Gandhi Before Gandhi

Author(s): Bipin Doshi, Priti Shah
Publisher: Jain Academy Educational Research Center Promotion Trust Mumbai

Page 116

GANDHI BEFORE GANDHI
period of construction, its architect and a hymn to Buddhist triad. The inscriptions concludes by alluding to the merits which the king, the workmen (the masons, carpenters, porters) and, in fact, all engaged in the construction of this monastery, had derived from their assistance, and mentions in particular the salutary influence which the monastery will exercise in future upon the welfare and salvation of the inhabitants of Ladak. The monastery was commenced in 1644A.C. and finished in 1664.
Mr. Notovitch comes to the front and remembers that he has an excellent Life of Christ which he found in a somewhat mythical convent in Thibet, some years ago," meaning thereby the convent of Himis, where Mr.
Notovitch discovered the manuscripts, and further on: "he visited the convent of Himis, which we do not find on our own calendar of Buddhist ecclesiastical establishment near Leh, the capital of Ladak."
Monstrous statements! The monastery of Himis is one of the most well-known institutions in Thibet, and very few persons who have traveled in Ladak have failed to visit that monastery. Professor Sir Monier Williams makes mention of this monastery in his work on Buddhism (p. 433, English edition, 1889) in these words: "Hence large monastic institutions are often found in solitary places and elevated situations; for instance, in Ladak those at Lama Yurru and Himis are more than 11,000 feet above the sea, and that at Hanle is 14,000 feet. They resemble romantic castles towering upwards in the midst of rocks, crags and snowy mountains." In the years 1854-58 a scientific mission was undertaken by the brothers Hermann, Adolphe and Robert de Schlagintweist to India and High Asia; they also visited various parts of Thibet and the Buddhist countries in the Himalaya. The first of them visited the monastery of Himis in September, 1856, and got an exact copy of a curious inscription relating to the founding of the institution, which is carved on a stone slab in the monastery, which gives details of its
If, notwithstanding these facts, the Himis monastery is "a mythical convent" or that we do not find [it] on our own calendar of Buddhist ecclesiastical institutions, "is as if the native of Central Africa may as well say that Chicago is a city existing only in the imagination of the Americans, or the inhabitant of the Fiji islands may say he does not find Palestine on his own list of Christian holy places. We can excuse these persons for their ignorance, but not a Doctor of Divinity like Rev. Dr. Hale.
Hospitality is Godly act for Hindus and Jains
N. Notovitch, having in his journey broken his leg, was compelled to stay for a short time at the monastery of Himis, where he received medical aid. This hospitality of the Buddhist monks is interpreted in a half sneering, half sarcastic way by Dr. Hale, thus: "It was as if a Buddhist delegate to the Parliament of Religions had been wounded in watching a Princeton football match and Dr. McCosh had received him to his hospitality. What more natural than that Dr. McCosh should give his guest a New Testament?" To a person educated to think that he is insulted if a stranger happens to talk familiarly with him, without an introduction, Oriental
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