Petitions
Jain Residents in Haliyal, Kawar, Bombay Presidency
10 November 1948.
Jain residents of Haliyal in Karwar District, Bombay Presidency, wrote to the President of the Constituent Assembly on 10 November 1948 on behalf of the Jain community at large. The signatories are unclear from the document.
The petition first asserted that Jainism was an independent religion, not an offshoot of Hinduism, predating Hinduism and referenced even in the Vedas. Its tenets were fundamentally different from those of Hinduism, and the two communities could not be mixed up.
The specific grievance concerned the Harijan Temple Entry Acts recently passed by the Bombay and Madras Legislative Assemblies, which had been made applicable to Jain temples. The petitioners argued that Harijans were Hindu by religion, worshipped Hindu deities, and neither believed in nor followed Jainism. They had no basis to claim a right of entry into Jain temples. The Central Provinces Assembly, they noted, had rightly excluded Jains from the operation of its own similar Act. The few Jain members in the Bombay and Madras Assemblies who had not opposed the legislation did not represent the genuine voice of the community on the matter.
The petitioners asked that matters affecting the religion of any community be handled exclusively by the Central Government, and that the powers given to Provincial Legislatures in this respect be withdrawn. The Constitution, they urged, should make provision accordingly.
To,
Secretary, C.A.
The President
Constituent Assembly,
DELHI
Sir,
On behalf of the Jain community in general and the Jain residents of Italiyal in Karwan District in the Bombay Presidency in particular, we the undersigned earnestly solicit your kind permission to put forth our following grievances and suggestions for sympathetic consideration by you and the other Members of the Constituent Assembly.
(1) Though unfortunately at one time Jainism was misunderstood to be merely an off-shoot of Hinduism, later research has established beyond any controversy that Jainism is an independent religion which existed in India even prior to Hinduism, as can be seen from the references to Jainism even in the Vedas themselves which are by far the most ancient scriptures of the Hindus. The tenets of Jain religion as preached by its sages and saints and practised by its followers are fundamentally different from those of the Hindu religion. Some oriental scholars have come to the conclusion that the Jains are seceders from the orthodox Vedic religion. The Jains maintain that they are the followers of an entirely independent religious faith from very remote period. Any way the Jains cannot be mixed up with the Hindus.
(2) In Free India, Jain religion is entitled to enjoy as much freedom as any other religion, irrespective of the number of its followers. The Jains, though forming a minor community, have played an important part in India’s fight for Freedom by complete co-operation with other communities both within and without the Congress fold.
(3) It is regrettable to bring to your notice that in some Provinces our religious freedom is being interfered with by certain Legislatures. The Bombay and Madras Legislative Assemblies have passed Harijan Temple Entry Acts recently and strangely enough have made them applicable even to Jains. It is admitted on all hands that Harijans are Hindus by religion. They worship Hindu deities and profess Hindu religion. They neither believe nor follow Jainism much less worship Jain deities installed in Jain Temples. So the Central Provinces Assembly has rightly excluded the Jains from the operation of a similar Act passed by it; but in Bombay and Madras by including the Jains amongst the Hindus in these Acts, the Provincial Legislatures have offended the feelings of so many Jains by unnecessarily interfering with their religious freedom. Without in any way offending the feelings and the rights of the Harijans in respect of their own religion, it is humbly submitted that no non-Jain, whether he be a Hindu, Harijan, Muslim, Christian or Parsi, can claim as of right to enter Jain temples and worship Jain deities, as his religion is different
(4) This attitude of the very few Jain members in the Assemblies cannot be taken to be the real and genuine voice of the majority of the Jains in this respect. As religion is a very important and delicate subject, the Central Government alone should have the right to pass, if necessary, any measures in matters affecting the religion of any community instead of leaving such serious subjects to the Provincial Legislatures. We therefore earnestly appeal to you and humbly pray that the Constituent Assembly may be pleased to make necessary provision in this respect while framing the New Constitution for our country, and withdraw the powers made over to the Provincial Legislatures in this behalf.
Dated 10-11-1948.
Yours faithfully,
<Signatories Uclear>