Acknowledgement

First I would like to thank the Lord who has blessed me to finish my research work and give such wonderful persons to help me. I would like to give my acknowledgements to many, but would like to begin with my parents Mr. V. Balasubramanian and Mrs. Kamala Balasubramanian who are the ones to encourage me in selecting this topic. I would like to give my special and sincere thanks to my guide, philosopher and also the director of K.J.Somaiya Centre for Buddhist Studies, Dr. (Mrs.) K. Sankarnarayan whom I have troubled day and night for my work and without her it is impossible for me to end my thesis. I record my special acknowledgements and deep thanks to Dr. K.K.C. Lakshminarasimhan who encouraged not only in choosing this subject for my research and helped me at various stages of my research work. My special thanks to my husband, Mr. Karthikeyan, for his support and encouragement to finish this research work. My special thanks to Shri P.B.Srinivasacharya Swamiji and Shri Venkatesh Devasthan, Fanaswadi, Mumbai for their financial support. I would like to give my very special thanks to Dr. R.M. Dave, Director, Ananthacharya Indological Research Institute, Mumbai for allowing me to use the library and helping me. My acknowledgement also goes to the librarian Mrs. Minakshi Yadav and library attender, Mr. Balraj Patel, Ananthacharya Indological Research Institute, Mumbai for helping me in finding the books. I would like to give my special thanks to my mother Mrs. Kamala Balasubramanian who was the backbone for my work and also for giving the knowledge about the temple and domestic rituals. My sincere thanks to my elder sister and ex-librarian of K.J.Somaiya centre for Buddhist Studies, Mumbai, Mrs. Aparna Muralitharan for helping me in giving the

books and notes related to my topic and to my younger sister Mrs. Sivashree Mani for supporting me during the strenuous long days I spent for this work. My thanks also goes to Miss. Archana S.Kamble, K.J.Somaiya Centre for Buddhist Studies, Mumbai for helping me in typing work. Last but not the least I would like to give my thanks to the staff of Ananthacharya Indological Research Institute, Mumbai including Mr. Bharadwaj and Mr. Chandrikaprasad. I would like to thank Shri. Swaminatha Gurukkal, Priest, Sri Subramania Samaj, Chedda nagar, Chembur, Mumbai for giving the valuable books and knowledge related to agamas. Finally, I would like to thank my cousin, Mr. Sabarigirisan Gnanasundaram for giving the information related to my topic and also in finding some of the rare books required for this work. ***** UNIVERSITY OF