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No. I.
EDITORIAL
EDITORIAL
Our Venture.
A fully correct and comprehensive history of India has not yet been written and can not be written unless and until single historical facts from age to age and period to period, province to province and movement to movement, are studied and examined in all their aspects. It is now well-known, at least in scholarly circles, that Jainism is one of the most ancient religions of India and that it has influenced the religion, philosophy, moral and social out-look of the people to a remarkable extent. But the details of these influences, how, why and when Jainism made its contributions to the cultural development of the Indian people, are even now a matter of vague speculation, and even scholars are not very clear about them. The Jaina idea of God and eternity of life has been woefully misunderstood and the system has been denounced as Nastika or. atheistic. The principle of Ahimsā or non-violence which is the sine-qua-non of the faith, has been misrepresented as the factory in which the shackles of slavery were forged. The philosophy of Anekānta or multifold view points with which Jainism has tried to reconcile seemingly opposite opinions and beliefs, has been derided and held up to ridicule as a jumble of contradictions. The fine arts such as architecture, sculpture, painting, music and poetry as developed by the Jaiuas have been neglected or their importance minimised, and the Jaina literature, inspite of its fullness and versatality, has not been considered worthy of serious study. This state of affairs was first due to the fact that the spirit of Jaina religion and its followers was very much misunderstood by the foliowers of the Hindu religion, but the position was continued and even aggravated by the apathy of the Jainas themselves who made no efforts to make their attitude clear and did not give sufficient publi. city to their literature. With the changing times, however, the condi. tions are now fast changing. On the one hand, the scholars all over the world are becoming increasingly interested in the study of Jainism, and on the other, the Jainas themselves have become keen about clearing their position and attitude both by propaganda and by throwing open their literary treasures to the world.
The present venture is a modest attempt to facilitate and encourage the growth of this new spirit. All Jaina and non-Jaina scholars are invited to express themselves freely about Jaina religion, philosophy, history, art and literature through the pages of the Jaina Antiquary. Our forum shall be open to all those, and only to those, who wish to present facts without any passion or acrimony. Our aim is to elicit
