Descriptive Catalogue of Govt Collections of Manuscripts Part 1

SR No.: 018036
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Hiralal R Kapadia
Publisher: Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute
Publication Year: 1935
Total Pages: 416
Language: English, Sanskrit
Classification: Catalogue & Catalogue
File Size: 15 MB

Page 14

PREFACE
It was on the 4th of October 1930 that I received an invitation from the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Poona, to prepare and edit a Descriptive Catalogue of all the Jaina Mss. in the Government Mss. Library deposited with them by the Government of Bombay. As this invitation offered me an excellent opportunity to study the Jaina Mss. at the Institute at first hand and thus contribute my humble quoia towards giving wider publicity to Jaina literature in general, I lost no time in accepting it and commenced my work on these Mss. on the 23rd of November 1930.
The number of these Mss. is estimated to be about four thousand and five hundred. They are grouped under the head “ Jaina Literature and Philosophy and form the 17th and the 18th volumes in the scheme of the Descriptive Catalogue of Government Mss. numbering about 20,000.
In preparing this Descriptive Catalogue I have followed in general the lines laid down by the Institute as explained to me by Rao Bahadur Dr. S. K. Belvalkar, m. A., Ph. D., the then Hon. Secretary of the Institute. Headings of description adopted in this Catalogue are practically identical with those given in the “Descriptive Catalogue of the Government Collections of Manuscripts deposited at the Deccan College, Poona. Vol. I: Vedic literature. Part I: Saṁhitās and Brāhmaṇās” published by the Government of Bombay as far back as 1916. Even in all matters:of detail I have had several occasions to consult Dr. Belvalkar, under whose supervision as the then Hon. Superintendent of the Mss. Department I was carrying on my work. In this connection I take this opportunity to thank him most heartily for the promptness with which he responded, whenever any occasion for consultation arose.
The exact plan followed by me in the preparation of this volume may be indicated as follows :
(1) In this part, out of the various ägamas, the 11 angas, the 12 upangas and the lo standard prakirņakas together with 18 super