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JAINA GAZETTE.
to carry out the court's order he should pay a monthly sum to be fixed hereafter, to his wife. (Leader, April 24.)
THE OUTLOOK FOR JAINS AND JAINISM. (By a Jain.)
(Reprinted from the Leader, April 24.)
It must be a matter of genuine pride for every Jaina to know that the work of some of the Western scholars has conclusively proved the antiquity of the Jaina religion. It must also be satisfactory to realise that this religion represents an entirely independent school of thought which has lived through centuries of strife and competition with other schools with a far more numerous following.
on
But this satisfaction at the past greatness should not engender in us, as unfortunately it often does, the idea that there is nothing which we can learn from the more modern nations, who were altogether uncivilised when we were the teachers and masters of the whole world. For whatever we may have been in the past, there is not the least doubt that to-day we are among the most backward races. The glory of the bygone days should only make us feel the necessity of enquiring into our present condition and produce in us a feeling of sadness and humiliation when we find that we are not keeping up our repu tation. It should kindle in us a zeal for working and attaining that excellence once more.
In the light of these remarks, it is here proposed to examine the present condition of the Jains. But a survey of all the questions connected with this cannot be attempted in one article and it would be better if I confine myself to only one aspect. The numerical strength of the Jaina community is the point chosen for this essay.
Even a superficial observer can say that the number of the Jainas has been steadily decreasing. In the recent census their number was 1,248,182. Even though we may not be justified in comparing this figure with what it is claimed by the Jainas to have been several hundred years ago, yet it is by no means improper to set the figures of 1901 and 1891 beside this and draw our conclusions from them.
Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat
www.umaragyanbhandar.com
