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PREFACE.
long drawn-out litigation is as uncertain as the awards of the invisible Fortune. This is in more or less ordinary cases. But when a plaintiff or defendant has to prove a general or special usage, the difficulties grow a thousand-fold. So arduous the task becomes that it is certainly beyond the power of poor men. Therefore, unless the parties are rich, a poor Jaina's rights, in accordance with well-known Jaina customs, which differ from Hindu law, are sure to remain unenforced. The custom also loses its force year after year, till time kills it in the end. Such a state of affairs must be a matter of regret to any community. To an ancient and important community like that of the Jainas, it is intolerable. Jainas all over India keenly feel this implied insult to their religion and philosophy, and injury to their material and moral interests. Some one had to start an amelioration of this condition of affairs. I have made a beginning by presenting to the public a bare translation of one of the most authoritative Jaina Law Books. A world of work yet awaits doing at the hands of Jaina Pandits and Lawyers. Other unavoidable and multifarious engagements prevented my considering the Jaina Law Text in the spirit of a commentator, but being persuaded chiefly by the wishes of my friend, Kumar Devendra Prasad of Arrah,
