Brief History

This is how it all began...

A Brief History of Sangh's Prestigious Activity

by Paryushan Vyakhyanmala

Jains needed an organisation which can root out the eveils of orthodoxy which penetrates in to day-to-day life of Jains. Young Jains were throbbing with thoughts of change. And those enthusiastic Jain youths started on organisation - namely: Prabuddh Jeevan. This was done on 3rd February of the year 1929.

But this organisation itself could not achieve anything by itself. If they wanted to succeed in their mission of change they needed a vehicle to put their thinking before Jains. And this way a pamphlet 'Shri Mumbai Jain Yuvak Sangh Patrika' was born on 31/08/1929. It had six 1/4 demy size pages and was priced one-half anna.

No doubt this was a humble beginning of the great movement which was to bring revolution in the religious thinking of the Jain community.

This pamphlet could not keep itself aloof from the independence movement. When for this the then British Rulers imposed a penalty of Rs. 6000/- on the magazine - which the management of the magazine refused to pay and consequently the publication was stopped. And almost after one plus year it came out with new name - TARUN JAIN. And in the year 1939 it regained its old famous name - PRABUDDHA JAIN.

The message this magazine can give to Jain community has been expounded by Kala Saheb Kalelkar in his words: This world is at its end. The only way it save itself from the annihilation is to follow AHIMSA -- the way of life as proposed in SYADWAD. This message if the learned men cannot deliver to the Jain community, PRABUDDHA JAIN can do it.

The magazine created a vast readership. People were eagerly waiting for its issue. To put it exactly: the magazine could meet the timely need of Jain community. And it was so liberal in its views, people from non-Jain community enjoyed its reading. This is not a small achievement for a magazine which which has its foundation - Jain philosophy.

Late Shri Parmanand Kunvarji Kapadia, Shri Chimanbhai Chakulal Shah and Dr. Ramanlal Shah edited the issues of this magazine.

Parallel to this is: Paryushan Vyakhyanmala. The learned and most admired man of Jain community - Pandit Sukhlalji; started his lecture-series in A'bad in the year 1930. In the year 1931 it moved to Mumbai where a small plant grew into a great banyan tree. Everyone was waiting for his lecture series. And look at the fact the what a greater thinkers and orators year by year addressed the knowledge thurst of the gatherings!

Here is the galaxy of those learned speakers : Pandit Sukhlalji, Kaka Kalelkar, Dr. K. M. Munshi, Dr. Jagdish Chandra Jain, Sarladevi Sarabhai, Swami Akhand Anand, Motilal Kapadia, Morarji Desai, Dr. Ushaben Mehta, Pandit Dalsukhbhai Malwania, Haribhai Kothari, Santshri Moraribapu, Swami Anand, Pujya Jinvijayji, Zaverchand Meghani etc.

In the year 1959 only learned female speaker addressed this gathering - Mrs. Mrinalini Desai. Other leading female speakers to follow subsequently were Pro. Taraben Shah and Kum. Shailaja. Kum. Shailaja addressed the in oriental Indian language Sanskrit.

And Acharya Rajnishji was invited to speak in 1961. After the year 1983 Jain Sadhus and Sadhijis were invited to speak.

And Dr. Ramanlal Shah had another noble and benevolent thought of helping the needy people. For this he launched a project to help the institutions in Adivasi areas. These social service institutions were starved of funds. Due to self respect and honesty, more so transparency they could approach government or donors. Mumbai Jain Yuvak Sangh selected such institutions and helped them to carryout their activities. Till today the Sangh has doated almost three crores of rupees to twentyone institutions. These funds were collected through Paryushan Vyakhyanmala.

If we take look at the history of Mumbai Jain Yuvak Sangh, Paryushan Vyakhyanmala and Prabuddha Jain biweekly - four stalwarts appear prominently before our eyes: they are Pandit Sukhlalji, Shri Parmanand Kunvarji Kapadia, Shri Chimanbhai Chakulal Shah and Dr. Ramanlal Shah. They are founders and pillars of this edifice.

Jain community owes much to these greatmen for its well-being.