Bhogilal Leherchand Institute of Indology
Annual 21st All India Summer School on Prakrit Language & Literature was organized in Delhi from Sunday 10th May 2009 to 31st May 2009 at Bhogilal Leherchand Institute of Indology (BLII). About 52 participants from various universities of India attended the three-week Prakrit Workshop. Master degree, being the eligibility for the admission in the course, the participants was highly qualified comprising Professor, Reader, Lecturer, Post Doctoral and Doctoral Fellow. In addition a number of Jain nuns also attended the course. Faculties also invited from various universities apart from in-house faculty of BLII.
Inaugural Function was chaired by Prof. Dr. Radhavallabh Tripathi, Vice-Chancellor, Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan, New Delhi and the Chief Guest was Hon. Mr. Justice Tarun Chatterjee, Supreme Court of India. Prof. Tripathi delivered a very intellectual and informative talk and highlighted the significance of Prakrit and Sanskrit. He clearly mentioned that Prakrit was a language of mass while Sanskrit was that of elite and educated. He also explained the relationship between Prakrit and Sanskrit by giving examples from the texts. Justice Mr. Chatterjee gave a very elaborate talk on the use and importance of Prakrit in Sanskrit texts and the relationship between both these languages.
Mr. Narendra Prakash Jain, Vice-Chairman, BLII welcomed the guests and the participants as well as faculty members whereas Dr. J. B. Shah, Director, L. D. Institute of Indology, Ahmedabad spoke in details on the activities of the Institute carried out during past 25 years and on the 20 Summer Schools organized by the Institute. Shri R.K. Jain, President of the Institute and Secretary General of Vallabh Smarak under whose aegis this Institute is working, narrated the history of the entire complex. Dr. A.K. Singh explained about the teaching methodology.
The Valedictory function was held on Sunday 31st May 2009 in the august presence of Prof. Namwar Singh, who presided this event. Mr. Vinod Kumar, IFS, Joint Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs and Dr. P. V. Joshi, Joint Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs, Govt. of India, Mr. Manoj K. Bharti, Joint Secretary, E-Governance & IT, Mr. Ramsinh Rathwa, M.P., were the Guests of Honour.
Dr. J. B. Shah, Director of L. D. Institute of Indology, Ahmedabad addressed the audience and explained the need of research work to be done in the field of Prakrit language and literature and also inspired the participants to work in this field in future.
Prof. Namwar Singh expressed his pleasure in the valedictory address and congratulated the participants for their devotion and keenness in learning this language. He also appealed to Jain Society to use Prakrit Language in daily use so that it may be transformed in to living language again. Prof. Namwar Singh asked the participants and researchers to contribute in promoting the study of our ancient heritage hidden in this oldest language. Dr. P. V. Joshi, Mr. Manoj K. Bharti also expressed his views about Indian Culture and Prakrit Language. On the occasion of Silver Jubilee of this Institute its Founder and Chief Patron Mr. Pratap Bhogilal also graced this occasion.
Dr. Balaji Ganorkar, Director of the Institute announced the 100% result of the examinations conducted by the Institute. He has also described the 21 days passed by the participants and the programs organized during this period. He also mentioned that BLII is running this Summer School on national level for the past 21 years very successfully under the kind supervision and guidance of Dr. S. R. Banerjee. But due to his aging problems he could not arrive this year. However more than 10 distinguished faculties viz. Prof. S. C. Pandey (Allahabad), Prof. Damodar Shastri (Ladnun), Prof. Phoolchand Jain ‘Premi’ (Varanasi), Prof. J. R. Bhattacharya (Ladnun), Dr. Ashok Kumar Singh (BLII, Delhi), Dr. Dinanath Sharma (Ahmedabad), Dr. Kamal Kumar Jain (Pune), Km. Shalini Sharma (Delhi) and Km. Yumi Fuzimoto (Japan) taught Prakrit Language & Literature at Elementary and Advanced levels. Prakrit language and literature is being taught here in such a manner that the students could get the basic knowledge of this language and become able to use the same in their various studies in future. Few special lectures on various topics related to Indological Studies were also delivered by distinguished scholars, viz. Prof. Kamala Jain (New Delhi), Dr. Baldevanand Sagar (AIR, New Delhi), Dr. V. S. Shukla (NMM, IGNCA), Dr. Subhashchandra Sachdeva (Sonipat) etc.
Km. Rajal Upadhyaya (Vadodra) ranked first, Sri Sharathchandra Swami (Mysore) ranked the second while Miss Divyaben Parmar and Mr. Tarun Dwivedi secured joint third position in Advance Course. Miss Riddhi Shah (Pune University) ranked First, Dr. Sunita Saini (Rohtak University) and Mr. Kartik Pandya (M.S. University stood joint second while Dr. Sadhvi Vijay Shriji and Miss Sneha A. Patel ranked joint third in Elementary Course. The First prize in both courses worth Rs. 2,100/- each were sponsored by Jaswanta Dharmarth Trust, New Delhi. The second prize worth 1500/- and the third prize of Rs. 1100/- were sponsored by Enkay Charitable Foundation in both courses.
During the Summer School, the 3rd All India Prakrit Quiz was also organized by Prakrit Alumni under the auspices of BLII. The Chairman, Dr. Balaji Ganorkar and the Convenor, Km. Leena Jain conducted the whole program and the First Prize was claimed by team of Shri Kartik Kumar Pandya and Shri Deendayal. Team of Dr. Sunita Saini and Km. Riddhi Shah received second prize while that of Shri Sharathchandra Swami and Km. Rajal Upadhyaya received the third prize in this quiz program.
Prizes, Certificates and Mementos were presented to the participants by the Chief Guest and Guests of Honour. On this occasion the faculty members were also felicitated.
The program started with the chanting of Namaskar Mahamantra by Sadhvi Shri Kusum Prabha shriji and hymns of Saraswati by Mrs. Deepshikha Jain and Mrs. Vasudha Jain. Shri N. P. Jain and Shri R. K. Jain described the activities of BLII and Smarak respectively. The programme was concluded with vote of thanks by Shri Deven Yashwant and followed by lunch. The program was conducted and organized by Dr. Balaji Ganorkar.