Book Title: Jain Itihas Series 01
Author(s): B Benarsidass
Publisher: B Benarsidass

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Page 14
________________ bave looked upon it as a bundle of uncleanly habits. Some say that the Jains never bathe, that they never clean the teeth. Some blame the Jains for worshipping naked images. Nay, some mis-chiefmongers have gone to extremes. They have said " If an elephant comes in your face, no matter that it crushes you to death, but do not enter a Jain temple to save yourself." Some say that there is no such thing as Jain philosophy. All this is due to trifling with, mildness, and faction; Causes of mig-ander. trifling with of the western scholars, standing. mildness of the Jains, and faction between the Hindus and the Jains. Western scholars have done us much good. They have brought to light much of the Vedic and Buddhistic literature. They have made other wonderful discoveries. For all this we are grateful to them. But this should not prevent me from expressing my idea that they trifle with religions. They play with religions. This you can easily see, at least, in the case of Jainism. While one scholar holds that Jainism is a religion only twelve centuries old, a second says that it is a branch of Buddhism, and a third asserts that it is a product of Brahmanism. Some regard Mahavira its founder, others call Parshva Nath its author. Religions are not things to be thus trifled with. They have a halo of sanctity around them. They are, as it were, under a spell, and conflicting opinions thus pronounced break that spell, and de

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