________________
108
THE JAINA GAZETTE
decreased in number in any district whatsoever. Moreover, can anybody say that there are richer crops in countries where antelopes are hunted, than in such where they are left in peace? Or were, the inhabitants of Jodhpur poorer in former years, when antelope killing was prohibited, than they are now? Was there a poorer crop of corn there as well as in all the other states where hunting was prohibited formerly than there is now? Nobody can say so. Just on the contrary, there are no longer any such crops as there were at that time, there is no longer such wealth as there was before. Those hunters who, by killing antelopes, tried to secure rich harvests, just achieved the contrary effect.
Now let us proceed further. There are people who believe that tigers, leopards, snakes, scorpions, and other such animals which tear and eat man, and, by stinging, make him suffer formidable pains, or kill him, must be killed and extirpated.
The number of people who are of this opinion, is considerable, and amongst them, there are even persons who abstain from flesh eating and hunting, and who call themselves champions of non-violence. Amongst them, there are Kshatriyas, Brahmins, and Vaishyas too, who condemn hunting and claim to be called true devotees of God. And if, perhaps, they do not kill such dangerous animals themselves, still they do not believe it sinful to make others kill them, or to comply with their being killed, under the pretext that the existence of such animals is dangerous for mankind. In their eyes, those animals are criminals, and to punish crime, they believe to be their duty.
Now it is worth trying to answer the following questions : 1. Does this kind of violence share the sinfulness of common violence?
2. Has man a right to commit such violence?
3. Are the advantages indeed secured which people think to derive from this kind of violence?
The definition of violence is as follows: "To cause pain to another creature in an inimical spirit is called violence."
Now man reflects like this: Those creatures are our enemies, they do harm to our property or to our own species, they Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat
www.umaragyanbhandar.com
