shramanvidya Part 1
Author(s): Gokulchandra Jain
Publisher: Sampurnanand Sanskrut Vishvavidyalaya Varanasi

View full book text
Previous | Next

Page 331
________________ 310 भ्रमण विद्या Bubler, Hoernle, Hertel, Burgess, Jarl Charpentier, Vincent Smith, F. W. Thomas, Schubring, Zimmer etc. When researches started in India many earnest scholars worked in different branches of Jainology, edited many ancient texts in various Prakrits, Sanskrit, Apabhramsa, Kannada, Tamil, Gujarati, Rajasthani etc. The monumental work of Prof. Maurice Winternitz, A History of Indian Literature in two volumes, was published in the first quarter of present century. In the 2nd volume he writes, "The Jainas have extended their activities beyond the sphere of their own religious literature to a far greater extent than the Buddhists have done, and they have memorable achievements in the secular science to their credit, in philosophy, grammar, lexicography, poetics, mathematics, astronomy and astrology and even in the science of politics. In one way or the other there is always some connection even of these 'profane' works with religion. In southern India the Jainas have also rendered services in developing the Dravidian languages, Tamil and Telugu and specially the Kanarese literary languages. They have, besides, written a considerable amount in Gujarati, Hindi and Marwari. Thus we see that they occupy no mean position in the history of Indian literature and Indian thought." pp. 594-95). This observation comes from one of the greatest historians of Indian literature, and has special significance. A landmark in the History of Prakrit Graminar and study of Indian Literature as a whole 'Grammatic der Prakrit-Sprachen' by Dr. Richard Pischel appeared in 1900. Critical editions of a number of Prakrit texts, including Prakrit Grammar and other important Sanskrit and Apabhramśa works, had already been published by that time. Manuscripts became accessible to scholars. Studies of Prakrits and Jainology in the universities of India were introduced with the establishment of Departments of Indology or the Departments of Classical languages which included the study of Sanskrit, Pāli, Prakrit and Apaohramsa. Even professors of Hindi became wellversed in these languages and introduced Apabhramsa in the Department of Hindi knowing its importance for the study of modern Indo-Aryan Languages. A good deal of work in Pali, Prakrit and Apabhramsa had been done by the professors of Sanskrit. Unfortunately the spirit and संकाय पत्रिका - १ Jain Education International For Private & Personal Use Only www.jainelibrary.org

Loading...

Page Navigation
1 ... 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383 384 385 386 387 388 389 390 391 392 393 394 395 396 397 398 399 400 401 402