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Shri Mahavir Jain Aradhana Kendra
www.kobatirth.org
મુનિ શ્રી પુણ્યવિજયજી શ્રદ્ધાંજલિ-વિશેષાંક
Agama-Prabhakara Muni Punyavijayaji
D. D. Malvania
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Acharya Shri Kailassagarsuri Gyanmandir
fev
On June 14th 1971 at night 8-45, Agama-Prabhakara Muni Shri Punyavijayaji left this world at the age of 75. In his death the world of the learned has lost not only a saint-scholar but a real humanitarian soul who was ready to help in so many ways not only to scholars but all who saught his help. During his more than sixty years of saintly life he had no rest, always engaged in some type of literary work-editing and correcting the old texts or dealing with the mss or advising some one-from early morning till late night not negleting his monestic duties. In his premonestic life he was known as Manilal whose birth took place in V. S. 1952, Kartaka Shukla Panchami which is the day for the worship of knowledge. His father Dahyabhai and mother Manekben were resident of Kapadvanj in Gujarat. When he was only of three months and his mother was out of home suddenly the fire broke out in the street where they were living and their home was not spared. When the mother came back she found her home fully burnt and she though that the child Manilal also must have been burnt. But as luck have it a Muslim of Vora community during the home-burning hours took away the child Manilal and the next morning he handed over the child to Manekben whose joy knew no bound finding that her son was alive. At the age of 27 Manekben lost her husband and both the mother and son Manilal accepted the ascetic life in V. S. 1965.
For Private And Personal Use Only
Manilal was admitted in the Jaina ascetic life by Muni Shri Chaturavijayaji whose Guru was welknown Pravartaka Kantivijayaji. He was given new name Punyavijayaji at the time of renunciation of the worldly relations. This Trio of Jaina ascetics throughout the life was engaged in rehabilitation work of the Jaina Bhandaras having thousands of mss collected in them but utterly neglected by the community. And as a result in Patan the Hemachandra Jnanamandir is established where most of the mss of various Jaina Bhandaras of Patan are collected and restored for the use of the scholars who were previously unable even to see those mss. The Jaina Bhandara of Limbadi was also restored by this trio, and lately the famous Jaina Bhandaras of Cambay and Jesalmera were visited by Muni Shri Punyavijayaji and reformation was conducted by him alone. Not only these famous collections were properly restored but wherever Muni Punyavijayaji went during his travels in
