Unknown Pilgrims

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

Page 38

Author's Preface
Anantā krtajñatā: infinite gratitude
During several years, on the track of the Sādhvis, I had to combine a life of study with a life on pilgrimage. My Masters were the Agamas and the works of the Sages, and gradually and as need required and as I little by little absorbed the ideas of the teaching, the rules of life and accounts of their tradition and history, I went to consult the Sadhvis and Aryikās upon these questions, as well as certain Munis and scholars. Before setting out to meet the Sadhvis I had to discover their whereabouts, which was only possible thanks to the kindness of lay members of the community, who helped me in this search. This done, I had to apply to the secretary of the local committee to ascertain the duration of their stay in such or such a place, and then find for myself a place to lodge. All these proceedings put me in touch with numerous Jainas. During my stays close to the Sadhvis hospitality was given to me either by a neighbouring family or by the committee in charge of a dharmashala of the town or pilgrim-place, or sometimes by friends of my own who happened to live within easy range. I used to set off from Varanasi, where I lived up to 1979, for several months, armed with my notes and some of my books; I left the plains of the North where the summer is scorching to repair to regions where I knew the Sádhvis would come to spend the monsoon months and where I was sure to find a good library. During these periods certain communities, some composcd of friends already known to me and others of persons hitherto unknown, had the kindness to welcome me. Thus in the course of my wanderings, as well as meeting a large number of Sadhvis and also some Munis, I was given lodgement not only by Jaina families or dharmashalas, but also by members of Christian religious groups that I would not otherwise have had an opportunity to meet. My encounters with the Sadhvis gave me a chance to learn a lot from them, to experience a Jaina ecumenism while I lived among Jainas of different groupings and a still wider ecumenism when I was the guest of communities attached to different churches,
It was only possible for me to continue this task of assimilation, of deepening and unremitting concentration that a study like this, rooted