6_Glorious_Epochs_of_Indian_History

6TH GLORIOUS EPOCH 139
temple'8 worth lacs of rupees and it was named 'Yukvihar'—
the temple of the Louse !
340. Were this incident described by any other writer
it would have been as a parody of the Jain faith. But it is
the Jain writers'' themselves who cite it with evident pride.
Hence it has to be taken as true.
341. What a paradoxical practice ! In order to save a
louse in the hair of a man to cut off the very head of that
man ! And this is called 'Ahimsa' ! As if to kill a man is no
'Himsa'—violence ! Man seems to have no life at all ! It is
because of this 'Ahimsa', more ruthless and more violent than
violence—'Himsa'—itself that millions of Indian hunters,
fishermen seamen, gamekeepers, foresters and others who
lived by hunting and fishing, lost their professions.
342. When these millions of flesh-eaters jointly protes­
ted and demonstrated how they and their wives and children
would starve to death and how this would spell violence of
an enormously grave nature King Kumar Pal of Gujrath**
most graciously issued another order that these millions of
people, who have been carrying on violent professions ought
to leave those professions themselves. However as per their
demand, the state was to subsidize them for three years*^.
343. But what after those three years ! Starvation
could not be completely ruled out in the case of these
unfortunate millions. For flesh and meat was their chief food
which could be had almost for nothing. But because this
intolerant 'Ahimsa' made flesh-eating punishable by death,
this common mass of people was antagonized to the Buddhist
faith. These millions of people shook off its tyrannical
yoke, and sought refuge in the Vedic religion, which had
now taken an all-embracing noble form, accepting a rela­
tively considerate Ahimsa which allowed concessions for
particular time and place and persons, concentrating mainly
on human welfare** !