Tattvarthadhigamsutram Part 1

Author(s): Umaswati, Umaswami, Hiralal R Kapadia
Publisher: Jivanchandra Sakarchandra

Page 14

FOREWORD.
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Jain literature, comprising as it does almost all the branches that are characteristic of ancient Indian literature, holds no insignificant niche in the gallery of that literature. It is considerable even as it is at present, and was more so in former times. This is not the proper place to enumerate the great writers and their works that consitute the glory of that literature. The fact that the Jain writers had flourished in great abundance in times gone by, is evident from the vast stock of literature that Their has survived to this day, though it is yet in an unexplored state. eminence in subject-matter as well as language is manifest to those who are conversant with it.
Along with Indian literature at large, Jain literature too has been a participator in the unhappy fate it met with at the hands partly of alien bigotry, and partly of mutual religious jealousy and from the peculiarities of the climate. There was a time when there was no other alternative to secure the very existence of such literature but that of burying it in subterranean archives. The very method employed for the safety of the works became later on instrumental in further diminishing the stock, and that at a time when there was not the least chance of its being further enriched. Those upon whom had fallen the task of being the hereditary custodians of such collections, had inherited the traditions of their forefathers, viz., those of not suffering any part of such collection to see the rays of the sun, lest they might be deprived of them, and the works most dear to them be destroyed by the assailants. It is very strange indeed that these traditions are alive even at this day when there is peace all round, and when the time is most propitious for the development of literature. Fire even has contributed its quota to the destruction of the records. Add to these the all-round degeneration among the followers of the faith, when far from the prospects of further expansion, the faith was in imminent danger of being extinct. It was during this time that more attention was paid to the performance of external rites and ceremonies, and practically nothing was done in the direction of education and literature and the stirring up of the inner spirit of faith. It is only very recently that a practical revival of a salutary character is visible. Owing to circumstances above mentioned, the literary results of the