Studies in Indian Philosophy

Author(s): Dalsukh Malvania, Nagin J Shah
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 14

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8 vet money and material possessions. Sometimes his standard appears to us as too exacting. But it has conferred an inestimable privilege upon him, viz , immunity from humouring the rich, or the man in power. I wish that we could approximate to his standard even from a respectable distance.
Pt. Sukhlalji is an outspoken man. No false courtesy or sense of etiquette deters him from speaking a truth, because it may not please a rich man or an ambitious scholar who want to win cheap-Jaurels, Naturally, rich men who are accustomed to approval of all their acts and fads and also easy-going scholars, scrupulously avoid him from a distance. He will on no account lower his standard. He insists on thorough knowledge of Sanskrit and thorough study of texts in his students. He does not believe in the gathering of references, and quotations, without study of the texts in which they occur, which is regrettably the fashion among cheap researchers of our time.
As a thinker he is absolutely independent. His allegiance is always to truth, and never to a fashionable opinion. He holds brief for none and does not hesitate to champion the cause which he thinks, stands for justice and truth. He will not flatter even men of his own community by praising their system and customs beyond their due. He will not denounce other schools simply because they uphold views different from those championed by Jaina philosophers. Pt. Sukhlasji is not only in the habit of not humouring the rich but also is not afraid of criticising the custodians of Jaina faith for any remissness in their conduct or their failure to live up to the standard. It is not a matter of surprise, therefore, that neither the Jaina community nor the academic bodies have come forward to honour him in public. We know that Panditji is far above the weakness of average academic men of our class, who bave a real liking for the appreciation of their scholarship. But whatever may be the attitude of the scholar himself, no excuse can exempt us from the charge of derelication of duty, that we have failed to show our recognition of the services of a savant, to whom the immortal gratitude of the Jaina community and of the students of Indian thought is due. I must cogra'ulate the authorities of the Jaina Ashram of Banaras Hindu University on the wisdom, though belated, for a public demonstration of their appreciation of this unostentatious scholar of whom the whole of India should be proud. Had he been born in the time of Vikramaditya, or of Bhojarāja, nothing would have been withheld from him. It is better that we have turned the corner and let us hope that this is rather a beginning and not the end. It behoves all those who are interested in Jainology to perpetuate his memory in a fitting fashion. I may suggest one or two measures in this direction. We should endow a chair in his name in the Banaras Hindu University and should found a