Studies in Jaina Philosophy

Author(s): Nathmal Tatia
Publisher: Jain Cultural Research Society

Page 8

PUBLISHER'S NOTE
Sheth Bholabhai J. Dalal and Sheth Premchand K. Kotawala, the Trustees of the P. K. Kotawala Trust, Bombay, offered to the Society a monthly grant of Rs. 200/- for six years from June, 1945. The Executive Committee of the Society gladly accepted the liberal offer and decided to found the Kotawala Research Fellowship. In the beginning, as no qualified scholar was available, the amount was spent for the students of Jaina philosophy at the Banaras Hindu University. But in the last quarter of 1946, Sri Nathmal Tatia, M.A., was appointed Kotawala Research Fellow for research in Jaina philosophy. He prepared his thesis Some Fundamental Problems of Jaina Philosophy (now entitled Studies in Jaina Philosophy) and submitted it to the University of Calcutta for the degree of Doctor of Literature. It is a matter of gratification and pride for us that he has been admitted to the D.Litt. degree by the University of Calcutta. We feel proud to observe that the Society fulfils one of its objectives by publishing the work of Dr Tatia, which sets up a landmark in the field of Jainalogical research.
The scope of the literature produced by the Jaina masters is unlimited. They left no subject worth the name untouched. From the time of the Agamas up to the time of Yaśovijaya, it had been the universal custom with the Jaina authors that they should make their own contribution to every possible branch of knowledge. The huge literature known as Jaina Literature is so called only because its authors happened to be Jainas. And the Jaina community regard it to be their own only on account of its having been composed by their ancestors. In fact, however, it is nothing but a continuation and expansion of Indian literature as such and intended to promote the well-being of entire mankind. Without this literature, the treasure of India's literary heritage is bound to remain incomplete and truncated. It has been unanimously admitted by the students of Jainalogy that numerous problems of India's history and culture would remain unsolved in the absence of the study of this so-called “Jaina Literature.' And in their opinion the confusion prevailing over a number of historical and cultural issues can be cleared up with the help of the light afforded by this branch. It has, however, to be admitted with regret that the output of systematic research work on Jaina religion, philosophy and culture has been very meagre. The scientific exploitation of this vast literature is even now only in its initial stage. It is a work to be done by not one or two isolated scholars but a task to be performed by a continuous stream of scholars who will dedicate their whole time and energy for the purpose. The result will be the production of a larger number of works of which the present work is a sample and specimen. This work has been adjudged by the highest authorities as a meritorious contribution and I am sure that the field of research on Jainalogy is so wide that it can give scope for such first-rate researches which can become legitimately the subject of at least a score of D.Litt. theses. The present work, however, sets an