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स्वर्ण-जयन्ती गौरव-ग्रन्थ
past in the whole of India. This is the land of Yajnavalkya and Maitreyi of the Upanisads, of Janaka of Mithila, of Buddha, of Mahavira, of Candragupta, of Canakya, of Asoka and others too many to mention here. It is this living consciousness that inspired this State to organize the Mithila Institute for Sanskrit research in Darbhanga and Nalanda Institute for research in Pali and Buddhism. Those institutes are already running and the Nava-Nalanda Maha Vihar was opened very recently in March at Nalanda by Dr. Radhakrishnan. An institute for research in Persian and Arabic with the noted Khudabux library as a nucleus has already been set up.
Now comes this Institute at Vaishali for Prakrit, Jainology and Ahimsa. I must here pay a very well-deserved tribute to our Jain friends, notably to Mr. Shanti Prasad Jain, who is the industrial magnate of Bihar. The credit for quickening the process of bringing into existence this Institute goes to him and his colleagues because he came forward with a handsome donation of rupees five lacs for the building etc. of this Institute and a share in the recurring expenditure for a period of five years.
The Government as in the case of other similar institutes mentioned above, has already decided to run this Institute on the same lines as others and bear all the expenses. It is expected that rich and liberal as is the Jain community, it would see to it that this Institute would not only attract all Indian scholars but scholars from all over world, especially because it is taking up research in Ahimsa, a subject of world-wide importance.
Nalanda has already attracted scholars from many of the Buddhist countries. But I have no doubt that Vaishali would be as attractive a centre for research scholars as the best in India and elsewhere.
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