By Werner Menski, London
A world-renowned authority on Jaina studies, Prakrit language
and literature, Professor Jagdish Chandra Jain became well-
known to many European indologists during the 1970s, when his
pathbreaking research on the Vasudevahindi created waves of ex¬
citement.' He worked at the Seminar für Orientalistik of the
Christian-Albrechts-Universität in Kiel as a Research Scholar
from 1970 to 1974 and then returned to his base in Bombay, over¬
looking the famous Shivaji Park. Thereafter, Professor Jain en¬
joyed an extremely fruitful, long and productive retirement,
spanning two full decades. He died, quite unexpectedly despite
his mature age, on 28.7.1994, virtually over proofs for his most
recent book. His passing became national news in India and
many tributes to this great man and scholar have been written.
Jagdish Chandra Jain was born in 1909 in a small village in
Uttar Pradesh. He lost his father very early and by all accounts
his youth constituted a difficult period of trying personal circum¬
stances. Still, an undaunted search for knowledge, overshadowed
by intense reactions to the role of British colonialism as well as
the influence of Mahatma Gandhi, in whose exit from the politi¬
cal stage Professor Jain later played a much-noted role,^ were
dominant influences.
Educated in various Jaina äsramas, the young J.C.Jain studied
Sanskrit, Jaina religion and various traditional indological sub¬
jects at Benares, acquiring the title of SästrT in 1925. However,
typical of ambitious young Indians, then as now, he sensed that
the English-based education system would open up many further
' Jain, J.C: The Vasudevahindi. An aulhentic Jain version of the Brhatkathä.
Ahmedabad: L. D. Institute of Indology 1977.
^ See in particular Jain, J.C: / could not save Bapu. Banaras : Jagran Sahitya
Mandir 1949 and the second ed.: The murder of Mahatma Gandhi. Prelude and
aftermath Bombay: Chetna 1961.
avenues. By 1930, he had acquired sufficient knowledge of Eng¬
lish to obtain a BA degree, followed by an MA in Philosophy in
1932.
In the meantime, J.C.Jain had joined the Satyagraha move¬
ment and was obviously torn between political activism and schol¬
arly pursuit. A research scholarship at the VisvabhäratT Univer¬
sity in Säntiniketan (1932-34) appears to have provided impor¬
tant incentives towards intense scholarly activities and affected
what has been described as 'his mental and intellectual rebirth.'^
Settling into an academic career was never going to be easy for
a young scholar with what is now called interdisciplinary train¬
ing, whose manifold skills and intensity of social commitment
would not stop pulling him in different directions. An assignment
to teach European students Hindi at a Bombay College, in 1934,
developed his skills as a language tutor from which many others,
like myself, were to benefit immensely several decades later. Not
surprisingly, the young teacher devised his own teaching materi¬
al, a line of scholarly activity often too quickly dismissed as infe¬
rior. During his distinguished career. Professor Jain published a
large number of teaching texts, many of which remain useful to¬
day.
Intellectually not fully stretched by a language teaching post,
J.C.Jain began to publish several pioneering studies of Jaina phil¬
osophical texts in 1936/37, which quickly established him as a
scholar. This early burst of intense scholarship led to a tenure as
Professor of Sanskrit, Prakrit and Hindi at Ramnaraian Ruia
College in Bombay, which was to span three full decades until
1968. During that time, Professor Jain continued to be torn be¬
tween political activities, family engagements, intense teaching
and important research projects. In this period, his research work
began to become more sociological and he produced an impor¬
tant study for his PhD thesis in Sociology under the guidance of
Professor G. S. Ghurye at Bombay University.'' This study has
been praised as an outstanding contribution to the study of In-
' For details see the brief biographical sketch in Bhattacharyya, N. N. (ed.):
Jainism and Prakrit in ancient and medieval India. Essays for Prof. Jagdish Chan¬
dra Jain. New Delhi: Manohar 1994, p.7.
* Jain, J. C. : Life in ancient India as depicted in the Jain canons. Bombay : New Book Company 1947, republished as Life in ancient India as depicted in the Jain
canon and commentaries. New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal 1984.
dian social history.^ Like much of his later work, it combines
modern scholarly methodology and insight into social sciences
with traditional learning in Sanskrit and Prakrit. Regrettably, this
kind of approach has remained a minority perspective among in¬
dologists and other philology-based scholars of Asia and Africa.
The intense political struggles of that time often interfered with
the scholar-activist's schedule of academic engagements. Profes¬
sor Jain was repeatedly detained after he rejoined the Quit India
Movement but after India's Independence he found himself se¬
lected as the cultural ambassador of India in China. He became
Professor of Hindi at the University of Peking in 1952 and has
chronicled this engagement, as well as subsequent Russian ven¬
tures, in publications of 1955 and 1966.
Retired Indian Professors are often quite unwilling to renounce
scholarly activities and to wait for death. Of course they are still
quite young at retirement. Professor Jain's trail of activist and
scholarly pursuits did not just stop in 1968. Not surprisingly, he
turned to foreign shores once again. As recounted in his Fore¬
word to the Vasudevahindi, he initially used funds from the In¬
dian University Grants Commission for retired teachers to work
on the genesis and growth of Prakrit Jain narrative literature, an
abundantly filled treasure chest to which few people have a key.
A series of lectures at the renowned L. D. Institute of Indology in
Ahmedabad in 1970 aroused world-wide interest and in October
1970, Professor Jain joined the Department of Indology at the
Christian-Albrechts-Universität in Kiel. Here, he co-operated
closely with Professor Dr. Dieter Schlingloff, then the Head of
Department, and with Professor Dr. Ludwig Alsdorf at Ham¬
burg University, who had already in 1935 begun to work on the
Vasudevahindi corpus and had published several articles on that
particular work.^
Professor Jain's Foreword to the published fruits ofhis long la¬
bour discloses his initial elation at being able to work in the quiet
and peaceful atmosphere of Kiel University, away from the dis¬
tractions of India, in his own words 'undisturbed by the social
and political demands of my own country'.^ Later, however, he
' See Bhattacharyya, op. cil., pp. 8-9.
* For details see Wezler, Albrecht (ed.): Ludwig Alsdorf. Kleine Schriften.
Wiesbaden: Steiner 1974, esp. pp. 56-70, 101-106 and 167-177.
' Jain, op.cii., as note 1, p.3.
experienced the 'very real disadvantage of scholarly isolation
and of working in a vacuum, evidence that the typical loneliness
of the intensive researcher does not only bear down on doctoral
candidates.
Professor Jain remained virtually invisible at that time, even to
people who worked in the same building.^ Fully supported by
Prof. Dr. J. F. Sprockhoff, who shared much of this burden of
loneliness and dedication. Professor Jain was able to bring his
important work to fruition, even while he worked on several
other projects. He also found time to teach an intensive Hindi
course to a few lucky students, inspiring me to become an indolo¬
gist with a strong social science orientation.
Following his return to Bombay in 1974, Professor Jain enjoyed
a further long and fruitful phase of scholarly activity. Visitors
were amazed about his many current projects and he remained a
role model of active and tenacious pursuit of knowledge till the
very last. In his last letter to me, a few days before his death, he
reiterated his conviction that keeping oneself occupied all the
time was a key to a long life. Before his death, he also worked,
supported by his daughter Kalpana Sharma, on Alsdorf's
Apabhrarnsa-German stories on Jainkathä, to be published in the
Annals of the B. O. R. I. in Poona. In the last few years of his life.
Professor Jain continued to give several important public lectures
on Jaina topics and received several prestigious national awards.
It was characteristic of this great man that he never made much
of such honours. Fortunately, he did take a very active interest in
the process of compiling his Festschrift, which now stands as a
fitting tribute to the man and the scholar, with due recognition to
the role of his faithful wife of 65 years, who passed away on
5.10.1994. Professor Jain would have wished to live longer, to
complete the various projects which now lie unfinished, among
them his detailed autobiography, only the first few chapters of
which had been drafted at the time of his death. His manuscript
collection and working library are to be preserved, probably in
Bombay. Happily, the future of Jaina studies looks bright at the
moment, certainly from a vantage point in Britain, where the re-
« Id.
' Menski, W.F. : "Reminiscences of Professor J.C.Jain's time as a research scholar in Germany: From alu ke paranthe to Jaina law", in Bhattacharyya, op.
cit., pp. 23-30, at p.26.
establishment of Jaina communities is bearing rieh fruit. There
are many signs that Professor Jagdish Chandra Jain's pioneering
research and writing will inspire others to continue such work
and enlighten us on important aspects of Indian culture.
The following list of Professor J.C.Jain's publications is based
on that found in the Festschrift (pp. 13-18). Those pages, regret¬
tably, contain a number of imprecisions and omissions. I am
grateful to Anil Jain and Kalpana Sharma for providing some
supplementary details. Starting much before the age of computer¬
isation, such a long list of publications was bound to require in¬
tensive searching, which was not entirely successful. In particu¬
lar, it has proved impossible to include the many teachers' hand¬
books which Professor Jain wrote, as well as to trace his numer¬
ous articles published in various Indian languages; they, too,
have not been included in the present list
List of publications
A. Books
1. Syädvädamahjan by Mallisena. Translated from Sanskrit with
introduction, Hindi translation and several appendices. Bom¬
bay: Seth Manilal Revashankar Jagjivan Joshi 1936 [Raichan¬
dra Jain Shastramala]. (Rev.ed. 1970).
2. Jambusvämicarita. In Sanskrit, edited from manuscript. Bom¬
bay: Manikchand Digambar Jain Granthamala 1936.
3. Shrimad Räjacandra. Translated from Gujarati to Hindi with
exhaustive introduction and appendices. Bombay: Raichan¬
dra Jain Shastramala 1937. (Rev.ed. Shrimad Räjachandra
Bhaktaratna 1967).
4. MahävTra Vardhamäna. Published in Hindi, Allahabad: Vish¬
va Vani Karyalaya 1946. Also published in Gujarati (Bombay
1946), Kannada (Wardha 1953) and Oriya (1984). Later pub¬
lished under the title Bhagvdn MahdvTr, New Delhi: National
Book Trust 1971, 2nd ed. 1972, also in Kannada (New Delhi:
N.B.T. 1983) and Oriya (New Delhi: N.B.T. 1983).
5. Do hazär baras puränTkahäniyän (in Hindi). Banaras: Bhara¬
tiya Jnanpith 1946, 2nd ed. 1965.
6. Life in ancient India as depicted in the Jain canons. Bombay:
New Book Company 1947, rev. ed. Life in ancient India as de-
picted in the Jain canon and commentaries, New Delhi : Mun¬
shiram Manoharlal 1984.
7. Präctn bhärat kT kahäniyän (translated from Pali into Hindi).
Bombay: Hind Kitab Ltd. 1948; rev.ed. PrdcTn bhärat kT-
srestha kahäniyän. Banaras: Bharatiya Jnanpith 1970.
8. / could not save Bapu. Banaras: Jagran Sahitya Mandir 1949
(Hindi version: Bäpu ko na baca sakä). Rev.ed. The murder
of Mahatma Gandhi: Prelude and aftermath. Bombay: Cheta¬
na 1961, reprint 1987.
9. Sampradäyaväda (in Hindi). Banaras: Jagran Sahitya Mandir
1950.
10. Bhärat ke präcTn Jain tTrtha (in Hindi). Banaras: Jain Sanskrit
Sanshodhan Mandal 1952.
11. ChTnT jantd ke bic (in Hindi). Bombay: People's Publishing
House 1954. Published in English as Amidst the Chinese peo¬
ple. Delhi: Atmaram & Sons 1955. Rev.ed. (in Hindi): ChTn kT
sair. Allahabad: Ramnarain Lal 1956.
12. BhäratTya tattvacintana (in Hindi). Bombay: Rajkamal Praka¬
shan 1955; rev.ed. BhäratTya dafsan-ek naT dristi (Varanasi:
Chowkhamba 1985).
13. HamärT kahäniyän (in Hindi): i. from the Jätakas, Bombay:
Cooper 1957, ii. from Hitopadesa, Delhi: Ranjit 1958, iii.
from Paficatantra, Bombay: Cooper 1967.
14. Path kd prabhäv (in Hindi, translated from Tao te Ching in
English), Delhi: Sahitya Academy 1971; rev.ed. Varanasi:
Chowkhamba Vishva Bhavan 1985.
15. Prakrit sähitya kä itihäs (in Hindi). Varanasi: Chowkhamba
Vidyäbhavan 1961, rev.ed. 1985.
16. Dekhäparkhä (in Hindi). Allahabad: Hans Prakashan 1958;
rev.ed. 1959.
17. Präkrit pushkarinT (Collection of Prakrit gäthäs from the
works of Sanskrit rhetoricians, with Hindi introduction and
translation). Varanasi: Chowkhamba 1961.
18. RamanT ke rüp (Hindi translation of women's stories from
Prakrit). Jabalpur: Pratima Prakashan 1961; rev.ed. NärT ke
vividh rüp. Varanasi: Chowkhamba 1978.
19. Licchaviyon ke ahcal mein. Delhi: National Publishing House
1961.
20. Visva sähitya ke jyotipuhj (in Hindi). Bombay: Hindi Granth
Ratnakar Karyalaya 1962. Re-published under the title Vish-
va-sähitya kijhänkiyän. Delhi: Sumati Sahitya Sadan 1987.
21. Bhärat kä sTmänta (The border of India, in Hindi). Delhi:
National Publishing House 1963.
22. Jain Ägama sähitya men bhäratiya samäj (Life in Jain canoni¬
cal literature, in Hindi). Varanasi: Chowkhamba Sanskrit
Series 1965 [Vidyäbhavan Rashtrabhava Granthamala, 93].
23. Vividha värtä (in Hindi). Bombay: Cooper 1965.
24. Jain sähitya kä brhad itihäsa (Part II, in Hindi). Varanasi:
Parshvanath Vidyashram Shodh Sansthan 1966.
25. Soviet Rüs: Pitä ke patron men (in Hindi). Delhi: National
1966.
26. Päscätya samikshä darsan (Western literary criticism, in Hin¬
di). Varanasi: Hindi Prachavak Sansthan 1969; 2nd ed. 1973.
27. Prakrit Jain kathä sähitya (Lectures on Jain narrative litera¬
ture, delivered at the L. D. Institute of Indology, Ahmeda¬
bad, in Hindi). Ahmedabad: Lalbhai Dalpatbhai Bharatiya
Sanskriti Vidya Mandir 1971.
28. The gift of love and other ancient Jain tales about women.
(With Margaret Walter). Delhi et al.: Vikas 1976. Enlarged
edition under the title Women in ancient Indian tales. Delhi :
Mittal Publications 1986.
29. The Vasudevahindi. An authentic Jain version of the Brhat¬
kathä Ahmedabad: L.D. Institute of Indology 1977 [L.D.
Series 59].
30. Prakrit narrative literature. Origin and growth. Delhi: Indian
Council of Social Science Research and Munshiram Mano¬
harlal 1981.
31. Janismo, vida e obra de Mahävir Vardhamän (The life and
works of Vardhamän MahävTra, in Portuguese). Sao Paulo:
Associa9äo Palas Athena do Brasil, Centro de Estudos Filo-
soficos 1982.
32. Seven pearls of wisdom. Bombay: Clarity Publications 1984.
33. The Jain way of life. Gurgaon: The Academic Press 1991.
34. Studies in early Jainism. New Delhi: Navrang 1992.
35. History and development of Prakrit literature (in press).
B. List of Articles in English
1. 'The importance of Prakrit literature with reference to the
spread of Jain religion in its early stage during the early cen¬
turies'. In: Vol.38 No. 74 (October 1969) Journal of the Uni¬
versity of Bombay, New Series, pp. 41-49.
2. 'The importance of Vasudevahindi'. In: Vol. XIX (1975) Wie¬
ner Zeitschrift für die Kunde Südasiens, pp. 103-116.
3. 'Is VasudevahindT a Jain version of the Brhatkathä?. In:
Vol.XXIII Nos.Y-2 (Sept.-Dec. 1973) Journal ofthe Oriental
Institute, Baroda, pp. 59-63.
4. 'Stories of trading merchants and VasudevahindT'. In: Vol.LV
(1974) Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute,
pp. 73-81.
5. 'Vidyädharas in the VasudevahindT'. In: Vol.XXIV (Sept.-
Dec. 1974) Journal of the Oriental Institute, Baroda, pp. 120-
127.
6. 'The conquest of Gandharvadatta in the VasudevahindT'. In:
Vol.XVIII N0S.2&4 (1974) The Vikram (Vikram University,
Ujjain), pp. 169-175.
7. 'Study of Hindi in foreign countries'. In: Lokräjya (January
1975) , pp. 5-14.
8. 'An old version of the Jaina Rämäyana'. (Paper read at the
Conference in SOAS, University of London, to celebrate the
Quartercentenary of Tulsi Das's Rämcaritmänas). In: Vol. IV
(1975-76), Sambodhi, pp. 20-29.
9. 'Trade and commerce in ancient India (from less known Jain
sources)', in: Vol.XX Nos.2&4 (1976) Vikram (Vikram Uni¬
versity, Ujjain), pp. 61-66.
10. 'The missing lambhas in the VasudevahindT and the story of
PabhavätT'. In: Vol.17 (1975) Indo-Iranian Journal, pp.41-
56.
11. 'Some old tales and episodes in the VasudevahindT. In:
Vol.LX (1979) Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research
Institute, pp. 167-173.
12. 'The adaptation of Visnu-Bali legend by Jain writers'. (Paper
read in the Department of Sanskrit, University of Udaipur,
1976) . In: Vol. XXIX (March-June 1980) Journal ofthe Ori¬
ental Institute Baroda, pp.209-215.
13. 'The origin and growth of Prakrit Jain narrative literature'.
In: Vol.8 (1981) Vaishali Institute Research Bulletin, pp.31-
34.
14. 'Folk tales in Prakrit literature'. In: Sanskrit and World Cul¬
ture, Sehr. Or. 18, Berlin 1986, pp. 673-680.
15. 'The role of Dharanendra in Jain mythology'. In: Proceedings
of the All-India Oriental Conference in the University of Ra¬
jasthan, Jaipur, 29-31 October, 1982, pp. 391-399.
16. 'The science of prognostication: Nimitta-sästra'. In: No. 17
(1987-88) Bhärati, Bulletin of Indology, pp. 88-100.
17. 'Disposal of the dead in the Bhagavati Ärädhanä'. (Paper
read at a Seminar held under the auspices of the Mahavira
Chair for Jaina Studies, Panjabi University, Patiala, 1979).
In: Vol.XXXVIII (Sept.-Dec. 1988) Journal ofthe Oriental
Institute, Baroda, pp. 123-131.
18. 'Position and status of women in Jain literature'. (Paper read
at a Seminar at the Department of Ancient Indian History,
Culture and Archaeology, Banaras Hindu University, Vara¬
nasi, 1988). In: Bhattacharyya, N.N. (ed.): Position and sta¬
tus of women in ancient India. Varanasi : Banaras Hindu Uni¬
versity 1989, Vol.1, pp. 141-150.
19. 'The medieval bhakti movement: Its influence on Jainism'.
In: Bhattacharyya, N.N. (ed.): Medieval bhakti movements
in India: Sri Caitanya Quincentenary Commemoration Vol¬
ume, New Delhi: Munshiram 1989, pp. 62-73.
20. 'Local customs recognised by Jains'. In: Vols. 64-66 (1989-
91) Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bombay, New Series,
pp. 85-94.
21. 'Jain contribution to Indian story literature: importance of
story'. (Paper read on behalf of the M. M. Dr. P. V. Kane Ori¬
ental Research Institute, Asiatic Society of Bombay, 1990).
In: Vols.LXXII-LXXIII (1991-92) Annals of the Bhandar¬
kar Oriental Research Institute, Amrtamahotsav (1917-1992)
Volume, pp. 509-522.
22. 'The Naga Lord Dharanendra in Jain pantheon'. In: Vol.V
No. 2 (October 1992) Jinamanjari, pp. 13-21.
23. 'Animal tales in Jain narrative literature'. In: (1996) Journal
of the Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, [forth¬
coming].
Semitic Languages
Von Amikam Gai, Jerusalem
0 Most Semitic languages include in their verbal system two
nominal elements, i.e. infinitive and participle. These elements
being nouns (the infinitive - substantive, the participle - adjec¬
tive) pertaining to the verbal system, they may have either a ver¬
bal nature or a nominal one. The concrete nature of every specific
element may potentially find expression in the character of its
complement: an adnominal complement (an adjective or a 'geni¬
tive'') for an element of nominal nature, or an adverbial comple¬
ment (a direct or indirect object, prepositional phrase etc.) for an
element of verbal nature. Prima facie it seems that the infinitive
or the participle take the nominal character when they express a
concrete entity, and the verbal character when they express an
activity. This opinion is corroborated by pairs like:
i*in;< ixx-nx nrh n;in m - And Moses kept the flock of Jethro
(Ex. 3:1^) [verbal nature]
as against: ]x'2f nsh Vnn-"'n]'] - And Abel was a shepherd
(Gn.4:2) [nominal nature]
ivyi^ Vnk nihs-nx D'-iai? ori-ip onibv iVn - For their service
which they serve the service of the tabernacle of the congregation
(Nu. 18:21) [verbal nature]
as against: Vsan •'7li;-"?3 1Kn*1 - And all the worshippers of Baal
came (2R. 10:21) [nominal nature]
' 'Genitive' = -ül oLir./"|mD; governing (or annexed) noun/word/element =
^L:a../"|nD:; genitive construction (or annexion) = i»L>l/m3''nD.
^ Numbers separated by a colon refer to the chapter (in the Bible) or Sura (in the Koran) and verse e.g. 2:3 = Ch.2 verse 3; references to other texts are indi¬
cated by page and line with "/" between them; the minus in front of the line num¬
ber means "from bottom"; Roman numerals refer to volumes (if there are more than one), e.g. (II) 3/4 means (vol.2), page 3, line 4; 3/-4 means page 3, four lines from bottom.
