Gommatsara Jiva-Kanda (Sacred Books of the Jainas)

PREFACE.

This translation of Gommatasara Jivakanda was completed in the rainy season of 1917 at Indore. In 1918, I fell seriously ill with influenza and double pneumonia; only in 1919 was it possible to begin publishing the manuscript at the instance of the late, lamented Kumar Devendra Prasada of Arrah, in the Jaina Gazette of Madras. After 79 gathas verses had been published, we decided to abandon the periodical format and print it as a book. On April 17, 1921, the young, energetic, and talented Kumar died, a great loss to the cause of Jaina literature. Publication was postponed.

In 1922, I intended to publish it myself, but discovered that the late Kumar had mislaid or lost gathas 79 to 250. My health and official duties prevented me from re-translating them; therefore, under my supervision, the work was finished by kind friends. Jaina Dharma Bhushana Brahmachari Sital Prasada completed it in 1923 with the help of the brilliant scholar and Sanskrit professor Hira Lall Jain, M.A., LL.B., of the Government College, Amraoti. With the gap in the manuscript filled, it was complete. Mr. C. S. Mallinath, the enthusiastic editor of the Jaina Gazette, was starting the Devendra Printing Press in Madras and wished to publish it. My learned brother, Professor A. Chakravarti, M.A., I.E.S., of Presidency College, Madras, kindly undertook to assist Brahmachariji if he moved to Madras to supervise the printing. This was in 1924. I was ill again from June 1924 to February 1925. Upon my recovery, I revisited the project. However, owing to Antaraya obstructive Karma, a serious attack of diabetic coma left me near death from December 1925. After returning home from the hospital in May 1926, I resolved to publish this and my other manuscripts at any cost.

Brahmachariji readily and eagerly provided his time and effort. My learned and revered brother, Pandit Ajit Prasada, M.A., LL.B., late Government Pleader of Lucknow, agreed to collaborate. The famous Newal Kishore Press, Lucknow, undertook the publication. Thus equipped for this warfare against deadly ignorance and superstition, I bade Brahmachariji Godspeed to Lucknow in July 1926.

While the book was in press, Brahmachariji retrieved the missing gathas 79 to 250 from Arrah in August 1926, after such trouble in replacing them back in 1922!