Pandit N. R. Bhatt: Felicitation Volume (An Old and Rare Book)

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This volume is a tribute befitting the international renown and vast array of knowledge and activities of Pandit N.R. Bhatt who has silently practised his dharma of Pansita for several decades, through his vyutpatti and mastery of Sanskrit, through his labours in many sastras: vyakarana, Ayurveda, dharma, samgita, tantra etc., and by giving his knowledge, privately to a number of Indian and European students, generally to the world of research through his pioneering critical editions of Saivagamas and other works. This volume includes forty-two articles by eminent Indian and foreign authors on a rich variety of topics of Indological interest. It is divided into six sections. The first two articles comprising the first section are biographical in nature shedding light on the life scholarly activities of Pandit N.R. Bhatt. The other sections are: Vedic Studies, classical Sanskrit, Religion and Philosophy; Agama and Tantra; and Epigraphy and Archaeology. The one on Religion and Philosophy is the largest, offering illuminating comments on some important aspects of Vedanta, Lokayata, Kashmir Saivism, Nyaya, Navya Nyaya and Jainism.

Prof. Pierre-Sylvain Filliozat, born in 1936, is Professor of Sanskrit in "Ecole pratique des Hautes Etudes" Sorbonne, Paris, since 1967. Since 1963, every year he stays for six months in India for research in Sanskrit literature and in the archaeology of South Indian temples.

His other important publications include French translation of Patanjali'S Mahabhasya with Pradipa and Uddyata (5 Vols). Svayambhuvagama with Sadyajyati's Commentary (edited and translated into French); and Hampi- Vijayanagarm, The Temple of Vithala (in collaboration with Vasundhara Filliozat).

Dr. Satya Pal Narang, born in 1942, was educated in the University of Delhi and has been teaching in the same sinoe 1965. He was in Gurukul Kangri Visvavidyalaya and Pondicherry Central University as Professor and Head of the Department. Her has participated in about 60 seminars, symposia, conferences both national and international. His other important works include Bhatti-kavya: A Hemacandra's Dvyasrayakavya, A Literary and Cultural Study; Kalidasa Bibliography (Vol. I and II. Under preparation) and Meghasuta Studies and about 125 papers. At present he is working on a huge project 'A Pada-index of Classical Sanskrit Poetry'.

Dr. C. Panduranga Bhatta joined R. K. M. Vivekananda College, Madras, in 1976. Since 1988 he is working as Reader at the Pondicherry Central University. He did his Ph.D. on Dice-Play in Sanskrit Literature- A Study. Her has been selected by the Sahitya Akademi as a language consultant.

This project was initiated at the end of 1989 in Pondicherry by Professor S. P. Narang. I readily joined him and Dr. C. Pandurang Bhatt willingly offered his help. The project was encouraged by the members of the Advisory Board to whom I wish to express my most sincere gratitude. Professor Gonda who was the first to respond to me, from whom I received the first article, is unfortunately no more in this world to see the Volume in its final shape. I bow to his memory with emotion and reverence. Similarly Dr. Shiv Kumar, a young and promising scholar of Samkhya, Yoga and Vedanta, prematurely left this world during the period of preparation of this book. With equal emotion I pay homage to his memory.

Professor Narang collected articles from North Indian circles, Dr. Pandurang Bhatt from South India and I from Europe. We express our thanks to all the scholars who responded massively and in a short delay, so that the book can be published in a reasonable lapse of time. We are especially glad that several fields of Indology and several languages are represented by the contributions. This is a fitting tribute to the internationally renown and the wide scope of the knowledge and activities of Pandit N. R. Bhatt. The diversity of the material we received did not permit us to bring complete uniformity to the presentation of the articles. We have limited our interference to obvious corrections and necessary clarifications in the presentation, so that the authors have the responsibility not only of the substance of their articles, but also of bibliography, references. etc. We remain entirely responsible for the formatting and misprints.

The entire volume was composed on a Macintosh computer with fonts specially arranged for it, i. e. a latin font to which diacritical marks were added, and a nagarl font designed with Fontographer. We express our most hearty thanks to Mr. Paul Martin-Dubost who did the tedious work of feeding the computer and to Mr. Christian Bouy who not only gave an important article, but also typed it and kindly joined us in the time-consuming work of proof-reading. Finally our sincere thanks are due to Shri N. P. Jain for his untiring interest in the diffusion of Indological works and for undertaking the publication of the present Volume.