________________
CHAPTER TWO
The History and Tenets of the Jainas of India
Mr. Gandhi prefaced his paper with remarks in reference to the allegations of the previous day against the morality of the Hindu religion He said :
"I am glad that no one has dared to attack the religion. I represent. It is well they should not. But every attack has been directed to the abuses existing in our society. And I repeat; now, what I repeat every day, that these abuses are not from religion but in spite of religion, as in every other country. Some men in their ambition think that they are Pauls and what they think they believe, and where should these new Pauls go to vent their platitudes but India? Yes Sir, they go to India to convert the heathen in a mass but when they find their dreams melting away, as dreams always do, they return back to pass a whole life in abusing the Hindu. Abuses are not arguments against any religion nor self adulation the proof of the truth of one's own. For such I have the greatest pity. There are a few Hindu temples in Southern India where women singers are employed to sing on certain occasions. Some of them are of dubious character, and the Hindu Society feels it and is trying its best to remove the evil. These women are never allowed to enter the main body of the temple and as for
44
Jain Education International
MONEYBOUKOKƏRAN
For Personal & Private Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org