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PARAMANAND K. KAPADIA -A Martin Luther among the Jainas
B. M. SINGHI
"When I came to know about the excitement Paramanand Bhai's Presidential speech in the Session of the Jain Yuvak Parishad at Ahmedabad had caused among the Jainas, I had posed a question : Do the Jainas want to make a Martin Luther of a very considerate and humble thinker like Paramanand Bhai? And, having not understood the spirit in which I had said so, Sri K. M. Munshi had remarked that I had compared Paramanand Bhai with Martin Luther ! However, let me confirm it today that Paramanand Bhai did possess the same spirit of religiousity and conviction of thought as Martin Luther possessed. Of course, it was never his intention to establish a new religious order." In these words of Kaka Kalelkar, is reflected the impact Paramanand Bhai had made on the Jaina community, particularly its younger section by his stirring ideas on religion and society. As far back as 1910, he had written and published in Jain Dharma Prakash, a series of articles in Gujarati on "Artless Religious Life of the Present-day Jainas” (Adhunik Jaino-nu Kalāvihin Dhārmik Jıvan). In these articles, he had criticized many a religious practices followed by the Jainas which lacked rationale and good taste. Naturally, the conservative section of the community showed opposition and protestations to his ideas. These ideas culminated in his founding the Bombay Jain Yuvak Sangh in 1929 and in the attack he made on the ill-practices prevalent among the Jainas in the name of religion. Paramanand Bhai's frontal attack on bāldiksā (child initiation)
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