Scriptures & Spiritual Texts  Dravyasamgraha FAQs  FAQ

Where can I find reliable editions or critical texts of the Dravyasamgraha?

Hunting down a solid critical edition of the Dravyasamgraha can feel like searching for a needle in a haystack, but a few landmarks stand out:

  1. Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute (BORI), Pune
    • Publishes a critical Sanskrit text with extensive collation from palm-leaf manuscripts.
    • Often bundled in the “Bibliotheca Indica” series, it remains a go-to for scholars craving philological rigor.

  2. L. D. Institute of Indology, Ahmedabad
    • Hosts an acclaimed edition edited by Haribhadra Nath Shastri, complete with detailed footnotes and variant readings.
    • Its library sometimes grants digital access upon request—perfect for remote research.

  3. SOAS Centre for Jain Studies, London
    • Online portal offers PDF downloads of Nemicandra’s treatise, alongside English translation and commentary.
    • Keeps pace with digital-humanities trends, recently showcased at Oxford’s “Jain Texts in the Digital Age” symposium.

  4. Jain Vishwa Bharati, Ladnun
    • Brings out a crowd-pleasing bilingual version: crisp Sanskrit text on one side, lucid Hindi or English commentary on the other.
    • Particularly handy for those brushing up on philosophical jargon without getting lost in transliteration.

  5. Archive.org & Digital Library of India
    • Free scans of early-20th-century editions, including Champat Rai Jain’s oft-quoted translation (1917).
    • Handy when juggling budgets—though textual fidelity sometimes wavers in these public-domain uploads.

  6. Recent University Presses
    • Padmanabh S. Jaini’s foreword in the University of California Press reprint (2022) reframes key metaphysical categories.
    • University of Virginia’s South Asia Texts Initiative is reportedly planning a fresh critical edition next year.

Quick tip: cross-check manuscript numbers and publication years. A dash of detective work—comparing leaf counts, editor’s prefaces and appendices—often reveals which edition stays truest to the original. With a mix of traditional indological scholarship and modern digital tools, tracking down a reliable Dravyasamgraha needn’t be an uphill battle.