Vijaydharmasuri

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

Page 84

78 LITERARY ACTIVITY OF THE MONK
THE YASHOVIJAYA JAINA GRANTHAMĀLĀ But the greatest and the most lasting monument which Vijaya Dharma Sūri will leave to posterity is a Series of Sanskrit and Prākrit works called the Yashovijaya Jaina Granthamälā. The Jain literature, which is one of the oldest literatures of India, is vast and varied, containing many valuable works on history, philosophy, poetry, grammar, lexicography, logic, rhetoric, astronomy and other sciences. For the purpose of rescuing from oblivion this old and extensive literature, and in order to make the same easily accessible and more intelligible to scholars,—Jain and non-Jain-Vijaya Dharma Sūri has taken upon himself, with the energy and earnestness that are his own, the publication of the most interesting and important of these works. The laborious task of bringing out authoritative and exhaustive editions of those old works which deserved to be made known began in the year 1904. Since then about seventy-five volumes have been published, which include works embracing a very large range of subjects, such as grammar, logic, history, chronology, poetry, &c. These voluines are freely distributed to all the important libraries, schools and colleges in India, as well as to the distinguished oriental societies in Europe, and the very favourable reception given to them both in the East and in the West speaks of their intrinsic value and their importance.