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INTRODUCTION
41
was not only not blind to the existence of Western Sanskritists but was himself a personal friend of good many of them ; (what he was there criticising was the ignorant debunking of things Indian on the part of the Christian missionaries come from abroad). Not only that, he actually made best use of the English translations done by Western scholars of the Sanskrit, Prakrit and Pali texts though when need arose he would prepare his own English version of an Indian text passage that was in no way inferior to that of the best translators of those days. As a matter of fact, Gandhi's general mastery over English language was strikingly perfect. However, a thorough grounding in Sanskrit and a good command over English would not have sufficed for Gandhi's need; what he above all required. was a capacity to grasp the spirit of the teaching imparted by an ancient Indian text he took up for study. And with this capacity too Gandhi was endowed in good measure. A ringing confirmation of this comes from his present lectures on the systems of Indian Philosophy where we find him taking great pains to tell us just what a Sankhya Philosopher, a Yoga Philosopher, a Nyāya-Vaiseșika Philosopher, a Vedānta Philosopher or a Buddhist Philosopher has to say on this or that question. Of course, the very fact that Gandhi chooses to discuss certain topics and not others in the course of his treatment of a particular system of Indian Philosophy betrays his own likes and dislikes; the more so is the case with the critical remarks he now and then passes against a non-Jaina system. But that has to be the feature of all principled exposition of the tenets of Indian Philosophy (for that matter, of any philosophy whatsoever); and Gandhi was certainly a man of principles. What we are emphasizing is that Gandhi's own ideological affiliation did not prevent him from making maximum effort to get at the heart of the various positions developed by the various norJaina systems of Indian Philosophy. In his lecture on
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