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xti
FOREWORD
when violence threatens to ruin the entire fabric of human civilisation. The deathless principle of non-violence (ahimsa) is the noblest heritage of Jainism for which the whole mankind should ever be grateful. Even if we fail at present to draw the precise chronological relations of the earlier Tirthamkaras (promulgators of the Sacred Law), we are now definite that in the age of Lord Sri Krisna of the Mahābhārata epoch his cousin, Ariştanemi exemplified in his own life the sublime principle of ahiinsă by renouncing the world on the very eve of his wedding, when he saw that hundreds of innocent animals were about to be slaughtered simply for the entertainment of the guests at that royal wedding. That was the starting point of the realisation by Man of his kinship with the dumb animal world, differing from man only in linguistic expression, but animated by the same urge of life. So it was Jainism which for the first time bridged over the gulf between human life and animal life, and preached the basic truth of one common life pervading the whole Society. From such a profound realisation was born that creative compassion which made man look upon the dumb cattle as “Poems of Pity" in the inimitable words of Mahātmi Gāndhi, who, as we know, comes from Kathiawad-Gujarat, the home-land of Lord Nemināth (C. 1200 B.C.) and which part of India even to-day is the stronghold of Jaina religion and culture. Then came another great spiritual leader but the first systematizer of the Jaina Philosophy based on the Chatur. Yama or the four-fold principles, which were amplified by Lord Mahavir (C. 600 B.C.), a senior contemporary of Gautama Buddha.
Buddhism, no doubt, derived from Jainism its main inspiration as well as the principle of the church organization (Samgha) and the fundamental doctrine of Ahimsā or non-violence. Buddhism simply applied to the life of the individual and of the nation as well as on international plane, the primordial historical truth of Ahimsā which Jainism for the first time discovered like the law of gravitation of the living universe. If we want to keep intact the countless cultural heritages of man and if we want to develop the creative possibilities of mankind to its fullest extent we must discard the inhumane, nay, canniballistic path of war and violence as preached by the immortal preceptors of Jainism. Such a cause deserves the support and collaboration not only of all men and women of about 20 lacs of Jains scattered all over India, but also of all serious workers in the cause of human welfare, in fact, all servants of humanity in the East as well as in the West.
The dream of my esteemed friend, Mr. Chhote Lal Jain, and his colleagues, is to develop such an up-to-date centre of studies on Jaina religion and culture as would be able to give all facilities for research to men and women of all nations irrespective of caste, creed or colour. We know that some western ladies actually joined the order of Jain Nuns and the catholicity of Jainism is remarkable even in this age. Moreover, we can count upon the deepseated instinct of philanthropy which is ingrained in the Jaina community; and so we hope that the idea of developing a world centre of research or non-violence in the projected seat of Jain culture would soon mate
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