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COMPREHENSIVE HISTORY OF JAINISM
Jinaprabha. According to the Kalpa No. 22 entitled Kanyanayana Mahavirapratimākalpa18, Jinaprabha was not only greatly honoured by this emperor, but also succeeded in getting a new farmān for the śvetāmbara monks, which made all the important Svetāmbara tirthas safe places against Muslim depredations. We are further told that the icon of Mahāvīra at Kanyānayana, which was forcibly sent from this place to Tughluqabad in V.S. 1385, was restored with full honours to that tirtha, at the intercession of Jinaprabha, by that Muslim monarch. This probably proves that the first meeting between these two remarkable persons took place only after V.S. 1385, corresponding to 1328 A.D. That Muslim emperor also built a Jina temple, dedicated to Lord Mahavira in Delhi, and allowed both the Svetämbaras and Digambaras to offer pūia. It came to be called Bhattāraka Sarāi or temple. The Kalpa No. 51 entitled Kanyānayana Mahāvīra-Kalpa-pariseshal', written by Vidyātilakasûri (which is almost a contemporary account), gives some additional information, and also informs us that even the Sultan's mother was respectful towards the Jains. It informs us that the new Jina temple, built by the Sultan in Delhi, was opened in V.S. 1389, corresponding to 1332 A.D. Afterwards, we are toldao, Jinaprabha's disciple Jinadeva was installed in Delhi temple, and he two maintained cordial relation with the Sultan.
That the Jain account is based on truth, is also confirmed indirectly by the evidence of the Muslim historians. The historian Isāmi (a 14th-century writer) calls Muhammad Bin Tughluq a kāfir (infidel) and also refers to bis association with the yogis 21 Therefore there is no reason to disbelieve the account of the Tirthakalpa regarding his cordial relationship with the Svetāmbara Jains. Another Jain saint viz. Guṇabhadra of the BỊhadgaccha, we are toldas, was in the good books of this Sultan, who wanted to give him gold coins, which that saint naturally refused. His disciple Munibhadra, likewise was honouredas, according to his
