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Jain Digest countered were in the simple attire of persons on a that the impulse to frame a picture, to capture on film religious pilgrimage. There were young men in a small what India was offering to view, was interfering with group, who soon approached a few of us who were my ability to fully see and be where I was. So my waiting for the tour to begin. Each party was quite exhilaration at Ranakpur may well have been condiintrigued by the other, and I remember in particular tioned, in part, by the absence of a camera between me one of the men, who with bright eyes and quiet smile and it. looked right at me for several moments. I asked him if he spoke English, which he did not, but I sensed that we bridged a gap just by being in each other's presence and
Did you know? accepting each other with our expressions.
***Ronald McDonald has become a vegeAs we walked to the western entrance of the Adinath Temple I was conscious of some part of its
tarian! Actor Geoffrey Guiliano worked grandeur since, although so much of its beauty unfolds
for McDonalds and earned $40,000 a year within, its towers (sikharas), which A.L. Basham in The as the meat-devouring clown. He had his Wonder That Was India suggest "break the upward own TV show, a private chef, limousine, movement, and remind the observer that the divine is
personal secretary and office. He has to be found on earth as well as in heaven," and that
given up all this to become a vegetarian! western entrance are simply majestic. I listened intently to all the details about the temple, and about
He said, “...meat is murder. basic Jain beliefs, that our guide related to us before we Humans can get along very happily on entered. The temple is dedicated to the first Jain fruit, vegetables, and whole grains.” He tirthankar and is built entirely of marble. According to
continued, 'I brainwashed youngsters J. C. Harle, author of The Art and Architecture of the Indian Subcontinent, "Its vast interior was carried out
into doing wrong-eating burgers. I want unmodified, to the last column, from an extremely
to say sorry to children everywhere for complex plan".
selling out to concerns who make milYet even had I registered everything said by lions by murdering animals." the guide and consulted the other sources I have since
***3, 207, 094 animals were used in variread, I would not have anticipated the feeling that came over me once inside. It was the kind of spiritual and
ous research and experiments in 1990 in aesthetic rapture I have felt at certain other place --
the United Kingdom. Let us hope that a Autun and Chartres Cathedralsand Mont-Saint-Michel day will soon come when no animals will in France, Ely Cathedral in England, the Western Wall
be used in such a way. As Mahatma in Jerusalem, the Ekambareshwara Temple at Kan
Gandhi said, "Vivisection (experimentachipuram in southern India. At the Adinath Temple the elaborately carved columns, ceilings, and walls, the
tion on animals) is the blackest of all black varied inner spaces, some hidden in shadows, some crimes that human beings perform.” touched by the light that entered through open spaces ***The Blue whale is the largest animal to in walls, the lovely celestial dancing girls and other
have lived on earth. Up to 100 feet long carved figures were so captivating, so alluring that,
and weighing over 100 tons, its heart is despite my customary urge to attend to everything a guide has to say, I found myself wandering away.
bigger than a human being! An African My wanderings took me to higher and higher
elephant could fit on the whale's tongue! parts of the edifice, to the open terrace roofs where the Supported by water, this huge beast can thrill awaited of seeing the domes, the sikharas, the
glide effortlessly, its only constraint, profusion of white marble against the surrounding green hills. An elderly man beckoned me to ascend fur
having to surface every few minutes to ther still, to the top of a tower where he unlocked a door
take in air to breathe. It is this need that to a small room and balcony. From here the view was may spell extinction for the blue whales - even more stunning, and here I lingered. I did not take they are easy targets for harpooners. In any photographs - I had realized during the morning
the first half of this century alone, over bus ride from Udaipur that my camera was not work
300,00 of these whales were killed in the ing. Yet, for the remaining several weeks of our trip I deliberately did not take it for repair or purchase an
Antarctic. other. Even before Ranakpur I was nagged by a sense
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