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He undertook severe penance (fasting) to eliminate the women slavery tradition (Chandan Bala episode).
He again established the four fold creed with Chandan Bala as the head of female monks and Chelana (queen of king Shrenik) as the head lay-women followers. The 9th limb of Jain canons called Antakrishdasha shows large number of women getting initiated into monkhood by Mahavira and attaining liberation.
The above examples of Jainism are given specifically for
women.
Religion, Nation and Religious Harmony
Gandhi gave higher place to religion and described it in the form of Truth and righteousness. In his constructive programme, he gave the first place to communal harmony among the people of different faiths.
The principal question before him was harmony between Hindus and Muslims who inhabited this country. Gandhi felt that if Hindu-Muslim unity was established, unity with other communities which were already there could easily be strengthened. He never found serious differences between the Hindus and Muslims and other minority communities like the Christians and the Sikhs, not to speak of the small community of Parsis. Therefore he turned to the question of Hindu-Muslim unity. He insisted that the Hindus who are in a majority in the country should help the Muslims and should never entertain any idea of enforcing their rights but try to win the hearts of the minority community. "There is nothing in either religion to keep the two communities apart". Religions are no exception to the natural law. The need of the moment is not an establishment of a Universal religion but there is a greater need to develop mutual respect towards the different religions i.e. unity in diversity.
Gandhi & Jainism | Pg. 195
