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A
special session of
the All India Jaina Conference was held on the 14th March at 9
A.M. in the spacious Pandal which was very tastefully decorated.
The gathering was largely representative and the Pandal was full
even at 8-30 A.M. with the senior officials of the state,
leading dignitaries of the Jain community and other ladies and
gentlemen hailing from all parts of India. His Highness Sri
Krishna Rajendra Wodeyar Bahadur, the Maharaja of Mysore rrived
punctually at 9 A.M. His Highness's arrival was eagerly looked
for by thousands of Jaina pilgrims from all over Indian who had
heard of the many personal virtues of the Mysore Rajarishi
and who therefore now wanted to have a glimpse of and pay their
respects to that enlightened and universally venerated Maharaja.
When His Highness entered the Pandal the whole audience rose up
to give a warm and respectful welcome. His Highness took his
seat on a silver throne which was placed on a cloth of gold.
This throne was given as a present to His Holiness by Danavir
Seth Gurumukhrai Sakhanandi of Bombay as a loyal and respectful
tribute from the Jaina Community.
The conference
began with the singing of the hymns of prayer to SRi
Gommateshwara and songs of welcome to the beloved ruler of
Mysore by the girls of the Bombay Sravaki Ashram. Then the
palaca Mahavidwan, Dorbali Jinadasa Shastri read Sanskrit verses
specially composed for the ocasion in praise of the benign
Government of Mysore and the noble and inherent traits of virtue
and wisdom in the character of His Highness the Maharaja. A
brief and beautiful address of welcome on behalf of the Jaina
Community of India was read and presented to His Highness the
Maharaja. A brief and beautiful address of welcome on behalf of
the Jaina community of India was read and presented to His
Highness the Maharaja in an exquisitely carved gold and silver
casket by Mr.M.L.Vardhamanaiah, the chairman of the Reception
committee. Then His Highness was garlended by Sir Seth
Hukumchandji of Indire. There upon Hi highness rose up amidst
deafening cheers to declare the conference open. In doing
so His Highness delivered a very scholarly and interesting
address which ran as follows:
"Let
me thank you for the cordial welcome which you have given me
today and for the warm sentiments which you have expressed
towards me in your address. I need not assure you that I deeply
appreciate them."
WELCOME TO THE
"LAND OF PILGRIMAGE" -
It given me great
pleasure to be with you on a solemn and auspicious occasion like
the present when you have assembled in such large numbers from
all parts of India for a holy purpose. In welcoming this All
India gathering of the Jains to the land of Mysore, I cannot
forget that this land is to them a land of pilgrimage,
consecrated by some of the holiest traditions and tenderest
memories of their faith. This picturesque rock on an elevated
tableland was as a thousand years' old tradition has it, the
scene whee the velerable Bhagawan Srutakevali Bhadrabahu leading
the first migration of the Jains to the Southern Peninsular
broke his journey through the jungles and took up his abode and
tradition still points to the cave in which years after he
passed away, in Sallekhana, leaving his footprints on the rock.
It was in this holy land, the Dakshina-Kasi, the Benares of the
South that as the same tradition has it, the Mauryan Emperor
Chandragupta, the fame of whose prowess turned away the
invincible hosts of Alexander the Great, doffing the Emperor's
for the ascetic's robe, nursed his master, the Srutakevali, in
his last moments and worshipped his footprints. Since that day,
many a royal prince of the south and many a holy monk from the
north have vowed themselves to death by euthanasia, that
Sallekhana which answers to the Samadhimarana of the Hindu Yogi.
This is also the
holy spot sacred to the Muniswara Gommata, whom tradition
represents to have been the younger brother of Bharata, the
eponumous Emperor of Bharatavarsha. The Land of Mysore,
therefore, symbolises Gommata's spiritual Empire as
Bharatavarsha stands for the empire of his brother Bharata. For
a thousand years has the Muniswara's colossal statue carved, it
may be, out of a huge boulder on the rock and visible for miles
around ruled over this scene unsurpassed in massive grandeur and
sublimity of spiritual power by anything that the Egyptian or
Assyrian monuments can show.
But Jainism not
only found a second birth place and home in Mysore, Jainism
repaid the debt. For Jainism, if it did not create our Kannada
literarure, inspired some of the noblest masterpieces of that
literature in its early history: and Jaina learned men have ever
since continued to render signal service to it.
Greatness Of
Jainism
No less memorable
have been the services of Jainism to the evolution of India's
spiritual and philosophical life. Jainism has cultivated certain
aspects of that life which have broadened India's religious
outlook. It is not merely that Jainism has aimed at carrying
Ahimsa to its logical conclusion undetterred by the
practicalities of the world., it is not only that Jainism has
attemped to perfect the doctrine of the Jina, - what is unique
in Jainism among Indian religions and philosophical systems is
that it has sought emancipation in an upward movement of the
spirit towards the realm of Infinitude and transcendence - and
that it has made power, will, character, in one word Charitra,
an integral element of perfection side by side with knowledge
and faith. And Jainism has sought a harmony of all religions and
of all philosophial an dialectical standpoints, in its
Sarvadharma and its Anekantavada. At the other end of the scale
in its rock cut sculptured architecture, Jainism has created a
new style and carried it to a pitch of excellence which places
the glories of Mount Abu side by side with the Mausoleum of the
Taj among the architectural wonders of the World.
A Welcome
Awakening
But all human
beings are subject to decay, and your own later day history has
not been exempted from the operation of this universal law.
Fortune, however, is depicted as a riding on a wheel, every
descent leads to an ascent, an Avasarpini period must be
followed by an utsarpini. And to one who has closely watched the
signs of the times, it cannot but be evident that a great
awakening has come to the Jaina community all over India. You
have resolved to bid farewell to all disputes of rival sects
which have brought your religious usages and traditions into the
purview of the Courts of Law. You have resolved no longer to
remain a divided houses. You have resolved to hark back to the
pristine purity of your spiritual doctrine and tenets, and to
conform your social organisation to the simple rigour of your
faith, and purge it of some of its latter day accretions as may
not be in harmony with the teachings of the Jina.
Social
Conferences and Politics
Treading the path
of pilgrimage like your ancestors and like your asiatic brethren
of other faiths, you have come here primarily for a religious
purpose, but you have not overlooked that ancient association of
religion and life, and have taken advantage of this sacred
occasion to hold a conference of the Jain community. The
conference is, I understand, a purely religious and social one.
It will have nothing to do with politics. I commend the wisdom
of the promoters on this limitation. Let me not, however, be
misunderstood in this commendation as putting politics outside
the pale of your consideration as something to be dreaded or
ignored. On the contrary, I feel that every educated person
should take an earnest and intelligent interest in the political
questions of the day and contribute his and (I ought, perhaps to
add) here share share towards the solution of the problems that
must inevitably arise from the necessity of adapting the
organisation of humanity to the needs of its expanding
consciousness. But you, gentlemen, have assembled here as
members of a perticular religious community having religious and
social problems peculiarly your own. Your purpose is to discuss
these problems and to devise means for the progress of your
community. On this occasion you are Jains first and Indians
afterwards and as such you have every right to your own
standpoint and may most fitly discuss there from your special
needs and aims. But in the sphere of politics, whether
concerning India as a whole or any of the areas of which it is
composed, you are Indians first and Jains afterwards. As Jains
you command the sympathetic interest of everyone in looking at
the problems of your community from your particular standpoint.
A comprehensive
View Of National Progress
An Indians your
political point of view, has also the political point of view of
every other religious community in India, should in my opinion,
bet hat of India as a whole. So long as the thousand and one
different communities into which our community is split up bear
this doctrine in mind and act towards one another in a true
spirit of brotherhood, we need have no misgivings as to her
future. It is when the purely social and religious questions
invade politics that vast difficulties arise, difficulties which
much inevitably retard the progress of the country. We must
therefore wish every community all possible success in its
endeavour to advance itself religiously, socially and
educationally. At the same time, we must realise that if there
is to be real progress in the country at large it must be all
along the line, it must embrace every community and I personally
consider it the sacred duty of the more advanced communities not
only to have earnest regard for their own progress, but also to
extend a helping hand to less fortunate communities, which from
some relediable cause, are lagging in the path of human
evolution.
Conclusion
I wish this
conference all possible success. In Sir Hukumchand, you have a
president of whom you have every reason to feel proud and I have
no doubt that his advice and guidance will be of inestimable
value to you all. His example should be a stimulous to the
younger members of your community, and I trust there are many
who will endeavour to follow in his foot steps. Gentlemen, I
thank you once again for your address and for the cordial
sentiments you have expressed, and I wish you all
ever-increasing prosperity.
The whole audience
listened to the address with rapt attention. When His highness
left the hall the people vociferously gave vent to their
feelings of their loyalty and regard by shouting "Mysore
Maharaja Ki Jai", as a token of their joy and gratefulness for
the honour that His Highness had very graciously conferred on
the Jaina community.
Reference:
Glory Of
Gommatesvara - Edited by: C.S.Mallinath, Mercury Publishing
House, Madras (1953).
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