33 - 
VIII — NOTES AT AHMEDABAD. 
The Pinjrapol. 
The Pinjrapol, or Asylum for Animals, is an institution of 
a religious character maintained by the Jains in those Indian 
towns where this sect is numerous and wealthy. Hearing 
that the Pinjrapol of Ahmedabad was the principal of these 
asylums, I visited it on May 30, 1913. It consists of several 
courtyards and sheds in which an enormous number of 
animals are herded together, apparently in a very promis- 
cuous manner. If attempts are made to keep the place clean, 
they are not noticeable. It was a very, very sad sight to 
see the large number of aged or crippled animals which are 
here kept alive to the last, instead of being “ put out of their 
misery,” as would be said in England. But there is more 
to be learnt here than is apparent at a first glance. Theore- 
tically it is to European ideas a place of sad cruelty to ani- 
mals, not intentional cruelty, but misdirected kindness on the 
part of the pious supporters. With my preconceived notions 
of how such animals (I will not enter into details of their 
wounds or other ills) should behave, it was with no little 
fear of being gored or kicked that I ventured among them, 
but they were quiet, friendly with the old man who tended 
them, and appeared to have absolute confidence in the presence 
of human beings. The majority of the mammals were 
domestic oxen and buffaloes ; there were also sheep, goats, 
horses, and dogs. A white rat was running about loose and 
tame enough to allow itself to be picked up in the hand. 
In one place there were a few Monkeys, Macacus rhesus and 
Macacus cynomolgus ; in another a Hedgehog, Erinaceus sp. 
(an animal that I did not see in any of the Indian Zoological 
Grardens). A Gazelle, Gazella benneti^ was wandering at 
large, and two male Nylgai, Basel aphus tragocamelus^ were 
tethered in a shed. 
Large numbers of domestic or semi-domestic birds, such as 
pigeons, peafowl, poultry, and ducks, inhabit the Pinjrapol 
and have a free happy existence, but the same can hardly 
s 
