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જતયુગ
પોષ ૧૯૮૩
The Shatrunjaya Dispute.
As seen by a European. An echoe of the dispute between Such is the moral aspect of the the Jain Community and the Pali- question. tana Durbar, about the Shatrunjaya Moreover, there is a material Hill, has now come as far as Europe. aspect, concerning the ownership and That is right, and the cause in that possession of the sacred hill. It is a manner rendered free from all conti- simple one: The Shatrunjaya Hili ngent and local conditions, may be belongs to the Jains. judged with impartiality.
When I open Epigraphia Indiaca Well, justice and reason are, Vol. 11, No. 6th, I find, among the without any doubt, on the side of Shatrunjaya Inscriptions collected by the Jains.
the late Prof. G. Buhler, p. 50-59, The Jain Community has from No. 12, an important Prakrit inscri. centuries and centuries acquired on ption, dated Samvat 1650, I. e. 1593 the Shatrunjaya Hill rights and A. D., in which I read that the Great privileges, against which the action Moghul Emperor Akbar granted the of the Palitana Durbar seems to be Shatrunjaya Hill to the Jains, in unjustified.
the year Samvat 1639, i. e. 1582 A. D. Shatrunjaya is one of the most
Indeed, this mention is sufficient sacred places of the Jain Religion.
for my true opinion. The hill is covered with innumera.
Gujarat was then a part of the ble and magnificent temples, and every
Moghul Empire, and by the aforesaid year thousands upon thousands of
grant of Akbar, ownership and possepilgrims resort to this holy of holies.
ssion of the Shatrunjaya Hill was So, it can reasonably be said: Wi. recognised to the Jains. thout the Jain temples and the
Consequently the Palitana Dur
Consequently the Pal Sanctuaries, Palitana does not exist. bar is not to claim any sovereignty For it is a matter of fact that pil- and authority over the Shatrunjaya grims go to the Jain temples, and bill. He must only support Police not to Palitana. Would the Hill with in order to guarantee tranquility in the temples fly away as in the tredy the country and to secure protection, past 90 pilgrims left the way to Watch and ward of the pilgrims. Palitana. and every claim of the The Palitana Durbar belongs to Palitana Durbar for a tax were the clan of the Gohel Rajputs, whose vanished.
earliest traces in the region are found
