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Birth in the Land Of Heroes
About a 100 Kilometers from the city of Bhavnagar in the Gohilwad area of Saurashtra(at the western end of India) is the town of Mahuva. This town is ancient and historic. It has been dyed in the red hue of the hearts of heroes like Javadsha and Bhavadsha. These two men had restored the temples on the mount Shatrunjaya, one of the most important places of pilgrimage for the Jains. In the 'Dashakumara Chritra', the sixth chapter details the story of Nimbavati as told by Chitragupta. In that story there is a mention of a town called Madhumati, which is most likely to be the original name of Mahuva. So is there a mention of Mahuva along with that of Una and Datha in Kanhadade Prabhandha(1-32). Jagdusha, a contemporary of Kumarapala in bidding for the mala ceremony at the Shatrunjaya temples. This incident is mentioned in the Kumarpala Prabandha. The Muslim Saint Vali, who penned Hindu bhajans, was also a respected son of this land. Probably one bye-lance in Mahura is known as valibhats chowk Several other literary figures including Pragji Bhagat of the Swaminarayan cult, Shri Tribhuvan Premshankar(known in Gujarati literary circles as 'Mastakavi') and his brother Harjgovind Premshankar, and 'Jatil', i.e., Jivaram Lakshmiram Dave, the well-known cirtic, also came from Mahuva.
Acharya Vijay Nemi Surishwarji, the lord of Jainism and the renovator of several places of pilgrimage (1872 to 1949) and the famous exponant of the Jain philosophy Shri Vijayadharma Surishwaraji (1867 to 1920) were yet to see the light of the world in this town when our hero was born in this the land of his birth.
About a hundred and twenty-five year ago, the people of
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