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DEVELOPMENT AND IMPACT OF JAINISM IN INDIA.... PUNJAB
and got a temple of Bhagavan Anantanath consecrated in the town of Samana in the Vikram Era 1643 (1586 A.D.)
Jh vu UrukFk cHkq çdVsmA gadge Ikfg vdcjh fn;MAA
The fourth Dadaguru Shri Jinachandra Suri and Acharya Hiravijaya Suri, both spent a rainretreat each at Lahore at the behest of Akbar. The place of salvation of the third Dadaguru Shri Kushala Suri Ji lies in Deraur (District Bahavalpur, Pakistan) and the old Dadavadis of Samana and Thanesar came up after the period of Akbar.
During the whole period of Mugal rule the Jain saints and monks supported and protected not only the Jain families of the laity at the cost of their lives, but also preserved the moral values, religious rituals, traditions and conventions of their faith. They used to move frequently from one place to the other in the whole of Punjab right upto the Frontier province of North-West which is now in Pakistan.
They also got consecrated temples with and without spires. The Jain Sutras, Shastras and philosophical texts by them are our invaluable treasures and heritage. Retreats (Upasharya) for itinerant Jain saints were there in almost every big and small town all over Punjab. Among these Yatis Shri Megha Muni of Phagwara, Vasanta Rishi of Gujaranwala and Mansa Chand of Patti are especially worthy of mention.
The influence of the Yatis, Munis and Shravakas (laity) of Punjab was so wide-spread and deep that the holy 'Sukhmani Saheb' composed by Guru Nanakdeva contains the following verse praising the austerities of the Jains as :
tsu ekjx late vfrik/ku
When the Nawab Wazir Khan of Sirhind very cruelly beheaded the two young sons (aged 9 and 7 respectively) of Guru Govind Singh, the 10th Guru of the Sikhs, Diwan Todermal Jain of the Oswal Gadia clan (gotra) procured land under great personal risk against a heavy amount of gold coins and performed the last rites of the boys as well as of their grandmother.
The foremost name among the Jain saints of the past two hundred years is that of Vasishtha Gani Shri Buddhi Vijaya (Buterai). He got himself consecrated according to Tapa-gaccha after having given up the tradition of a Sthanakvasi. The names of his three most prominent disciples are:
Acharya Vijayananda Suri (Atmaram), Shri Vriddhi Vijaya (Vridhi Chand) and Shri Mukti Vijaya (Mulachand). All these also originally belonged to the tradition of Sthanakvasi saints but later they established a number of Temples and got them consecrated.
of these three Munis Shri Vijayananda Suri was the most influential, most learned and the most active one. His earlier name was Atmaram and he lived from 1836 to 1895. Many European scholars including Prof. Hoernle of Germany have greatly admired his scholarship. He was also selected as one of the speakers at the world Parliament of Religions held in Chicago in the year 1893 as also and one of the members of its Steering Committee.
Since he was unable to go overseas he recommended the name of Barrister Virchand
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