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Jaina Path of Education
ture in different languages and of different periods. Thus religious or ethical instruction in an entertaining manner is the secret of successful social education or mass-education achieved by the Jaina Ācāryas. During the reigns of some of the Kadamba, Ganga, Cālukya and Rāstraküţa rulers, the Jaina teachers have successfully carried out such masseducation in Karnatak. This is also true of Rajastan and Gujarat under their favourable rulers. The cumulative effect of such education in these provinces could be seen in the fact that the virtues of regard for Ahimsă etc. in general and vegetarianism in particular were nurtured by most of the people of those and later days-including the present days to some extent-in these regions. Moreover some scholars think that the percolation of the principle of Ahinsa to the very root of Gandhiji's mind is the later fruit of such age-long education by Jainism.
Another interesting factor in the educational values of Jainism is that in the day-to-day practice itself of the Srävaka-dharma by the members of the lay community is found the carrying out of some important educational principles. Duna (gift), śīla (protection of minor vows), U pavāsa (observance of fast) and Pūjā (worship) are the four constituents of the layman's way of pious life ; and they play a very important role in his total life. The gift of śāstra (books) of jñāna (knowledge) is one of the four facets of Dāna (gift), the first constituent of the Srāvakad harma. Ši stradana means to provide the right person with the right book (or books, the vehicles of knowledge) at the right time. The educational importance of this aspect of gift can be illustrated from a gesture of an eminent historical personage of medieval Karnatak ; when printing was unknown with a beneficial motive of augmenting interest in (religious) literature, in 973 A. D. The great pious lady Attimabbe wife of general Någadeva (under the Western Călukyas) got prepared 1000 copies of Ponna's Santi purāna and distributed them to the deserving ones. The worth and strength of this Šāstradāna is seen even today among nume. rous well-to-do members of the Jaina community extending a helping hand towards publication of worthy books, encouragement to scholars in their pursuits, liberal donations to educational institutions etc. A number of educational trusts have come up out of this motive in different parts of the country.
Moreover of the six duties to be carried out daily by the Śrāvaka, viz., Pūjā (worship, prayer etc.) Vārtā (the exercise of honest lively
परिसंवाद-४
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