Review: Materials for an Edition and Study of the Pinda- and Oha-Nijjuttis of the Svetambara Jain Tradition
By Narayan M. Kansara
Summary
This review discusses Willem B. Bollée’s compilation of materials for a future critical edition of the Piṇḍa‑ and Oha‑Nijjuttis, early Prakrit mnemonic commentaries on Jain canonical texts. Because complete manuscripts of these Nijjuttis are lacking, Bollée gathers verses quoted in later commentaries and organises them into concordances to aid textual reconstructionfile:///home/oai/share/520768%20(18)%201-170_compressed.pdf#:~:text=THE%20APABHRAMSA%20PASSAGES%20OF%20THE,text%20and%20115%20Sanskrit%20chaya. Kansara praises the meticulous documentation of fragments, glossaries and linguistic analysis, noting that the work will be invaluable for scholars of Jain literature. He observes that the book’s technical nature limits its audience to specialists but emphasises its importance as groundwork for preserving early Jain texts.
Conclusion
Kansara concludes that Bollée’s compilation is an essential step toward a critical edition of the Piṇḍa‑ and Oha‑Nijjuttis. The study underscores the value of philological groundwork in preserving and understanding Jain canonical commentaries.