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To my parents
JOHN and ELIZABETH LESLIE for their love and patience over the years
and for their acceptance of my prolonged infatuation with India

Acknowledgements

Far more people have been instrumental in the completion of this book than I could mention in a brief list of acknowledgements. My thanks go first to David Pingree of Brown University, who drew my attention many years ago to Tryambakayajvan’s Stridharmapaddhati. In Madras, S. S. Janaki of the Kuppuswami Sastri Research Institute helped me locate manuscripts of the work, and a copy of the elusive printed text with its Tamil translation. In Thanjavur, the pandits of the Tanjore Maharaja Sarasvati Mahal Library provided me with a working space for the length of my stay. In Pune, Pandit Vamana Balakrsna Bhagavata was always ready to read with me, despite the pressures of his own work in vyākaraṇa.

But above all, I wish to thank Tarkatirtha Lakshmanshastri Joshi of Vai. President of the Prājñapāṭhaśalāmaṇḍala since 1916 and general editor of the massive Dharmakośa project, Pandit Joshi was over eighty when we met. Yet he gave me the unforgettable experience of studying with him as an antevāsinī: for two months, I lived in his home, ate with his family, and read and discussed my text with him for up to six hours a day. The energy with which he embraced my project and tackled my problems has left me eternally in his debt. It has been a privilege and a pleasure to study with this remarkable man.

Richard Gombrich deserves my special thanks for his conscientious supervision of the first draft of the book. Amongst those who were kind enough to read all or parts of that draft, and to discuss its contents with me, I should like to thank Dominik Wujastyk, Friedrich Wilhelm, Werner Menski, Sanjukta Gupta, Nicholas Allen and Gudrun Būhnemann.

Finally, I should like to thank my family for their generous encouragement. As I completed the final draft, I went into labour for the birth of our first child, Ania Elizabeth Leslie Wujastyk. As I finished checking the first proofs, I went into labour for the birth of our second child, Marina Phyllida Leslie Wujastyk. In the various stages of pregnancy, delivery and recovery-for both babies and for the book-I was supported by my husband, Dominik Wujastyk. He read most of what I wrote, checked references for me when I was unable to reach the library, double-checked the proofs, and helped with the index. His

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Acknowledgements

confidence in my work extended even to bribing me to continue when I was ready to give up. I owe him heartfelt thanks.

I. Julia Leslie

Visiting Lecturer and Research Associate in the Women’s Studies in Religion Program The Centre for the Study of World Religion Harvard Divinity School May 1988