Book Title: Jain Legend Vol 4
Author(s): Hastimal Maharaj, Shuganchand Jain, P S Surana
Publisher: Hastimal Maharaj Shugan C Jain P S Surana

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Page 139
________________ cherished deity. Shedding the false pride of royalty, he prostrated before c rya with his forehead touching the latter's feet and humbly said, "Please command me!" He right away resolved to give up eating meat and drinking wine. Later both of them came out of sanctum and started for Pa a a. Kum rap la attains equanimity (Samyaktva) After returning back from Some wara to A ahillapura, Kum rap la regularly attended the sermons of c rya Hemacandra. Within a short period of time, he developed immense devotion towards Jain religion as he was regularly listening to the gospel of Jina. As a first step in that direction, he prohibited animal slaughter in his kingdom. As time passed, he accepted the 12 vows of a lay devotee. On a certain day, crya Hemacandra explained and analysed the third vow of votary. the 'Adatt d na virama a' (one should not take anything from anywhere without the permission of the owner.) After listening to the sermon, Kum rap la summoned the 'Aputraka M ti Kar dhik r' (the revenue officer who attaches the property of those citizens who die childless to the royal treasury as death tax) and instructed him to revoke that dictate. It was estimated that nearly 72 lakh silver coins worth revenue papers (tax that is to be collected from the citizens) were in the treasury. Kum rap la destroyed all those papers also. As Kum rap la banned such a tax, tales of his fame reached far and wide. Since Gujarat was the business centre carrying out trade and commerce inside and outside the country, it was a prosperous and booming state. Innumerable merchants with immeasurable wealth equal to that of Kubera resided in Gujarat. So, by collecting ‘M ti Kara' tax the royal exchequer would mint huge sums of money and wealth. But Kum rap la firmly resolved that even if the royal treasury suffers a myriad of fiscal deficit, he would still invalidate the tax which pains his people. Taking the vow of ‘Adatt d na' from his preceptor c rya Hemacandra Sri, Kum rap la abolished RM ti Kara' totally. 139

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