________________ Vaishali Prakrit Jain Research Institute 489 all alumni of this Institute. Dr. Kishore Nath Jha, also an alumnus, is a Professor in Gangapatha Jha Research Institute, Allahabad. Other alumni holding responsible posts in the field of Prakrit Studies are : Dr. Ajit Shukdeo Sharma, Department of Jainology, Visva-Bbarati, Santiniketan, Dr. Prem Suman Jain, Department of Prakrit, Udaipur University; Mabamahopadhyaya Dr. Damodar Shastri, Head, Department of Jaipology, Lal Bahadur Shastri Kendriya Sanskrit Sansthan, New Delhi; Dr. Gokul Chandra Jain, Department of Prakrit and Jainagama in the Sampurnanand Sanskrit University, Varanasi; Dr. Raja Ram Jain, Department of Prakrit; H. D. Jain College, Arrah; Dr. Rai Ashvini Kumar, Department of Prakrit, Magadh University, Bodh-Gaya; and Dr. Vidhata Mishra, Department of Linguistics, Kameshwar Singh Darbhanga Sanskrit University, Darbhanga. Many other alumni of this Institute are serving in the Departments of Prakrit at different Colleges in the State of Bihar. Some of our alumni are holding high posts at different institutions, Goveroment or otherwise. A few of them are Dr. Nagendra Prasad, Regional Deputy Director of Education, Darbbanga; Dr. Ram Prakash Poddar, Deputy Director (Higher Education)-cum-Superintendent of Libraries, Bihar; Dr. Nand Kishore Prasad, Registrar, Nava Nalanda Mabavibara, Nalanda; Dr. Raj Kumar Pathak alias Dr. Shriranjan Surideva, acting. Deputy Director, Bihar Rashtrabhasha Parishad and Editor of Parishad-Patrika, Patna; Dr. Jayadeo, Principal, Patna Collegiato School, Patoa; Dr. Jagadish Narayan Sharma, U. G. C. Professor, Kameshwar Singh Darbhanga Sanskrit University, Darbhanga; Dr. (Mrs.) Rama Singb, Vice-Principal, Women's College, Motihari (East-Champaran); and Dr. Ram Kripal Sinha, Reader in English, Ram Dayalu Singh College, Muzaffarpur. Fourth, the Institute has attracted students from abroad as well, notably from Japan and the countries of South-East Asia such as Vietnam, Laos, Kampuchea, Thailand and Burma who bave obtained M. A. and Ph. D. degrees having studied here for the required period. Some of these degree-bolders, it is learnt, are well-placed in life. Casual students from western countries such as the United States of America have visited the lostitute in connection with their research projects and benefited from its library and the erudition of its faculty-members. Fifth, the Institute is partly fulfilling the purpose of an open-air University. It has been running a popular lecture series (Loka Bodhya Vyakhyanamala) for the people of the locality who are inquisitive to learn more about Prakrit and Jaipology and theory and practice of Ahimsa. The idea of this popular lecture series was given by the late
