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PREFACE
THE work here presented offers the text of two Prakrit versions of the Manipati-carita. That of the shorter version is based on a thesis submitted years ago for the degree of Ph.D. of the University of London. It was only much later that a happy accident put within my reach a manuscript of the longer work. I had approached the distinguished Jaina scholar Muni Maharaj Punyavijayaji with a request for assistance in obtaining further copies of Haribhadra's poem. With characteristic generosity he arranged for some fourteen MSS of different versions of the story to be lent to the India Office Library for my use, three of them from his own private collection and the remainder from various bhaṇḍārs. It is to him and to Muni Maharaj Jambuvijayaji who has on many occasions supplied me with information and assistance that I wish in the first place to acknowledge my gratitude for without their help this book could never have been published.
Other manuscripts were made available to me by Mr. K. C. Shah, Vice-Chairman of the Jain Atmanand Sabha, Bhavnagar, by the Asiatic Society of Bengal, by the Asiatic Society of Bombay, by the Bodleian Library, Oxford, and by the India Office Library, London, and to all of them I would like to express my thanks. From the staff of the India Office Library where most of my researches were pursued and in particular from Mr. H. Greenaway, former clerical officer of the Library and a friend to several generations of its readers I always received ready and unstinting assistance.
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Despite every effort I was able to see only one manuscript of the longer Manipati-carita, and that of very late date and far from correct. The notes to this work are therefore mainly designed to explain emendations made and to suggest where further emendations might be appropriate. Linguistically the text offers little and its main interest will be to the specialist in katha literature. The translation has accordingly been made as faithful as possible without consideration for literary style. Difficulties of interpretation are treated in the notes whilst in
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