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A Great Scholar of Jain Religion and Philosophy
To talk of Dr. Kumarpal Desai is to talk of a personality that is a source of inspiration to the society in many respects. Whether it is Gujarati Literature, Jain religion and philosophy, cricket commentary or journalism, the worthy son of the worthy parents is well-versed in all these fields. The largest circulated Gujarati daily the "Gujarat Samachar' is known for his column 'Int ane Imarata', The former Vice-president of "Gujarati Sahitya Academy', Prof. Desai happens to be the trustee of the prestigious literary project named "Gujarati Vishva Kosha' also. His love for students is evident from an incident that happened with me when I was a P.G. student of Prakrit. There was a debate on the topic 'T.V. and Video are Ruining Our Creativity' organised by the 'Times of India' in the Gujarat University Senate Hall in the year 1987. I wanted to participate in the contest, but I had no points to prepare the speech. When I approached Prof. Desai, he unhesitatingly gave me a number of points related to T.V. and Video causing damage to our creative power. These are the qualities perhaps, for which the Government of India justifiably decided to adorn him with the 'Padma Shree', a prestigious civilian award. He has authored a number of books on different subjects in Gujarati, Hindi and English. Here is a brief
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Dinanath Sharma
