PREFACE.

A word of explanation seems necessary for the present undertaking, inasmuch as my ignorance of the language of the original text can hardly be said to constitute a qualification for the work of translation. I was, however, irresistibly drawn to the work by its remarkable lucidity which even percolated through a Hindi translation published, with text, by the Jaina Grantha Ratnakar Karyalaya of Bombay in 1914. It is with the aid of this Hindi version that the present translation has been prepared. As regards the accuracy of the English rendering, I am assured, on good authority, that the excellence of the Hindi translation has prevented my falling into error to any great extent. I may also add that I have tried to follow the text literally except where it was likely to obscure the sense.

It may be stated here that the Ratna Karanda Sravakachara is a work of great authority on Jainism, and is highly respected by the Jainas for this reason. It is possessed of exceptional merit, and contains, within its 150 verses, the gist of the entire Canon on the householder’s dharma conduct/religious duty, its author, Swami Sri Samantabhadra Acharya, a famous Jaina saint, said to have lived about the latter part of the 2nd century A. D., having actually accomplished the difficult feat of ‘encompassing the sea in a drop.’