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Poetical Biography of Śri Vijayadharma Sūri
211
Now it might interest the reader to learn how venerable Mangalavijaya first came into contact with Mahātmā Vijaya Dharma Sūri, all the more since, true to tradition, which forbids the author to throw his own personality or his own personal experience too much into relief, he has refrained from touching this subject more closely in his Rāsa. As the writer of these few lines learned from venerable Mangalavijaya himself, the latter was then at the age of nineteen and a Jaina layman. His name was Mansukhalala Bhagavandasa Mehta. Alongwith other members of his family, he had left his native place Linch, a small country town near Mehasana, in order to visit Śarkheśvara, a very old and very renowned place of pilgrimage ( about 50 miles distant from Linch ). This place possesses a beautiful Jaina Temple with an old and, as people say, miracle working idol of Lord Pārsvanātha, and every year attracts bit crowds of pilgrims, though the railway-station is very far away and the roads are unspeakably bad. When the party arrived there (it was on the 10th of the dark half of Poşa 1896 ) they found two Sādhus, who had likewise undertaken the pilgrimage to the idol of Sankheśvara Pārsvanātha : the monk Dharma Vijaya ( the late Ācārya Vijaya Dharma Sūri ) with one of his disciple. The monk's sermon on the vanity of all earthly joys and on the path of renunciation deeply impressed the pious hearers, who, afterwards, approached the Muni and freely conversed with him. And so much pleased were they with his holy company, that they stayed there for a couple of days, during which time young Mansukhalala, thoroughly examined by Dharma Vijaya, found plenty of opportunity to show his intellect, his learning, and his disposition to strict renunciation. Inspite of his young age, he took the solemn vow of lifelong celibacy before his future master. Then, following the call of filial duty, he returned to his native place, where he persevered in his former profession, till his father died in 1989, and his brother Dalichand took over the care of the household. Now, Mansukhalala was free to fulfill his heart's desire, viz., to become a Sadhu disciple of Dharma Vijaya. On the 6th of the dark half of Vaišākha 1900, he became initiated at
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