Dr. A.N. Upadhye - His Life And Accomplishments: 0.3 Introduction

Introduction

In 1985 the University of Mysore invited me to deliver three special lectures on Dr. A.N. Upadhye: His Life and Accomplishments. As Dr. Upadhye was the Founder Head of the Jainology Chair at that University, which was the first of its kind in South India, and as I happened to be his close student from P.U.C. to Ph.D., I pleasantly and readily accepted the invitation. The programme was fixed to be in September 1986. But before I started for Mysore, I suddenly fell ill and the duly prepared lectures remained to be delivered.

Later after I retired from the Jaina Pitha at the Karnatak University in 1986 and came to Sankeshwar, my native place in 1991, I was invited by this University to deliver three lectures on this very subject as a part of the yearly programme of special lectures planned by the Jaina Pitha there at. The programme of lectures was fixed to be in February 1992. But a few days earlier, unfortunately, I was attacked by influenza and the programme had to be postponed indefinitely. Thereafter for one or other reason, I could not go to Dharwad and deliver these Lectures. The manuscript of the prepared lectures remained with me.
 
Then I thought of publishing those lectures through some proper publishing agency or institution. Because many things and several details about Dr. Upadhye's unique life and accomplishments are not known to scholars as well as his well-wishers. Fresh light was shed on such matters. These could be of ample use, I thought, for young scholars working in the field of Jainology and Prakrit, for research students and other interested persons in such matters.

With all this in view, I sent the manuscript of the lectures to Shri Shantinath Patne, Kolhapur, an old and intimate friend of Dr. Upadhye. He wrote me back promising to get the valuable piece of work published soon. But unfortunately he suddenly died of heart attack. Later the manuscript could not be traced though I approached his son with repeated requests to find it out.

I had prepared in the mean while, a Kannada version of these lectures, which was published in a nice form by the Vaishali Prakashan, Dharwad, in 1995. It was widely received and appreciated by the Kannada world. This prompted me to prepare again the English version of these lectures and I did it with all respect and affection for my great teacher and for the benefit of the larger English knowing world of scholars and other interested people.

In September 1998, I had been to Delhi to receive Acharya Vidyanand Award of the Bharatiya Jnanapitha, when I casually met Shri Dharma Bhushana Jain (Chartered Accountant), son of the philanthropist Shri Prema Chandraji Jain and a trustee of the renowned Ahimsa Mandir and R.K. Jain Charitable Trust, Dariya Ganj, New Delhi. I expressed before him my problem of publishing some of my good works in English. He readily responded, "please send any good work and it will be published in a short time." Then I sent the typescript which was accepted for publication. Now this small book in such a nice form and with rich contents is being placed at your hands, over which I am extremely happy today.

It is not enough that we should merely listen to and read about the life and accomplishments of the great personalities like Dr. Upadhye, but we should try to trod the path sincerely and laboriously paved by them. So we should progressively continue Dr. Upadhye's work in the field of Jainology and Prakrit. It is particularly the bounden duty of scholars and students in this field to carry on that work with the help and sympathy of the well to do and philanthropic minded members of the society. I may quote here Dr. Upadhye's own words in this regard:

"The volumes of the Satkhandagama are the real wealth of Jainology. Today's scholars, seeing the voluminous size and contents presented in Manipravala (Prakrit and Sanskrit mixed) style rather difficult to understand, hesitate to undertake their study. If this state of affairs continues further, scholars in the next generation may not even go to clean off the dust collected on those volumes and that may harm the field of Jainology irreparably. Keeping this in mind, if scholars and young students working in this field carefully plan critical study and research on the valuable Satkhandagama volumes, under U.G.C. or some other such scheme, rare and invaluable gems of Jaina knowledge can be found from the depth of the ocean of Jainology."

Now let me record here my deep sense of gratitude to the trustees of Shri Rajakrishna Jain Charitable Trust, Ahimsa Mandir for including this book in their esteemed series and publish it in a fine form and in such a short time.

Lastly, I thank the owners of Manohar Offset Press, Dharwad and its staff for carrying out the printing work of this book so neatly.

B.K. KHADABADI