________________
286 JAINA GAZETTE.
(October ever-widening circle of men and women in the East and West to whom truth is revealed in Jaina books and who find conso. lation and inspiration in the principles and teachings of our ancient Jaina preachers. This is the psychological hour. This is the dawn of a new morning for Jainism. This is the renaissance, literal and figurative, of our ancient and glorious creed. Our rich and orthodox brethren pride themselves on their piety, to a certain extent, rightly but not entirely so. Their money is not always well spent. The motive may be of the best ; but the actual mainfestation takes a very limp and loose form. In their charitable designs we miss a sense of proportion. The needs of the community are but ill-judged and things that may well wait for decades gain an unfair and praticidal precedence upon others which must be looked to immediately. It is like a starving man investing his last anna on a richly embroidered shawl. The Jaina creed is clothed in costly pageants, whereas the soul of it is starved for want of substantial aliment.
Thus it comes about that our great mother Sarsavati has been wofully neglected.
But lately something has been done to wipe out this slame. The late Seth Devchand Lalbhai left by his will a sum of Rs. 45,000. This amount was further enhanced by a sum of Rs. 25,000 by Mr. Gulabchand Deochand, and further enhanced by the property of Vij-kore. The interest of all this is for the preservation and the development of the Jain Swetembar Religious literature. 13 books are already published. Our ever lamented friend, the late Babu Deva kumar, Rais and Honorary Magistrate, Arrah, establisbed and endowed the Siddhanta Bhavana (Oriental Jaina Library, Arrah). It is doing good work. The All-India Jain Association (Bharat Jain Mahamandal) in 1909 opened a Jaina Literature Society in London to be a nucleus for those people in the West who are interested in Indian philosophy and religions, specially in Jainism. Much money is needed, much co-operation is required for such a vast and important task. Is there any Jaina, man or
woman whose whole soul is not thrilled with a sense of July lo Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat
www.umaragyanbhandar.com
