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An Epitome of Jainism about one Nangâ Bâbâ who occupied a mud hill in Fyzabad. During the course of a target practice by soldiers a notice was served on him announcing the time when the practice would be held and he was told that no one would be responsible for his death if he did not go elsewhere. The practice began and bullets whistled past his body on all sides, but he merely lifted his hand in front of his face, and no harm came to him. Colonel Crawley who was in charge of the operation, and who was witnessing everything from a distance through binoculars, was astonished at the indifferent and calm attitude of the sage; and when everything was over he went to Nanga Bâbâ and saluted him with reverence.
Another form of Himsâ is that which arises from religious or superstitious persecution. Socrates was compelled to drink the cup of hemlock poison. Joan of Arc was burnt to death as a witch. The terrors of the Inquisition are matters of history. The crucifixion of Christ and the terrible persecution of the early Christian Apostles are also matters of record. So is the tragedy enacted at Karbalâ on the bank of the Euphrates, where Yazid cut off all supplies and prevented the 72 followers of Hassan and Hussain from taking water from the river. All of them were killed and their women folk taken as prisoners. The imprisonment of Vasudeva and Devaki, and killing of their 8 babies one after another by Kansa, their uncle; the attempt of Hiranya Kashyap to murder Bhakta Prahlâd, the innocent boy-devotee; the cruel murder of Hakikat Rai; the tortures inflicted on Sikh Gurus, Arjun Deo and others, are matters of Hindu tradition and history. The poisoning of Swâmi Dayanand Saraswati, the murders of Pandit Lekh Râm, Swami Shradhânand, and Rajpal are recent happenings of the present times. The murderers have, after a sentence of death by a Court of Law and execution at the gallows, been applauded as martyrs.
Political Himsa, the killing of armies in battle, murder in mass, is justified as a necessity for national existence. On a declaration of war, each and every one of the countries engaged in war, consider that theirs is a just cause, and the hostile party is in the wrong. All the combatants pray to the God, to help them in destroying the homes and hearths of the hostile people, and pray for victory, which spells destruction of the opposing armies. Such is the excitement created by the priests, the clergy, the followers of the Princei of Peace, that even churches and hospitals, schools and colleges, libraries and museums, factories and workshops, shops and granaries, are not spared, nor are freinds and relations. The crime committed at Kurukshetra ruined India that was. Mahâbhârata devastated Bhârata Varsha, the land of Bharat. The battles of the Crusades, the wars of the Roses, the French Revolution, the war of American Independence, the Havoc of 1857, the Revolution in Russia, the Great War in which India and the leading great Powers of the world were engaged for six long years have very largely contributed to Hirnsâ on a large scale, which though justified as political necessity is Himsâ unpardonable.
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