Book Title: Jain Shwetambar Conference Herald 1910 Book 06
Author(s): Mohanlal Dalichand Desai
Publisher: Jain Shwetambar Conference
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1910)
Vegetarian Prize Essay.
endurai ce, live chiefly on milk and almonds. The Brahmin who is vegetar an performs feats which cannot but evoke admiration from spectate rs. The grace and ease with which he controls and stops an H. P. notor in full speed disillusions the bloated flesh cater who beg to ask himself whether non-flesh diet could give so much strength. 1 ancient also recommended a vegetable diet for wrestlers and athle The G ecian pugilist and the Roman Gladiator who combated w fierce and excited lions lived on a diet consisting of nuts, cher barley, bread and oil.
The strength is matched with bravery and courage which the nollest qualities of man. A belief that vegetarians are devoid these manly qualities lurks in the mind of most men; but I may here that this wrong belief is due mostly to ignorance. The Histo of nations places one lesson before us that nation rises and ma progres as long as it sticks to a simple way of living and that luxu and its attendent vices contribute to its fall. The Romans could beco masters of a major portion of the then known world on account their s mple diet.
The Roman soldier to whose bravery and courage Rome ow her sujiremacy over the world got for his daily ration one pound barley and 3 ounces of oil. The Roman General Cincinatus who sav Rome from the claws of an invader lived on the produce of his far Compa' e aud contrast with these the weak and the effeminate weak ide of the latter day Roman Empire, who could not defend their count against foreigners. The History of the Mahomedans will teach the sai lesson. The abstemious habits of Hazarat Omar, who ate dates and sle on a riat can stand no comparison whatsoever with the frivolities Mabon edshah Rangila and the debaucherous Vajidali Shah of Oudh.
Let us pass from this indirect to the direct and positive eviden to pro' e tkat Vegetarians are as brave as, if not braver than, t Aesh-ea'ers. Lord Heathfield who defended the fortress of Gibraltar wi consur mate skill and persevering fortitude was a total abstainer from fle diet. B: jirao who gave a crushing defeat to the numerically stronger ari of the Nizam at Bhopal and Chimnajee Appa who forced the drill
