Unknown Life of Jesus Christ New Edition 2009 Publication

Author(s): Nicholas Notovitch, Virchand R Gandhi, Kumarpal Desai
Publisher: World Jain Confederation

Page 52

Translator's Introduction
exhibits in the Paris Exposition of 1878. “Indian collections are now also, unfortunately, becoming at every succeeding exposition, more and more over-crowded with mongrel articles, the result of the influences on Indian art, of English society, missionary schools, schools of art, and international exhibitions, and above all, of the irresistible energy of the mechanical productiveness of Manchester, Birmingham, Paris and Vienna."
Terry in his “Voyages to the East Indies," 1655, in describing the people of India writes: “The natives there show very much ingenuity in their curious manufactures, as in their silk stuffs, which they most artificially weave, some of them very neatly mingled with silver or gold, or both; as also in making quilts of their stained cloth or of fresh coloured taffeta lined with their printadoes (prints or chintz), or of their satin, lined with taffeta, betwixt which they put pure cotton-wool, and work them together with silk. ** They will make any new thing by pattern, howsoever difficult it may seem to be, it is, therefore, no marvel if the natives there make boots, clothes, linen, bands, cuffs of English fashion, which are all very different from their own fashions and habits, and yet make them all exceedingly neat."
I am not a supporter of the caste system as it exists to-day in India, but I am convinced, with Dr. Leitner, formerly the Registrar of the Punjab University in India, that the preservation of caste in its original form is the preservation of ancient civilization and unparalleled culture of India, inclusive of its arts and industries, which is perfectly compatible with every legitimate demand of modern requirements or aspirations. “The recognition of the principle of heredity in abilities and defects, so tardily recognized by our own physiologists, has maintained Indian society, Indian wisdom, Indian bravery, and Indian arts, and can alone preserve Indian loyalty and ensure Indian progress on the lines of its own genius. It is only imitation of foreign models that can kill what thousands
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