'jain' library

"The number of Jains in India, even including those who have settled elsewhere is very small, a little more than two million. Still the religion professed by them is one of the world's living faiths." This is how the preface to Pramana Naya Tattvalokalamkara by Dr Hari Satya Bhattacharya begins. The age of this text, if not made out from the fact that Jains are termed Jainas or the authors archaic name, could be derived from the fact that as far back as the 2001 census the Jains in India numbered 4,225,053, with Maharashtra holding the largest number at 1,301,842.

But let's start at the beginning. The book we are looking at is from the Jain Sahitya Vikas Mandal Library in Vile Parle. Begun in 1948 by industrialist Late Amrutlal Kalidas Doshi in his bungalow, it was later shifted to the ground floor hall of Hirak Society Building so as to occupy the vast space it does now. "Amrutlal Kalidas Doshi believed in the 'union of Laxmi and Saraswati'," quotes Doshi's wife Mrs C C Doshi from a letter written in her husband's praise. She adds: "Besides running his company – Amar Dye Chemicals, he wanted to pursue his interest in philosophy – this library will have no 'chalu' books."

The Jain religion is famous for it's 'extreme path' (as opposed to Buddhism's eaiser middle-ness). The library reflects this austerity. But for a small picture of its founder, it's never ending walls boast only cabinets (iron and wood) with endless Jain literature. Gangaram, the Doshi's Man Friday and the library's keeper, guides us through endless volumes of the Prabodh Gita (a Jain how-to on religious and social norms and fundamentals), Abhinandan Granths (long discourses on the philosophies of various Jain saints – published whenever they gave an appearance as 'abhinandan'), Prashant Vayita (a guide book of Jain rituals). In other writings umpteen ancient and modern Jain philosophical debates present themselves in Gujarati, Hindi as well as English. And finally, the praths, or old papers tied together with slabs of wood or cloth on either side, rather than bound like a book. "Some of these praths are ancient – over a thousand years maybe. My husband used to collect them with personal passion," Mrs Doshi remembers.

Most of these books have been publishes by the Mandal itself. "But nowadays the printing has stopped," Gangaram sighs. "Maybe it's because Jains today have little time from business and puja. Who will read." Mrs. Doshi has another viewpoint: "Great scholars, sadhus and Phd researchers used to come to this library – how many people today will understand such intense psychology?" Let's end with an example from the same book we begun with. To follow its arguments, one has to hold essential reference points in memory for over four pages. "Is the relationship of the signifier and the signified identical with either the former or the latter," it reads on the relationship between 'word' and 'object'. "This is impossible as the relation has already been premised to be different from the related." Is Socrates listening?