Karnataka - Hassan   

Save Prakrit, scholars urged

Staff Correspondent

Researchers still depend on the language to understand Jainism, says seer

HASSAN: It is imperative for scholars and researchers to save Prakrit, Charukeerthi Bhattaraka Swamiji of Sreekshetra Shravanabelagola said here on Sunday.

The Jain muni is taking interest in preserving the available manuscript of Jainism in Prakrit by setting up the National Institute of Prakrit Studies and Research (NIPSR).

The seer was participating in the Akhila Bharatha Prakrit Basha Kavi Ghoshti, organised by Digambara Jain Muth in Shravanabelagola. He said that any language would die if the people failed to patronise it. Prakrit, which was more than 2,000 years old, survived because it was once the language of the people and scholars and researchers still depend on it to understand Jainism.

Releasing "Prakrit Prabhu Darshana", a volume on Jainism, he said the basic tenets of Jainism could be understood only by learning Prakrit.

Over 20 Prakrit scholars, who had assembled, rendered poems written in the language. Akhila Bharatha Digambara Jain Mahasabha president Nirmal Kumar Sethi inaugurated the function.

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