Jain Journal 1976 01

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 14

102
spiritual songs entitled Sanjhi Sangraha, an illustrated Hindi primer entitled Prathamāvali, like Isvarcandra Vidyasagar's Varna Paricaya in Bengali. Some of his Hindi articles have been published after his death as Prabandhavali. Also in typescript exists his massive evidence before a Commission in the Rajgir law suit in which he was cross-examined by Ajit Prasad, an eminent Jaina scholar and the counsel of his opponent who later wrote, "His (Puran Chand's) scholarship, his mastery of historical and philosophical matters in relation to Jainism, was exhibited in an eminent degree when I cross-examined him for about a month."
JAIN JOURNAL
The account of Puran Chand's enormous literary activity would remain incomplete unless we take note of his learned address in Hindi as the President of the first session of Oswal Mahasammelan held at Ajmer in 1932. One may compare it with Brojendra Nath Seal's lecture on sociology delivered at London. Puran Chand had also a similar theme, which was the very many problems with which the Jaina Community in general and the Oswal Community in particular was faced. Throughout his address, unlike the general attitude of cynicism in India even today, Puran Chand sounded a note of optimism. He spoke at length on the need for education if the society was to come out of the clutches of orthodoxy and squalor and be once again on the road to progress. He was particularly emphatic on female education, for, he felt, in any section of the country, of which 50% of the population consisted of women, the society would forfeit its future if this vast group remained illiterate. These words were as much true at the time they were uttered as they are today. He spoke on the simplification and reform of many social customs, complete eradication of harmful and unnecessary usages, abolition of purdah system and child marriage, development of physical and moral health of young men and women, eradication of the virus of untouchability, preparation of an exhaustive history of the Jaina Community, and, last but not least, total upliftment of business ethics, since the Jainas are a dominantly business community. In brief, the entire address was an epitome of Jaina sociology and, with slight modifications, is as much fresh today as it was when delivered from the Presidential chair at Ajmer at a distance of about 43 years.
Puran Chand was not an arm-chair sociologist to air abstract views but was an active participant in social scene. Whenever a major problem cropped up in the society, he was always at the fore front. There was a time when going overseas was viewed in India as a social crime. This attitude prevailed in the Jaina Community long after it had disappeared from the progressive sections of the Indian society. In consequence, during Puran Chand's life-time, the Jaina Community became divided