Shri Narendra Prakash Jain, Head of Motilal Banarsidass (MLBD) Publishers, passed away on March 5th, after a long illness. He was 74 years old. Born in Lahore, he joined this publishing house, after graduating from Delhi University, which was started by his great grandfather. From a small book store of Sanskrit books in the beginning of the 20th century, it developed to be a unique Indological Publishing House under his stewardship.
Standing on par with some of the top-notch publishers in the world in the areas of philosophy, psychology, religion, history, culture, yoga, tantra, literature, art and architecture, linguistics, alternative medicine, performing arts, etc., MLBD can claim today the well-deserved reputation as an interpreter and promoter of India's cultural and spiritual heritage. The publications produced by MLBD are research-based and original. These include a rich galaxy of erudite writings on Indology which are comprehensive, authoritative, meticulously accurate and meaningful. Under the stewardship of Shri Narendra Prakash Jain, MLBD has grown phenomenally. His publishing vision manifested itself with the publication of many acclaimed series on a wide range of subjects. Some of which are: Advaita Tradition Series (12 Vols.) Eds. K.P. Jog & Shoun Hino; Ancient Indian Tradition and Mythology (AITM) (so far 71 Vols. published)- Eds.J.L. Shastri & G.P. Bhatt; Buddhist Tradition Series (so far 60 Vols.) - Gen. Ed. E. Steinkellner, Jt. Gen. Ed. A.V. Rospatt; Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies (so far 14 Vols.) - Gen. Ed. Karl Potter; Indian Medical Tradition Series (so far 11 Vols.) - Gen. Eds. Dominik Wujastyk & Kenneth Zysk; India's Scientific Heritage Series (so far 14 Vols.) - Gen. Ed. S.N. Bhavsar; Lala Sundarlal Jain Research Series (so far 24 Vols.)- Gen. Ed. Satya Ranjan Banerjee; MLBD Series in Linguistics (so far 16 Vols.) - Gen. Ed. Dhanesh Jain; Performing Arts Series (so far 10 Vols.) - Gen. Ed. Farley P. Richmond; Sacred Books of the East (SBE)(50 Vols.) - Ed. F. Max-Muller; Papers of 12th World Sanskrit Conference - Gen Eds. Asko Parpola & P. Koskikallio and Papers of 13th World Sanskrit Conference - Gen. Eds. Paul Dundas & P. Bisschop, held at Helsinki (Finland) and Edinburg (U.K.) respectively.
Shri Jain's name has now become synonymous with indological publications. He has rightly been hailed as the promoter through books of India's glorious traditions.
He was also the Vice-Chairman of Bhogilal Leherchand Institute of Indology and a life-long trustee of Shri Chintamani Parshvanath Jain Shvetambar temple in Haridwar.
His brothers Shrijainendra Prakashjain, Shri Rajendra Prakash Jain, Shri Ravindra Prakash Jain and Shri Rajeev Prakash Jain, who have been working hard with him for the growth of MLBD, will now take it forward to even a higher level.