Unknown Pilgrims

Author(s): N Shanta
Publisher: Sri Satguru Publications Delhi

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The Unknown Pilgrims
Indian population) is obliged to close ranks somewhat in order to preserve its own identity. It should be added that the author was prepared for her task by almost thirty years of living in India among Indians, sharing not only their way of life but also their destiny, assimilating their languages, their outlook, their very nature - without, however, losing her own, that of the South-East of France.
During long periods N, Shăntă has not only sojourned with the Sādhvis and kept close contact with them and with the Jaina community in general, but she has also, in the solitude of her own home, regularly recited the sūtras of the ascetics' daily rite until they have penetrated into the depths of her own spirit, or, one should perhaps say, of her own heart, if that word were not absent from the Jaina Scriptures. She has also persevered in the practice of svadhyāya, the meditative reading of Scripture. It was only after assimilating their doctrine and praxis that she shared with the Sadhvis her own experience and ideas in the course of lively exchanges in depth, very different from the completed questionnaires and taped interviews so fashionable nowadays. Her method does not seek to give information concerning objects of research but to come to know human subjects with whom she may share her own convictions and from a totally disinterested friendship.
This study has not been undertaken with a view to fulfilling certain academic conditions. It was not written to obtain a doctorate or with any other ulterior intention, and, having myself a long academic experience, I can testify to the difference made by that fact. There is frequent mention nowadays, especially in the field of cultural anthropology, of "participatory method" and even "integration" as methods of obtaining precise and accurate information. Although this constitutes an enormous advance in the realm of studies of this type, one cannot deny the artificiality in many cases of these approaches, for in reality the researchers stand to derive from their work some external profit (in their academic career or some other area of life). One cannot assume an innocence that one does not possess. There is nothing of this kind, however, in the present study. It was undertaken in pursuit of the discovery of truth, with no ulterior motives other than those I have attempted to express above.