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After this he invited priests of various religions, like the Hindu, Jain, Parsi and Christian, to his assembly. He used to pass much time with them. Abul Fazl says:
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The Shahanshah's court became the home of inquirers of seven climes and the assemblage of the wise of every religion and sect. ("Akbarnama, Translated by H. Beveridge, Vol. III, P. 366.)
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According to Dr. Smith, the first non-muslim to come to this religious court of Akbar was a Parsi priest, a Mobed named Dastur Meharji Rana, who had come from Navsari. He lived there up to 1579. On the 28th of February, 1580, Christian priests Father Ridolfo Aquaviva, Monserrate and Enrichez had come there from Goa.
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Akbar had divided the members of this religious court into five groups. There were 140 members in all. A list of all these members is given at the end of the 30th Ain of the 2nd part of "Ain-i-Akbari. On pp. 537-538 there are 21 names of the first group, in which the first is that of Shaikh Mubarak, who was the father of Abul Fazl, and the last is that of Aditya, a Hindu. The first 12 names are of Muslim priests; the next eight names (leaving the 16th name) are of Hindu priests. The 16th name is that of Hariji Sur. This Hariji Sur is our hero, the famous Jain priest Hirvijaysuri, to whom we shall now turn.
We shall first see how Akbar came to know about the Suri. Once he was sitting in his balcony, and he heard the sound of some musical instruments. He asked his servant to find out what it was. The servant said that it was in honour of a Jain woman named Champa, who had started a fast of six months, fasting in such a manner that no food or water was to be taken by her during the six months, except boiled water when absolutely necessary.
know of such a and sent Mangal They inquired
Akbar was very much surprised to terrible fast. He first doubted this statement Chaudhari and Kamrukhan to inquire about it. from Champa and learnt that she was undertaking such a fast by the power of her Guru, otherwise by herself she had no power to undertake such a fast. She also told them that her Guru's
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