PILGRIMS' HOLY HILL

Waipa Post, Volume 32, Issue 1926, 26 October 1926, Page 7

PILGRIMS' HOLY HILL

S'ERTOU'S (DISPUTE ES' IMDIA

A decision ha s just been given in a dispute an which l'sople a! all religions iin India .fe&l themselves vitally hiterested, as it concerns the rigl.l; of :i State Government to !svy.taxes on DJilgrimjS passing through its -terri'tory.

The Jains number only a million and a half in all Undia, Hut .they have great influence through their 'wealth, indutVlry, ancii good citizenship. The'ir religion is an off-hsocit from. Hinduism, and has much in common with .Buddhism. It is part of-.their religion to go om pilgrimages Ito the great temple on the iHfoly 'Hill at 'Shutranjaya, in PaMtana, one of the iStaJtes 'Oif the Kathiawar Peninsula, north of Bombay. The holly hill is covert'd by a city of temples with ishrines 'dedicated to .the founder and 'the chief teachers cf Jalnlsm.

The Government 'in whoste territory itlhe holy hill is situated, Ibhe Palitana [Duribar, claims the right to tax the ipilgritmai ait the rate of two rupees a head, if only to m|eet the cost of protecting .'them and keeping ord'eir during Ifcheir pilgrimage. The -Jains, while o'bjedting to a poll tax, were ■readjy to pay a lump sum annually to meet thlese. expenses, and it has fallen to tbfel British Government to find a way of .reconciling these conflicting views.

lln. 1886 the Government fixed the tri'bujte at 1500 rupees a year for 40 years, and gave Weave to either party, when that period slhould expire, to seek a revision of the amount. The 'time 1 ibeing mip, |t : he 'Durbar has now repre'EJEiited that the number of pilgrims has greatly increased, and that it muslt have a tax on each pilgrim. 'The quarrel oh this, as well as on cither matters, has become so serious that the pilgrimages have been suspended. 'At (the request of tihe Indian Government, a British official has. held an inquiry and given an award. He says that when a lump sum was first fixed in 1863 it was on the basis "of two 'rupees a pilgrim on ithe estimated avelrage number of ipilgrim,s at Ifchat time. Since then, he says, the purchasing powjer of the rupee has been diminished! by onte<-half, and the average number of pilgrim®, before the pilgrimages were suspended this year, was not less than 80,000. But, instead of the average, he takes the minimum number, which he puts at 50,000, and, still awarding two rupees a head, he fixes 'the new payment at 100,000 rupees, or £7OOO against the 15„000 allowed during [the p-asjt 40 yeajrs.

T'hfe compromise seems fair, but neither si'cte is satisfied. The Durbar says it is not enough for the tr'ou'ble involved toy the -pilgrimage; thte Jainis't leaders say that it is a wrong principle the amoun|t because of the increase of ipilgrims. That, they contend, admlits this right of the State 'Governments to pule a ■poll tax on pilgrims who are simply visiting their own sacred property, an idea which will be opposed toy the leaders of (every religion in India. The Jain's have glvsn inotice to appeal against the award.