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THE JAINA GAZETTE.
regret that no benefit has yet been achieved. All might have known that last year a conference of 20 representatives from each of the communities met at Delhi and that no decision was arrived at even then. As a result of the conference it is evident that they are not yet prepared to end the quarrels by coming to an understanding with us. When saying this I do not mean to find fault with the Swatambaras as a whole ; among them some learned men do insist on settling things within ourselves. But I do not have any hope that the mater will be so easily settled until the responsible people are prepared for it.
I wish to say that between the two communities there is no other cause for quarrel except religion, that they are friendly towards each other in their commercial relations and that I regard the leaders of the Swetambara community as my brothers.
Now I desire to draw your attention to the Kannada province. This province has been the foremost in holding up the prestige of the Jain Religion at all times. The Rashtrakuta and the Chalukya Kings that ruled over this province were followers of Jainism. The Emperors Amoghavarsha and Chandragupta were also Jains. Almost all the celebrated Acharyas such as Virasena, Jinasena, Gunabhadra, Kundakunda, Vattakeri, Samantabhadra, Akalanka, Vidyanandi and Prabachandra have flourished in this Kannada province. Three-fourths of the Jaina Literature are in Kannada language only. This province has always the noble traditions of the Jain Religion. Because in this province are situated the celebrated Ja 'n Tirtha Kshetras like Jainbhadri, Mudbhidri, Karkal and Venur. Under the control of the All-India Tirtha Kshetra Committee a provincial Tirtha Kshetra Committee should be appointed to maintain and protect the sacred places of this province
It is necessary that we should propagate the ancient greatness of our religion through this committee. In many of our sacred places there are numerous inscriptions recording the glory of our faith. If we collect them and publish them, our religion would be known more widely. In the antiquarian researches, scholars have discovered several Bhuddhist inscriptions which are eagerly studied by the scholars in the world. And moreover Buddhist works are Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat
www.umaragyanbhandar.com
