Chapter I.h - Scope and importance of the study

From our foregoing discussions it is evident that Prabhācandra’s Prameyakamalamārtaṇḍa is one of the valuable works of Jainism. It is a treasure house of Indian philosophical thoughts. It has not only elaborated Jaina thoughts, but also refuted the opinions of all other systems of Indian philosophy. Prabhācandra systematically presents the pūrvapakṣa views in a thorough and authentic manner. Prameyakamalamārtaṇḍa throws light upon all the salient features of Jainism. From the point of view of Jaina logic also, this is an important treatise. It has been referred to in many ancient and modern works as authority. The importance of Prameyakamalamārtaṇḍa cannot be over-estimated. But in spite of its importance, no proper and elaborate study of this work has been done till date. It is true that in many works on Jaina philosophy Prameyakamalamārtaṇḍa has been referred to and many of its views are discussed. In Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophy, Vol. XIV, Piotr Balcerowicz has given an elaborate summary of Prameyakamalamārtaṇḍa. Moreover, Āryikā Jinamatī has translated this whole work into Hindi and given a scholarly introduction and detail exposition of the text. Beside these two works no other attempt to present a complete exposition of Prabhācandra’s philosophy as depicted in Prameyakamalamārtaṇḍa has come to our notice.

Hence, it is felt that there is ample scope to carry on a study on this work. Therefore, a need is felt to study this work elaborately and critically.