THE STORY OF PAESI (Prakrit/English)

moksamargasya netaram bhettaram karmabhubhrtam

jram visvatattvanam vande tadgunalabdhaye

 

Dear friends,

Jaya Jinendra

 

Winner of the Acarya Hemacandra award!

 

THE STORY OF PAESI (Prakrit/English)

SOUL AND BODY IN ANCIENT INDIA

A Dialogue on Materialism in Ancient India

By Prof. Willem Boll饼BR> Pandit Nathuram Premi Research Series Volume 2

Published by Hindi Granth Karyalay, Mumbai

2005 245 x 160 mm 450 pp

81 88769 03 7 Hardcover Rs. 795

 

The Story of Paesi or Paesi Kahanayam is a lively dialogue between the monk Keshi and prince Paesi based on the Raiapasenia Agama.

 

Interestingly, the Paesi Kahanayam is the only larger legend common to both Jain and Buddhist canonical literature. It is also found in the Dighanikaya.

 

The monk Keshi and the prince Paesi (Sanskrit/Pradeshi) discuss the corporeality of the soul, whether it dies with the body or is distinct from the body. The prince is a materialist and argues in favour of the corporeality of the soul but the monk convinces him that the soul and body are distinct and while the body is corporeal, the soul is eternal.

 

This dialogue is set in the 6th century BCE, the age of reflection on and discussion of the soul. While the present literary form dates some centuries later, the discussion is still as relevant today, after two millennia.

 

This edition contains the Prakrit text in Devanagari and Roman transliteration, accompanied by an incisive English translation, exhaustive notes and a glossary.

 

(The arguments in this discussion reflect many ancient Indian realia birth rituals, diseases, etiquette, ethnic list of female servants, execution of thieves, regicide, the 72 professions, similes, etc.) which have been commented upon in the notes.

 

The editor of this work, Professor Willem Bollis a highly regarded scholar of Prakrit and Jain studies, having taught Indology at Heidelberg and Bamberg Universities in Germany.

 

His earlier scholarly contributions to the field of Jain studies include:

Studein zum Suyagada in 2 volumes (German)

Studies in the Sutrakrtanga Agama

 

Brhatkalpa Bhasya? in 3 volumes (English)

A Study of the Brhatkalpa Bhasya

 

Edited English translations of Walther Schubring's. The Doctrine of the Jainas and Mahavira's Words along with Dr. Jayandra Soni

 

Professor Bollis the recipient of the Acarya Hemacandra award for this work, The Story of Paesi.

 

The Story of Paesi sets the standards of scholarly translations of Jain sacred literature. It is a modern masterpiece and shall prove a fascinating read for those who are students of Indology, Religion, Psychology, Philosophy, Anthropology and Indo-European Studies.

 

The book is very attractively published.

 

|| parasparopagraho jivanam ||

 

Manish

 

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