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c rya Malayagiri was contemporary crya to crya Hemacandra S ri, the omniscient of Kaliyuga. He was influenced by the unfathomable knowledge of Hemacandra S ri and he considered the latter as his guru.
The cogitative c rya Malayagiri by writing 20 V ttis on scriptures improved and facilitated the path of spiritual practice of salvationdesiring devotees (mumuk us). Jain world is eternally indebted to him for his remarkable 'worship of scriptures ( rut r dhan ').
c rya Abhayadeva Maladh r
During the period between first half of the Vikram 12th century up to its second half, Maladh r с rya Abhayadeva remained as a powerful propagator and an influential c rya. He was a renowned crya of Kau ika ga a - Pra nav hana lineage (kula) Madhyama kh (branch), Har apur ya gaccha. It was mentioned in the unauthentic inscriptions of succeeding times, that he travelled far and wide.
He was the disciple of crya Jayadeva S ri of Har apur ya gaccha. He was a great renouncer. On the basis of eulogy of 'Muni Suvrata Caritra' authored by Candra S ri, his grand disciple (Pra i ya), the King of Gurjara Siddhar ja was very much impressed by the supreme renunciation of Abhayadeva Maladh r. To eradicate the perverted lax spiritual practice of laity, and to uplift his soul and that of others, he firmly decided to observe the pure code of conduct prescribed for
rama as. He did not even bother to clean his clothes and body. As a result, his clothes and body were covered with dust and appeared discoloured. Impressed by his extreme dispassion and detachment, the King of Gurjara, Siddhar ja Jayasimha adorned him with the title ‘Maladh r'. Some scholars opine that the title 'Maladh r' was bestowed by his predecessor king 'Kar a' and not by Siddhar ja. The historians, on the basis of authentic historical evidences concluded that the regime of Kar a the King of Gurjara to have extended from Vikram 1129 to 1151 and that of Siddhar ja from Vikram 1151 to 1200. The tenure of Maladh r crya Abhayadeva S ri was estimated as Vikram 1135 to Vikram 1160. Irrespective of whether the title was given by King Kar a or by King Siddhar ja, there is no doubt in the fact that the Gurjara king of his times, impressed by his extreme dispassion honoured him with this title.
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