Studies in South Indian Jainism

Author(s): M S Ramaswami Ayyangar, B Seshagiri Rao
Publisher: M S Ramaswami Ayyangar

Page 13

INTRODUCTION.,
Indian Culture is a web of many threads. The subtle and fearless intellect of the Hindus, the illumination of the Buddha, the abounding humanity of the Jain, the commercial genius and the responsive adaptibility of the Dravidian, and the fierce zeal and organizing energy of the Arabian Prophet, have all entered into the inner sanctuaries of the people's life and even to-day shape their thought, energy and aspiration in curious and unsuspected ways. Nations rise and fall; kings conquer and pass away in the dust ; the forms of political life and social effort have their day and cease to be ; religious systems and strange rituals move for a brief hour their adherents ; -but in this vast, process of Becoming, there are elements of permanent value, which remain our inheritance and the inheritance of our children for evermore. In the following pages an attempt is made to trace the history of a people, sincere and great in their day and to estimate, in however tentative and fragmentary a fashion, the value of their contribution to 'the rich and fruitfal stream of South Indian Culture. . I owe a deep debt of gratitude to the Trustee of Vizianagram Samasthanam, M.R.Ry. Rao Bahadur V.T. Krishnamachariar Avl., B.A., B.L.,