A 17.5kg labour of love called Sripal Ras
City businessman publishes the religious saga of king sripal & queen mayana in five volumes
It took him five years of painstaking work and repeated editing, but he is finally done. City businessman Premal Kapadia, 62, recently published the Sripal Ras — a 400-year-old religious saga based on the lives of King Sripal and his wife, Queen Mayana — in a set of five volumes.
To make this important 1,252-verse work composed in a pre-modern language Marugurjara available to all, it has been published in Gujarati, Hindi and English. “We wanted to do justice to the content and artwork in these volumes. We got it printed by a leading German press to ensure the highest quality,” says Kapadia.
Breach Candy resident Kavita Jain, who bought a set, says, “The content, production values and packaging have raised the bar, internationally, on how coffee table books ought to be published and designed. I think Kapadia had done all Indians proud.”
“When Gautama Ganadhara, Bhagwan Mahavir’s most senior disciple, gave a discourse on the Navapada to a religious assembly, including King Shrenika, he enlightened them on extraordinary achievements, fulfilment and prosperity attained in this life and the lives to come, by its worship. He related the story that has become known as the Sripal Ras,” explains Kapadia. “I feel humbled that I was chosen for this task.”
Asked about its price (Rs14,000), he says, “We wanted it to reach the maximum number of people, which is why we have priced it so low. Given its production quality, on which we have not compromised, it’s a steal. For example, the finest Irish linen has gone into the binding.”
With a print run of 8,000, doesn’t that add up to a lot? “This is not commerce. We are giving away more than half the copies to religious institutions, temples and universities,” says Kapadia.
He adds, “Even Manish Modi, who runs the Hindi Granth Karyalay at CP Tank, which will be the only outlet stocking the set, is selling it for no margin. Making a profit was never the idea.”
The Jains believe anyone who worships the Jinas and follows in their footsteps, putting into practice rational perception, rational knowledge, rational conduct and rational penance, shall attain liberation.
There are nine padas that are central to Jain practice — Arihanta (embodied omniscient being), Siddha (liberated omniscient being), Acarya (head of the Jain community, both lay and ascetic), Upadhyaya (teacher of Jain ascetics), Sadhu (Jain ascetic), Darshana (perception), Jnana (knowledge), Caritra (conduct), and Tapa (penance). Though many works have been composed in Jain literature to show the importance of the padas, the Sripal Ras is the most significant.
City businessman publishes the religious saga of king sripal & queen mayana in five volumes
It took him five years of painstaking work and repeated editing, but he is finally done. City businessman Premal Kapadia, 62, recently published the Sripal Ras — a 400-year-old religious saga based on the lives of King Sripal and his wife, Queen Mayana — in a set of five volumes.
To make this important 1,252-verse work composed in a pre-modern language Marugurjara available to all, it has been published in Gujarati, Hindi and English. “We wanted to do justice to the content and artwork in these volumes. We got it printed by a leading German press to ensure the highest quality,” says Kapadia.
Breach Candy resident Kavita Jain, who bought a set, says, “The content, production values and packaging have raised the bar, internationally, on how coffee table books ought to be published and designed. I think Kapadia had done all Indians proud.”
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| A RARE TREASURE TROVE From miniature paintings to yantras, mandalas, rare artefacts, to portraits and manuscripts, the five-volume treatise is adorned with 750 illustrations. These have been painstakingly gathered after researching the collection in ancient Jain temples across the country. The custodians of these rare works who zealously guard over them, sometimes needed as many as three years of persuasion to part with the work. |
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| At the end of his epigraph, in Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth concludes, “Buy me before good sense insists… You’ll strain your purse and sprain your wrists.” In 1,120 pages, Premal Kapadia’s 1,252-verse Sripal Ras does that and much more with a compilation of some of the rarest Jain heritage in terms of both literature and art on display |
“When Gautama Ganadhara, Bhagwan Mahavir’s most senior disciple, gave a discourse on the Navapada to a religious assembly, including King Shrenika, he enlightened them on extraordinary achievements, fulfilment and prosperity attained in this life and the lives to come, by its worship. He related the story that has become known as the Sripal Ras,” explains Kapadia. “I feel humbled that I was chosen for this task.”
Asked about its price (Rs14,000), he says, “We wanted it to reach the maximum number of people, which is why we have priced it so low. Given its production quality, on which we have not compromised, it’s a steal. For example, the finest Irish linen has gone into the binding.”
With a print run of 8,000, doesn’t that add up to a lot? “This is not commerce. We are giving away more than half the copies to religious institutions, temples and universities,” says Kapadia.
He adds, “Even Manish Modi, who runs the Hindi Granth Karyalay at CP Tank, which will be the only outlet stocking the set, is selling it for no margin. Making a profit was never the idea.”
The Jains believe anyone who worships the Jinas and follows in their footsteps, putting into practice rational perception, rational knowledge, rational conduct and rational penance, shall attain liberation.
There are nine padas that are central to Jain practice — Arihanta (embodied omniscient being), Siddha (liberated omniscient being), Acarya (head of the Jain community, both lay and ascetic), Upadhyaya (teacher of Jain ascetics), Sadhu (Jain ascetic), Darshana (perception), Jnana (knowledge), Caritra (conduct), and Tapa (penance). Though many works have been composed in Jain literature to show the importance of the padas, the Sripal Ras is the most significant.
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