Universal Values of Prakrit Texts

Author(s): Prem Suman Jain
Publisher: Bahubali Prakrit Vidyapeeth and Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan

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studies at the University of Strasbourg (then in Germany). Wherever he was, wherever he went, Leumann was almost obsessed with manuscripts, the only source of information, especially at a time when so few printed books were available in the field of Jain studies. On the other hand, one of his main concerns was the investigation, at a deep level, of what he called the “Āvaśyaka literature”. In his perspective, it meant covering all the textual units, small or large, that come under this heading. This global vision implied that the Svetāmbara tradition (Āvaśyakaniryukti, Jinabhadra's Višecāvasyakabhācya, etc.) was not the only one that needed to be considered. The Mūlācāra and the Kriyākalāpa texts of the Digambaras were to be analysed as well. Leumann first started buying manuscripts from India for his private collection. When he received funds officially, he started buying them for the Strasbourg University Library, with clear purposes in mind. For the Digambara manuscripts, especially those from South India, his source was Brahmasūri, a Jain scholar from Shravana Belgola, and the latter's son, Jinadāsa alias Dorbaly Jinadasa Shastry appointed as a Palace Pandit at Mysore in 1913 (Gayathri 2010). Bhagavandās Kevaldās from Surat (died 13 March 1900), an agent who procured Jain manuscripts from Western and Central India to all European libraries at the end of the 19" century, did so for Strasbourg as well. 2. Manuscripts of Raidhū’s works in these collections
Given the coherent constitution of the Strasbourg Digambara manuscript collection it is not surprising to see that it has three manuscripts of Raidhū's works. They were not studied by Ernst Leumann. Yet, their acquisition is an additional sign of this scholar's exceptional insight and permanent pioneering attitude: the works of the 15"-century Apabhramsa poet were totally unknown in the West at that time, and hardly any Apabhramśa manuscript was available outside India. The German scholar
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