________________
kirti' Then, when Vidyānanda Sūri expired after 13 days of the death of Dévéndra Sûri, Dharmakirti Upadhyāya was, after six months, given the ‘Ācārya'-ship with the name of Dharmaghoşa Sari, and he was installed on the seat of Dévéndra Sari Besides being a great orator he possessed wonderful powers. Moreover, he was well versed in “Naimitika'-Knowledge. When Pethada, the minister expressed his willingness to accept the austerities of ‘Parigraha-parimăna', the teacher, fore--knowing thathe was destined to acquire muchwealth and great prosperity, stopped him from doing so. Then as foretold by the Guru the Pethada steadily acquired the prosperity and in accordance with the advice of the teacher, he got eighty-four temples built and seven store-houses of knowledge prepared. Besides this, he made him to perform many other pious acts The influence of the preachings of the teacher on Pethada was so very great that he, at an early age of only thirty two, accepted the penance of celibacy (the 4th kind of penance.
Being requested by a pupil in Dévapattana he, with the help of a mysterious hymn composed by him, compelled the ocean to present its gems to a temple. Moreover preaching to Kapa. rdi Yaksa-a demigod who was driven away by the power of Vajraswāmi and who had been very proud, he appointed him as the 'Adhisthāyaka' (the protector) of the Jaina shrines
Practising magic was the order of the day Everyone was in search of an opportunity to display his power Once upon a time an evily disposed woman gave to monks as alms, 'Vada's (a kind of cooked disa) which were enchanted. The great teacher came to know of this with the result that he asked his disciples to throw them off. On the next day it was found that those 'Vadās” had been turned into the pieces of stones on account of the power of the teacher. The great teacher during the course of his travelling had gone to Vidyāpur His method of presentation and his voice were so impressive that thousands of people went do listen to him. Once some women who were not Jains and
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org