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Studies in Jainology, Prakrit
The Basadis or Jaina monasteries took the responsibility of preserving the composed works and of catering these tenets to the people through their carefully built libraries.13 The Jaina teachers, from the very beginning, did propagate these tenets through their regular and effective preachings. As a result several dynasties of kings accepted Jaina faith!and not only the Jaina community but also other people around were influenced by the cardinal principles of Jainism, which put an effective check to social vices like hunting, drinking, dicing, etc. The comulative effect of all these processes helped the greater part of Karnataka to emerge, and remain till today, peace-loving, vegetarian and accommodative.
We can just imagine what healthy moral atmosphere in society could have been created by the quotation from the Mulācara used either in sermons for masses or in works of literary excellences 15 :
Khāmemi sawe jīve save jīva khamantu me, metli me savvabhūdsu veram majjha na kenavi. which I would render in free verse as follows: Forgive do 1 all beings ever! Forgive may they so me too! Let me love one and all sure! Let me be an enemy of nonc whoscever!
To conclude, Lord Mahavira's principles and teachings, inherited by his great grand disciples and propagated through the language and literature of Karnataka, have not only made them both rich and prosperous but also have added much to the gereral cultural wealth of the land.
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