Life in Ancient India as Depicted in Jaina Canon and Commentaries (6th Century BC to 17th Century AD)

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This work based on the study of vast mas of jain canonical literature which is not yet critically edited and remains unknown, is a valuable study pertaining to social, political, economic, administrative and geographical conditions in ancient India during the period of Mahavira and the subsequent era. It covers the period of more than two thousand years based on canonical text and commentaries. Its value is enhanced as it presents a comparative study of Buddhist and Brahmanic texts of the age. It is a source book indispensable to all scholars working in the field of ancient Indian history and sociology. It will help readers to have a thorough understanding of Indian Culture through Jain sources and visualise the concept of unity in diversity leading to culture integrity.

Dr. Jagdishchandra Jain, a veteran scholar, has been a research professor in the department of Indology, University of Kiel, West Germany and professor of Hindi in the University of Peking, China. He is a renowned author of over 60 books and has contributed several research articles in the international journals. His outstanding works are The Vasudevahindi-An Authentic Jain Version of the Brhatkatha, which is claimed to be the lost version of Gunadhya's Brhatkatha; Prakrit Narrative Literature: Origin and Growth, The Gift of Love and other Ancient Indian Tales about Women; History of Prakrit Literature (Hindi); Bhagwan Mahavir, Sydvadamanjari (dealing with six systems of Indian philosophy). Recently he has lectured on ancient Indian history and culture in various US, Canadian and Latin American universities.

This book was first published in 1947, and a revised and updated edition is being published after a span of thirty seven years. During the course of this period I had numerous opportunities to add to my knowledge of the subject. Before accepting my assignment in the Seminar for Orientalistic Department of Indology, Christian-Albrecht University of Kiel, West Germany, I was invited to deliver a series of lectures, by the L.D. Institute of Indology, Ahmedabad in 1970. ?? the University of Kiel, I worked as a Research Professor on the Vasudevahindi, an important Prakrit work of antiquity, written by Sanghadasagani Vacaka the University of Kiel has been a center of Ideological studies for a century and a half. It was here that the renowned Richard Pischel (1849-1908) and Hermann Jacobi 1850- 1937), the two pioneers of Jain Studies, worked and made original contributions in their field of research. During my stay in Kiel, I had the privilege of coming into contact with distinguished scholars of fame such as Ludwig Alsdorf, Klaus Bruhn, Dieter Schlingloff, Walter Reuben (of the German Democratic Republic) and others, besides getting acquainted with the German works of Ernst Leumann and Walther Schubring, notable scholars in the field of Jain Research. It was Alsdorf, who through his paper entitled 'Eine neue Version der verlornen Brhatkatha des Gunadhya' read at the Oriental Congress held in Rome in 1935, discovered that the asudevahindi is the new version of the lost Brhatkatha of Gunadhya. Later, during my tenure, in the University I wrote my research work entitled, The Vasudeva- Hindi-an authentic Jain version of the Brhutkatha, published in 1977. This work also included the study of the unpublished Majjhimakhanda.

By Dharmasenagani. Besides, during my stay in Kiel, I delivered lectures at various Universities, in Europe, namely, The Department of Indology, SouthAsian Institute, Heidelberg. Orientalistic Seminar, University of Freiburg, The Institute of Oriental Languages, Department of Indo- logy, Stockholm, and read a paper at the International Congress of Orientalists held in Paris (1973) as well as at the quatercentenary celebrations of Tulsidas Ramcaritamanaso, held under the auspices of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London (1974). After my return to India, besides writing articles for various outstanding foreign and Indian Oriental Journals, I published "The Gift of Love and other Ancient Indian Tales about Women' (in co-operation with Margaret Walter) and Prakrit Narrative Literature Origin and Growth sponsored by the Indian Council of Social Science of Research, Government of India. I also prepared an article on 'Women in Jainism' to be incorporated in a book on Women in the religious tradition, to be published by an International Society of Women. During my stay in São Paulo (Brazil, South America), 1 went on a lecture tour of USA, Canada and South America, and published a book on the life and work of Mahavira in Portuguese.

**Contents and Sample Pages**