Atomic Vows

Like men elsewhere, a thin little Indian with sparkling eyes is deeply worried about the state of the world. He is 34-year-old Acharya Sri Tulsi Ramji, head of the Terapanthi sect of the Jains, a religious group that believes in nonviolence. In a campaign to improve humanity, Tulsi Ramji in 1948 founded the Anuvrati Sangh (Atomic Vows Society). Its members take 148 vows, renewable yearly.

Last week the society was pleased to announce that it had grown from 75 to 25,000 members, several of them multimillionaire merchants. In red, yellow and blue turbans, many of Tulsi Ramji's followers gathered in the society's tent, where Tulsi Ramji was seated on a dais. A disciple read out the 148 vows. Cried Tulsi Ramji: "Do you accept this list of vows?" Shouted the crowd: "We are all for it!"

On the list: pledges not to accept bribes, obtain false ration cards, travel on trains without tickets, forge signatures, commit abortion or arson. The disciples also promised not to adulterate milk with water, or flour with powdered stone, and "not to tell a lie to marry off one's daughters . . . for example, not to tell about a blind girl that she has eyesight."

When he has pledged all of India to his atomic vows, Tulsi Ramji plans to convert the rest of the world.

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