The Times Of India
NEW DELHI:
President Pratibha Patil and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on Monday condoled the death of Acharya Mahapragya calling it an "irreparable loss" to the whole of India.
Patil called the 10th Acharya of the Jain Swetambar Terapanth group a "great sage and philosopher who gave a new direction to the Anuvrat movement and spread the message of peace and non-violence" across the country.
In a statement, Sonia said the passing away of the Acharya was not just an incalculable loss for the Jain community but also left a vacuum for Indian society. "He was a thinker of rare calibre, a personality with literary sensitivity, and a social guide," she said.
Paying rich tributes to the Jain sage, the Congress chief said, "All his life, he strove to cultivate and propagate those values without which human civilisation could not have been imagined."
Recalling her personal dialogue with him, Sonia said the Acharya was a symbol of non-violence. Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi termed him a "sage, savant, but above all, a philosopher whose spirituality transcended all religions".