Acknowledgements

First and above all, I praise God for providing me this opportunity and granting me the capability to proceed successfully. This thesis has been kept on track and been seen through to completion with the support and encouragement of numerous people including my well wishers, my friends and colleagues. I would therefore like to offer my sincere thanks to all of them.

First and foremost I would like to express my gratitude to my Supervisor, Dr. P.K. Panda, Associate Professor, Ramjas College, University of Delhi, for the continuous support of my Ph.D. study and research with his patience, motivation, enthusiasm and immense knowledge. This thesis would not have been completed without his expert advice and unfailing patience.

I would also like to express my sincere gratitude to Prof. I.N. Singh, Professor, Department of Buddhist Studies, for his expertise, thoughtful guidance, understanding, immense knowledge, extensive discussions and the continuous support during my Ph.D. work. He is a constant source of inspiration and confidence during the course of my work. It was a great privilege and honour to work and study under his guidance.

I would also like to sincerely thank Prof. S. B. Pavagadhi, Head of the Department, Department of Buddhist Studies, University of Delhi, for her concern, love and affection she showers on me whenever I meet her and above all the encouragement in her talks.

I am obliged to Dr. Nirja Sharma, Dr. Galdhan Negi, Dr. Kamakhya Tiwari, Dr. Sushmita Vyas, Dr. S.K. Pandey, Dr. Harish Baluja Faculty, Department of Buddhist Studies, for providing valuable suggestions from time to time to complete this thesis work.

My heartiest thanks to all non-teaching staff members for their help and guidance in all the official matters. I extend my thanks to the Library Staff of University of Delhi, for their cooperation at various stages by providing Books, Journals, etc.

A special thanks to my seniors for their support over the last four years. I am indebted to contribution of all my seniors Priyadarshini di, Khushboo di, and Pinki for extending their unstinted support, timely motivation, sympathetic attitude and unfailing help during the course of entire study.

Words fail me to express my appreciation to my best friends Anushree, Srishti and Daksh for their support and generous care. They were always besides me during the happy and hard moments to push me and motivate me.

I doubt that I will ever be able to convey my appreciation fully, but I owe her my eternal gratitude to my Mother Mrs. Santosh Sukhija for always being there for me and loving me unconditionally. No words can describe my love for you.

I would also thank my father Mr. Sushil Sukhija who always motivate me to strive higher and higher in life and my loving sisters Ritu di and Bhawana di and my brothers in law Sanjeev Jiju and Akash Jiju for making me always believe in myself, your hope and unceasing confidence in me is my strongest driving factor. I express my thanks and love to my brothers Shantanu, Sudhanshu and Shubham and my niblings Angel, Ruhi and Naman for loving me unconditionally during this journey.

Finally, I express my thanks to all those who contributed in many ways to the success of this study and made it an unforgettable experience for me.

Neha Sukhija