Sramana 2013 04

Author(s): Ashokkumar Singh
Publisher: Parshvanath Vidhyashram Varanasi

Page 5

From the Chairperson's Desk
Jai Jinendra, I happily announce the publication of April-June 2013 issue of sramaņa. This issue focusses on Jain canonical literature and philosophy. The editorial board and the support staff had to work hard in order to select a few substantive papers on the subject from among larg number of submissions. It is true that to be able to contribute new insights into this largely overworked area is a difficult task. We congratulate the contributers for having undertaken this arduous task. We have included a few papers from the academic staff of Parshwanath Vidyapeeth to encourage them to delve deeper into this topic and share their knowledge with you. I myself was very keen to write a paper on 'Concept of Reality and its impact on Jaina ethics' but due to my active involvement in the too extremely tight schedule of three summer school groups attended by 50 overseas scholars, I was not able to present a paper for this issue. There are a number of highly discussed topics like the concept of abhvaya, female status and liberation, concept of time and change and Jain atheist religion which I particularly wished to have papers on but could not receive any. May be in later issues of śramaņa we shall try to discuss these topics further. This issue contains seven papers, primarily referring to canonical literature and a few philosophical issues raised for analysis.
Sramana is also now available on our website www.pv-edu.in. You can download the same and enjoy reading it. In fact, we strongly recommend our readers to use this facility to help us economise on the cost of publication. You can also access earlier issues of Śramaņa from this website. Wishing you an enjoyable rainy season and a religious chaturmasa.
Shugan C Jain
Chairman