Vijaydharmasuri

Author(s): A J Sunavala
Publisher: Cambridge University Press

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THE JAIN ACHARYA AND
tinguished scholar of Jainism and the world-renowned translator of the Jaina Sutras from Prakrit into English for the series of the Sacred Books of the East, availed himself of the opportunity to thank the Jain Acharya, on behalf of himself and other European scholars interested in the study of Jain literature, and show him their gratitude for his invaluable advice and suggestions to them from time to time, and for his constant readiness to help them with the loan of manuscripts and such other information as it would otherwise be impossible for them to procure in Europe. 'I may express', said Dr. Hermann Jacobi, 'the feelings of gratitude which for a long time I entertain for the distinguished Munirāj Dharma Vijaya Sūri, with whom I am connected through a correspondence of many years. It gives me great satisfaction publicly to thank him for the obligation under which his uninterrupted kindness not only to me, but also to other students of Jainism has laid us. He was always eager to give every elucidation on difficult points of Jain doctrine which were laid before him; and since I have been here I have consulted him on many subjects; he explained to me some knotty points in the Karmagranthas which had baffled me long; he pointed out to me the passages in the Angas which refer to the worship of the idols of Tirthankaras, and assisted me in many more ways. By this means he has in a great measure contributed to bring about correct ideas about Jainism among the scholars of the West. We owe to him also the loan of manuscripts by which it has
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