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JAINA GAZETTE.
JOctober
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Mr. Chaitan Das, B. A., Sc., of the Government High School, Saharanpore, founder of the Bharat Jain Mahamandal, has established a “General Relief Fund,” for relieving the distress of persons who have suddenly been thrown out of work, and have no means to sustain themselves, who have by some fell disease, or accident become temporarily or permanently incapacitated for work, who have been implicated in some trouble and cannot defend themselves, helpless widows, uncared for orphans, and stranded students. Contributions to this fund mean the earning of religious merit by charities of all the + kinds inculcated in the Jain scriptures.
We print elsewhere some tables giving the number of Digamber Jains castewise in the various provinces in India. These tables are taken from the Digamber Jain Directory and show that there are at least 87 castes which prosess the Jain religion. The largest number of Digamber Jains is to be found in the Bombay Presidency; Rajputana and Malwa come next with a total of over a lac and the United Pro. vinces comprise about 64,000. As regards caste the Chaturth in the Bombay Presidency predominate with a total of 69,000 ; the Agarwal who are largely found in the United Provinces and the Punjab number 67,000, and the Khandel. wals who mostly inhabit Rajputana and Malwa aggregate to 64,000. The Panchams of the Bombay and Madras Presidencies number 32,000.
BOOKS AND PERIODICALS RECEIVED. 1. The 4th Annual Report of Aluni Shree Asohan Lalji Central Library.-The library has maintained its use. fulness and excellecce of management. The number of books issued out is over ten thousand. About Rs. 1,000 are spent in the purchase of new books. The grant under this head clearly requires enhancement, and we hope that the Trustees would take this matter under consideration. The Library should also have a better location in some prominent place on a wellknown public street like Pydhonie.
Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat
www.umaragyanbhandar.com
