Jain Digest 2005 01

Author(s): Federation of JAINA
Publisher: USA Federation of JAINA

Page 25

MY VISIT TO PAWAPURI
Of all the Jain Teerths in India, Pawapuri is unique in some ways. There is no debate among Jains as to the sacredness of the land of Bhagwan Mahavir's nirvana. Pawapuri is dear to the heart of every Jain. The most picturesque memory of Pawapuri is the Jal Mandir. Legend has it that for days after the cremation, hundreds of thousands grieving followers came by to pay their respect and took home some earth on which the body of Bhagwan Mahavir was cremated and as a result a huge hole in the ground emerged which is now a lake and in the middle of the lake is the Jal Mandir. You must have seen magnificent pictures of red lotus flowers surround ing the Temple.
The story today is quite different. Years of neglect have left the lake and the Temple only a faded memory of its glorious days. I saw townpeople bathing, washing their laundry and worst yet, fishing in our lake.
The town of Pawapuri can be described as a poster child of poverty in Bihar. There are usual reasons for poverty in Pawapuri - politics, decline of agriculture, lack of education, so on and so on. The cycle of illiteracy feeding on poverty and poverty generating more backward class continues..
Another significant fact is the lack of Jain population and Jain traditions in Bihar, historically a vibrant Jain state where 20 Teerthankars were viharman, is in a sorry state. Of particular concern to us is that in almost all our Teerthbhoomis in Bihar - Pawapuri, Vaishali, Rajgir or Samet shikharji there is no local Jain population.
Earlier this year, I was in Pawapuri for the fifth time in the last eight years. Every time I was there, I was seriously affected by seeing scores of children begging in fact pestering pilgrims for food, clothing or just a few coins. You see everywhere reign of helplessness piercing from the eyes of young and old as they pass you by. I have come to conclude that Bihar is poor because Jains have left Bihar!
In abandoning Bihar we have ended up with negligence of our Teerths. We have also lost sight of Bhagwan's
message that implored us to serve the poor. Is it any wonder
that Pilgrims are targeted out of desperation?
What I saw on this visit convinced me that we as a community owe it to this land. We all know that the road out of poverty is EDUCATION. I spent an entire day talking
to trustees of the Temples, local elected officials, schoolteachers and the principal of the only Municipal High School in town. The numbers do not draw a pretty picture. The two villages Pawa and Puri that make up Pawapuri has a population of eight thousand and 25% of that (2,000) are
JAIN DIGEST. Spring 2005/23 Jain Education Intemational
Dilip V Shah Philadelphia
school age children. The Primary school has the capacity of 300 students and the Secondary School has the capacity of 200 students. There is one Government High school for 12 surrounding villages of 30,000 population. The High School has the capacity of 500 students but has 800 students. They accept only 50 students from Pawapuri. There are 3 private High schools that cater to 2000 students. But that still leaves out many students from attending High School.
I visited the one Government High School and saw bright and eager students cramped into small classrooms. Nearly a third of the students told me that what they would like most is textbooks! Other students wanted me to send
more teachers as the school did not have teachers for some of the subjects. I visited their science lab. Observing the dust on the floor and the tables, it seemed to me that those doors had not opened in weeks. But what surprised me most was noticing that the school had no electricity!
When I sat down to talk with the Principal, he told me the problems he faced. The Government-built school gets only the salaries of the teachers - no other help. For the past few months the teachers' pay had not arrived. He has vacancy for teachers in Math and Science but the low government salary attracts no qualified teachers.
Our despair and lots of hand wringing will not benefit anyone. We need a plan to alleviate the situation by providing education and employment opportunity.
Fortunately, there is a plan. I visited the site recently purchased by Veerayatan to build a school for a thousand children with a health clinic and a craft shop. It is a very ambitious plan and is modeled after another school Veerayatan and JAINA jointly built in Lachhwad for 400 students. This project will be the beginning of the end of poverty cycle and may itself become a model for our other Teerthdhams. The school will generate employment and may even spur other investments. In ten years there will be hundreds of graduates with Jain ethics. Our Teerth will be Acharya Shri Chandanaji wants to make Pawapuri an better protected and we would have arrested furher decline. ADARSH TEERTH and we all have an opportunity to be a part of that effort.
returned with hope and good feeling. We have the power to I had gone to Pawapuri with heavy heart but have bring back the glory days of Pawapuri and there really is an effort under way to make us all proud of our Teerthbhoomi.
If you would like to contribute to this project in any way, please contact Veerayatan or write to me at:
1902 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia PA 19103 or email me at dilipvshah@gmail.com