Jinamanjari 1999 09 No 20

Author(s): Jinamanjari
Publisher: Canada Bramhi Jain Society Publication

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having a son. The ascetics, in response, advised the couple to worship Sramanagiri which is situated in the Badra country of the Bundealas. Accordingly, the royal entorage went to Sramaņagiri. There they worshipped Lord Candraprabhu and returned home. As a result, a son was borned and they named him Swarṇabhadra after the sacred Swarngiri.
Another account is that of King Sindhu who ruled Ujjain in the ninth century. The king had two sons, Munju and Singhal, who came to power after their father renounced life to become an ascetic. Singhal became the king and Munju became his Premier. Singhal had three sons, Subhacandra, Bharatrihari and Bhoj, who were appointed as governors of Ujjain, Vidisa and Dhara respectively.
In due course, Subhacandra and Bharatrihari became monks and went their separate ways. Subhacandra, in the meanwhile, became a nude Jain monk. Bharatrihari, having heard of the weakened physical condition of Subhacandra, sent to him a potion that could turn stone to gold, and which would assure him of a happy and normal life. The messenger went back to Bharatrihari and told him how his brother cast away the potion in the presence of his disciples. Saddened and angry, he rushed to Subhacandra and queried: “What is wrong with you? I accomplished alchemy after hard penance, and you squandered it away in a minute.”
“Yes, I squandered it, just as I left behind all the riches and glory of kingdom. What I learnt from my penenace was wisdom and also the power to turn stone to gold. See how my power to make gold is the same as yours. Look, as I make this hill turn to gold."
He thus picked up handful of dust and threw it around the four corners of the hill. The whole hill glittered gold.
Early Religious Tradition in Datia Region
The history of religious meditation and its development in the region of Bundelkhand appears to be different from that of Northern India. It appears that many of its ritual and practices have traces to the Dravidian tradition, and suggests that the early culture and religious tradition of the region was prevalent for a long time before the introduction of the Vedic culture.
This is further evidenced by the Jain texts which show a common religio-cultural system practiced by the population both in the North and the South. The Harappa and Mohajadaro civilization, which is suggested to be a proto-originator of the Dravidian tradition (ca. 5000 B.C.E.), tends to support a view that a common Dravidian
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