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SANATANA JAINA.
and even condemns the decree in the so-called piggery-case as 'maimed,'but the same has met with the contempt it deserves; for no right-thinking man would care to respect the opinion of a person who has no respect for the sentiments of a whole community, or even for the highest tribunal of Just ice in India.
I may mention at the outset that these friends of India have been grossly misrepresenting the true facts. For a correct version of the matter 1 may refer the impartial reader to the judgment delivered by the Hon'ble the High Court of Calcutta in the said piggery-case in which the following facts have been clearly and unequivo cally established; viz. (1) that from times immemorial the entire Hill has been held by the Jains with the feelings of utmost sanctity, and (2) that the Raja of Palgunge is bound by an 'Ekrarnama' to provide the Jains with any piece of land that they may requ ire for erecting a temple or a Dharmashala on any part of the Paresnath Hills and also the necessary stone and wood as can be got from the Hills, all entirely free of charge. It was on the strength of this covenant that the Jains got the required injunction in the piggery case, and therefore the allegation now made that the agreement is void is simply preposterous. As to the 'Firmans' of the Moghul Emperors which were produced by the Jains in the said case, they were not admitted in evidence because proper custody was not 'proved.' But laying
Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat
aside the question of facts and taking it for granted that in holding every stone of the Hill in veneration the Jains are in error, from the Semistic or the materialistic point of view, let us consider the effect of the article in question.
To a casual reader the version given by the 'Empire' being the utterance of an Anglo-Indian may appear to be a correct view of the matter and he would be disposed to think that praise and not blame is rather due to the 'Empire' for having exposed the tactics of the Jains so cleanly and'drastically,' It may appear so from the subjective point of view but a fatal mistake is committed in ignoring totally the objective standpoint. I ask what useful purpose is served by writing so contemptuously, so acrimoniously, so gibefully? To insinuate that the Jains have got an European doctor to make a false report as to the sanitary condition of the Hill, or to say that the Jains are playing the part of the dog in the manger by claiming a monopoly of the whole Hill, or to suggest that the Jains are trying to take an undue advantage of the government by threatening to join otherwise the 'unrestful' elements is only adding insult to injury. It is highly ungentlemanly, essentially unchristian, nothing short of meanness.
of
I must here indicate what amotint what a rude shock the governwrong, ment has inflicted upon the religious feelings and scruples of the Jains. I quote here a passage from the judg
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