________________ Vaishali Prakrit Jain Research Institute 481 library, research scholars' study, general meetings and councils, and visiting scholars. Library The Institute has a well-equipped library of about twelve thousand rare books and journals on various Indological subjects in general and Prakrit and Jaipology in particular. Besides, a collection of eight hundred select books has been donated by Shrimati Hira Kumari of Calcutta which has enriched the reference section of the library. This library has earned a good reputation, and research scholars concerned with Prakrit, Jainology and Ancient Indian History visit it for their research purposes. Hostel There is a small hostel for students carrying on study and research at the Institute; but the accommodation being very scanty, there has been a long-felt need of a spacious and big hostel. Shri Jagannath Kaushal, the Governor of Bibar during 1976-1979, was good enough to take interest in the expansion of the bostel facilities, and by bis kind efforts a grant of Rupees two lacs and fifty thousand was obtained as assistance from the Central Government for the construction of a new hostel. The condition of the grant was that it would he matched by the Goverment of Bihar. The present Governor of Bihar, Dr. A. R. Kidwai, desired some improvements in the lay-out plan of the proposed hostel. Accordingly, an ambitious plan for the hostel was prepared by the Public Works Department (Buildings), Muzaffarpur, and was submitted with the estimate to the Education Department of the Government of Bihar for administrative approval. Dr. A.R. Kidwai, the Governor of Bihar, laid the foundation stone of the proposed 'International Students' Hostel on April 23, 1983. Teaching The Institute rups post-graduate classes in Prakrit and Jaipology. Teaching is of two years' duration and the Institute preparos students for the M. A. degree of the Bihar University, Muzaffarpur. The courses of study in the subject provide for eight papers, each of one hundred marks. Of them, four are compulsory papers and the remaining four optional group papers. In the determipation of group subjects, Shri M. A. Ayyangar, the Governor of Bihar during 1962-1967, had suggested 61
