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BHARAT KA ETIHAS
131 then, take it that it was something which shocked Lalaji's sense of propriety, though he could not legally bring the offender to justice for his misdeed. But what could such a misdeed be ? Could it be murder, man-slaughter, torture or extortion, or could it be rape ? I really cannot think of anything worse? But surely these are not the acts of which a Jaina can be readily presumed to be guilty. I suppose that what Lalaji really witnessed or heard of must have been the heartless tyranny of a money-lender seeking his pound of flesh from bones that had nothing but bare skin left over them. Certainly, the money-lending class is a despicable one in India ; and well might Lalaji be shocked at a money-lender's persecution of his victim ; for notwithstanding that there is no justification for the borrower's non-payment when he has had the other man's money and enjoyed its uses to the full, the human heart is ever prone to bleed at the sight of suffering and distress, howsoever brought about, whether by reckless extravagance, misfortunes or otherwise. The vile amasser of pelf will, no doubt, protest that it is unjust to stigmatise a man who parted with his hard-earned cash and waited patiently on the pleasure of the borrower for its return and that he only enforces his claim through the machinery of the law, which will never decree unjust and unreasonable demands, but so long as the human heart is constituted as it is, it will ever despise the author of misery and woe, huwsoever enforceable may his claim be at law.
So far I may be said to agree with Lalaji's view, assuming him to be really thinking of a money-lender's tyranny when penning the words quoted from “ Bharat ka Etihas," but three questions immediately suggest themselves in this connection, which are :
1. Is this the case with every Jaina money-lender, big and small ? · 2. Is the Hindu or any other non-Jaina money-lender less
heartless or oppressive than his brother, the Jaina ? 3. Can you attribute to every Jaina, i.e., to Jainas generally,
conduct that is characteristic of a special class of cunning
money-grabbers ? I think on all these points the verdict of the rational mind will be against the Lalaji, for neither are all Jaina money-lenders blood
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