Lord Mahavira and His Teachings

Author(s): Vallabhsuri Smarak Nidhi
Publisher: Vallabhsuri Smarak Nidhi

Page 30

Lord Mahavira and His Teachings
the 9 Licehavi Republics. The working of the Vajjian Confederation, so vividly described in the Dighanikaya, is an unique example of its kind and essentially contributed to the efficiency and solidarity of the Republic. Further Vaishali was. 'a commercial capital where seals were issued by three classes of guilds, namely, Bankers, Traders and Artisans. When Fa-Hien visited India (A.D. 399-414), it was an important religious, political and commercial centre; but its fall began in the next three centuries, and what Hiuen-Tsang (A.D. 635) saw there was more or less in ruins. And to-day it is a neglected village.
The Indian Republic of to-day has inherited a great deal from the spirit of Vaishali, and the Vajjianconcord is the pedestal of our democracy, apart from the fact that Ahimsa with its corollaries, viz., Panchasilas, is the bed-rock on which our policies are built. By adopting Hindi as the State Language, our Central Government is only carrying on the policy of Magadhan Governments which gave more importance to the language of the masses than to that of the classes. The inscriptions of Ashoka are all in Prakrit. Our Prime Minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, who said the other day that he can find time to meet the humblest in the country even in preference to his big officials easily reminds me of Ashoks, the Priyadarshin, who had a similar dictum. Thus it is but natural that Vaishali can no more be neglected. Thanks to the vigilant eye of the Central Government, patronage of the Bihar Government, petricala gittis, i enlightened industrialists like Shri Shantepruundje innd the active efforts of the Vaishali Sangha with it able workers like Shri J. C. Mathur,