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Ancient Jaina Hymns
367
monastic discipline which he enforced on himself as well as on his flock, at a time when monastic ethics called for reformatory steps. His popularity is reflected in the great number of inscriptions testifying to the numerous consecrations of temples and installations of images performed by him during his extensive wanderings. It is moreover reflected in those accounts of festivals and receptions arranged in his honour by the communities of various places through which he passed, such as the famous reception accorded to him in V.S. 1572 by the over-enthusiastic Jaina community of Kapadvanj, said to have been fit for an emperor. Its report reached the Emperor Muzaffar Shah, and aroused his jealousy to such an extent that he sent emissaries to seize the Sūri who dared compete with him. The Ācārya, persecuted, took to flight, was however arrested, and kept in confinement, till the Jaina community purchased his freedom at the exorbitant ransom of 12,000 ‘tarika'.
The Sūri's influence can further be judged from the statement contained in the above mentioned 'Laghu-pośālika-pattāvali, that he ordained 500 person as monks and nuns, and in Devavimala Gani's statement, contained in his ‘Mahāvīra-patta-paramparā', that 1800 monks obeyed his orders. Other sources relate that all his monks strictly followed the ancient ritual which he had revived in V.S. 1556. Besides, a glance on the Jaina literary history of his period reveals that many of the outstanding writers and poets of the latter were his pupils or grand-pupils. This fact has been duly stressed by Muni Caturvijaya, on the basis of the huge genealogical tree of this Sūri's retinue prepared by him.93
As his successor as head of the Tapā Gaccha, the Sūri had nominated Anandavimala, his pupil, on whom he had bestowed the title of Ācārya in V.S. 1570. It seems, however, that later he changed his mind, and nominated, in his stead, another disciple, Saubhāgyaharşa, in 1583. Yet when Hemavimala Sūri died in that very year, Anandavimala was generally accepted as the 56th pontiff, while from Saubhāgyaharşa, a new line branched off, known as the Laghu
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