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On my having the first Darsana of Acharyaratna Sri Deshabhushanji Maharaj
There was a Seminar on 'Bhagavan Mahavira And His Heritage', held under the auspices of the Jainological Research Society at the Vijñan Bhavan, Delhi, on the 30th and 31st December, 1973; and I, as a delegate of the Karnatak University, had participated in it. After the Seminar was over, I spent the 1st January in sight-seeing in and around Delhi, when I came to know that Acharyaratna Sri Deshabhüşhanaji Maharaj was camping in Delhi itself. The same evening I went to the Digambara Lal-mandir and collected information about the place where the revered one stayed, and decided to see him the next morning as I was to take up my return journey in the evening.
-Dr.B.K. Khadabadi
On 2nd January, 1974 at about 9 a.m., I reached the place (I cannot now recall the exact name of the building and its location). It was still severe cold, well-protected from which I respectfully entered the exclusive hall in that huge building. I saw from a little distance the revered one, with his awe-inspiring nude person, quite unaffected by the biting cold and engaged in svädhyaya with two of his close disciples sitting by his side. On seeing me, as the revered one nodded with a smile, I respectfully bowing to him and experiencing less severity of cold, sat at a distance before him. During our short conversation, the revered one specially asked me about my studies in the field of Jainology and Prakrits and was pleased with my replies. I felt encouraged and rewarded. As I bowed down to the revered one and begged him to permit me to return, he blessed me with two voluminous books, which, I noted with reverence, had been authored by him. The two books were: (1) Dharmamṛta, and (2) Meru Mandara Purana.
As I was about to leave, the revered one asked me to send him a copy of Kittel's Kannada English Dictionary or the address whence it could be had. Agreeing to do so, I left the sacred hall ruminating over his unique reverential personality, his encouraging specific enquiry about my studies and above all his keen and manifold interest in svadhyaya, with the two fruits of which I had been already blessed. After leaving the New Delhi Station until I reached Dharwad, both the Dharmamṛta and the Meru Mandara Purana not only made my journey quite short, as it were, but provided me with glimpses of the revered one's life, mission and achievements, etc.
Let me recapitulate a few points about these two books:
Dharmamrta: Originally, it is a Kannada classic in the campu style (mixture of prose and poetry) spread over 14 chapters, composed by the great Nagavarma. It contains a vivid depiction and glorification of the Right Faith and its eight limbs, etc. through interesting and entertaining strories. This work is the first (containing 7 chapters) of the two parts in which the revered one has rendered the original Kannada Jaina classic into Hindi longwith apt commentary.
Meru Mandara Purana: Originally, it is a Tamil work in verse, spread over 13 cantoes comprising 1405 verses, composed by Mallisenamuni alias Vamanamuni, who was also a great Sanskrit scholar and who had rendered the Prakrit Pañcästikäya, Pravacanasara, Samayasara, etc. into Tamil. It depicts the fruits of good and bad deeds and, thus, leads the reader or listener along the right path of spiritual progress. The
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