Book Title: Shatrunjaya Dispute
Author(s): Makanji J Mehta
Publisher: Jain Shwetambar Conference Mumbai

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Page 23
________________ 20 tangled skein of the dispute holds, the agreement of 1886, which was accepted and acted upon by the parties for forty mortal years, must be invalid or at least unnecessary. Neither of the parties, nor the British Government, however, ever questioned the force and solemnity of that agreement. Mr. Watson has been blinded by his invincible prejudice against the Jains so much that he cannot see what is plain as a pikestaff; he needs must ignore the nature and character of that entire agreement, and set up as a counterpoise an impossible doctrine of inapplicable res judicata, which needs but to be mentioned in order to be exploded. SOVEREIGNTY OVER THE HILL. Let us next glance at the vexed question of the sovereignty over the hill. In the year 1874 the Durbar contended that the right of the Jain community extended only to the existing temples and other structures on the Hill; and that the permission of the Durbar was necessary to build fresh temples within the Gadh or the Fort. The Jain community having contested this claim the British Government ordered an inquiry to be held. An elaborate enquiry was held on the subject by Mr. Candy, the then Judicial Assistant in Kathiawar, and afterwards one of the most eminent Judges of the Bombay High Court. The voluminous report of Mr.

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