________________
1914.]
JAINA GAZETTE.
285
to the unfortunate incident. There can be no crime more sinful than that which is committed in the name of religion.
We shall take up the other matters dealt with in this special number in a subsequent issue of our journal.
ooo THE SACRED BOOKS OF THE JAINAS. That knowledge is power is a trite saying. All civilised people have raised knowledge to the height of adoration. Minerva of the Greeks is the lovely analogue of our own well. beloved Sarasvati. For the Jainas Sarasvati is the sweet warder of the immortal lore that emanates as the wordless speech of the Finas, the conquerors of flesh and karmas. Learning precedes conduct among the Jainas, as right preception precedes and is indeed a sine quiâ non of right learning. Therefore from the general as well as the special point of view the claims of knowledge come first. Our people to-day are obscure, and without the political and social influence which was wielded by their forebearers. This going down is due to our loss of knowledge as much as to our lack of organ. isation and the sterling quality of sincerity, without which neither nations nor individuals ever gained any eminence,
It is a sad fact that of all Indian Literatures the Jain Literature is the last and the least studied. And the Jainas are well paying the penalty of their books coming last under the appreciative and in a way sympathetic, though critical, eye of European scholars. The curious result is this. The Jaina religion is misunderstood and misrepresented. Jaina History is scoffed at as imaginary fables, whereas even the myths of other people seem to embody a core of historical facts of great antiquity. An indirect consequence is that the Jainas ire put down as extra gullibles subject to unlearned superstiions and mediæval priestcraft. Modern Oriental research, however, is setting matters straight a little. Books hithero considered to be the works of non-Jainas are coming to be ecognised as the works of Jaina authors. The truth of Jaina 'aditions is being established surely, though slowly. Jaina
ooks are widely read and studied more. There is even an Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat
www.umaragyanbhandar.com
