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THE ADDRESS OF Professor Phanibhushan Adhikari, M.A.,
Prof. of Philosophy, Benares Hindu University. President of the 19th Annual Meeting of Shri Syadvada Maha
Vidyalaya, Kashi on 26-4-1925. Gentlemen,
Rarely does the president stand for an apology to his meeting, but proceed at once, in the usual manner, deprecating his abilities and expressing thanks for the honour. Your present chairman does nothing of the kind, not because he does not feel deeply thankful to those who have elected him, but because his feelings are of a mixed character. His mind would be uncomfortable without some words of explanation regarding his position. He is a Bengali and a Hindu, both of which would appear to be not quite in keeping with the honoured place he occupies on this occasion. We are gathered here to celebrate the anniversary of an institution established to teach the religion and philosophy of a faith about which little is known in Bengal, and with which little sympathy is felt by Hindus. There is almost total ignorance about Jainism in Bengal except for a few stray scholars in Calcutta, who have just begun its study. It has no home in Bengal, in the true sense of the term.
There are, of course, a few temples in Calcutta and other places, where devotees of the faith resorti daily to worship their Thirthankaras. The magnificent building enclosed within a beautiful garden in a suburb of Calcutta is well-known to many a visitor as Parswanath-mandir. But they go there simply to enjoy the sight. They care very little to enquire who this deity is, the image of whom is installed inside the splendid building. The deity is perhaps regarded, by those of a religious turn of mind, as one of the thirty-three crores of gods and goddesses forming the Hindu Pantheon. As a student in Calcutta, my knowledge and feelings were not very different on the subject. And the great annual proces
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