________________
Man's nature is determined by pre-natal conditions (including past actions and heredity) and post natal conditions including physical and cultural environment. Part of this make up is inevitable and cannot be suppressed, but quite a large part can be controlled. Man has to be strive by self-examination to find out the inevitable part and the amendable part, or, to use Epictetus' language, 'the things in his power' and 'the things not in his power'. 26
Modhbania community in Gujarat as a whole and Kathiawad in particular shows that Jainism was a prominent faith in the community. Hybrid religious practices were common here even during and after Gandhi, like the sect of Dadabhagwana (see ref 10) with heavy influence of Jainism. Gandhi himself said:
"The area had heavy dominance of Jainism and Vaishnavas. Jainism was strong in Gujarat, and its influence was felt everywhere and on all occasions. The opposition to and abhorrence of meat-eating that existed in Gujarat among the Jains and Vaishnavas were to be seen nowhere else in India or outside [the nation] in such strength.”:28
Although Gandhi grew up surrounded by so many religious influences, his own family was orthodox and he followed suit As mentioned earlier, his father was a religious man devoted to his family, as well as an able administrator to have held the position of chief of the province. His mother was a very pious woman, always observing fasts for spiritual purification, practiced minutest form of Ahimsa; praying and consulting Jain monks. It seems that the Gandhi's family lived in a colony of Porbandar which was like a Jain quarter (similar to Green Park and Veer Nagar in Delhi or Jewish quarter in New York City) asserting greater Jain influence on inhabitants belonging to religious faiths other than the dominant one. Thus, even his family background of religious life was influenced by Jainism, as they practised Ahimsa, followed a vegetarian diet, the regime of
Pg.12 Gandhi & Jainism