The Bhikṣuṇī Maṇimēkhalai

14 - Preface
exigencies of oth’er work prevented my doing it as soon as I might,
under more favourable circumstances, have done. He seems to have
gone to work on the subject himself on the basis of the abridged
account given in Mr. Kanakasabhai Pillai’s Tamils, Eighteen Hundred
Years ago, and sent me a proof copy of a paper he contributed to a
‘Festschrift’ in honour of the late Dr. E. Hultzsch. He must be given
credit for the independent discovery of the similarity of the Buddhist
logic of Maṇimēkhalai to the Nyāyapravēśa of Dignāga. I received
the proof after I had delivered my lectures and before I sent him my
manuscript for criticism.
When the lectures had been delivered, I sent a copy of my lectures and
translation of the relevant chapters for his criticism which he had the
great kindness to send me freely and fully, for which I am specially
grateful to him. It is a matter for great regret to me that we cannot
bring ourselves to agree in regard to the main thesis of the relation
between book XXIX of the Maṇimēkhalai and the treatises of
Dignāga on Logic. I have re-considered the position on the basis of his
criticism and I regret very much indeed that I am not able to see eye
to eye with him on this particular point. This examination of the
learned Professor’s critical remarks is appended to my lectures. None
the less, I feel deeply indebted to him for the time and trouble that he
bestowed upon a careful study of the manuscript and giving me the
benefit of his views thereon in a letter concluding with ‘it is my
sincere opinion that by making accessible to scholars [xii] at large the
contents of the “Maṇimēkhalai”, specially by a faithful translation of
the chapters bearing on Indian Philosophy and Buddhism, you are
entitled to the gratitude and admiration of all who take an interest in
Indian culture and the history of South India’. It is to be hoped that
the work will serve the purpose so well indicated by the Professor,