________________
40
Akbar had prohibited animal-killing in his Empire for on the whole six months and six days.
Shantichandra then went to Gujarat and met " Hirvijaysuri."
After his departure, Bhanuchandra was kept at the court of Akbar. Akbar had great faith in the miraculous powers of Bhanuchandra, and he took Bhanuchandra with him wherever he went. He had come to believe that Bhanuchandra's words always came true. Once when Akbar was suffering from a severe headache, and when other physicians were not able to give him relief, he called Bhanuchandra and put his hand on his own head. Bhanuchandra said, "Do not be anxious. You will soon be cured of this." And in a very short time the Emperor was relieved of his head-ache. On hearing the cure of the Emperor, the nobles collected five hundred cows together. The Emperor asked them why they had done so. They replied that they were going to immolate them in celebration of his cure. The Emperor was very angry and immediately ordered to release all the cows.
When Akbar went on the tour of Kashmere, Bhanuchandra was with him. It was in this tour that Birbal advised the Emperor to worship the Sun, as Sun-worship was efficacious. Akbar agreed to this. Al-Badaoni writes about this thus :-"A second order was given that the Sun should be worshipped four times a day, in the morning and evening and at noon and mid-night. His Majesty had also one thousand and one Sanskrit names for the Sun collected, and read them daily, devoutly turning towards the Sun."
But who taught him these 1001 names of the Sun ? On this point the following lines from "Hirvijaysuriras" throw some light:
“પાતશાહ કામીરે જાય ભાણચંદ પુપણિ થાય; પૂછઈ પાતશા કષિને જોઈ ખુદા નિઝક કોને વળી હેઇ. ૧૯ ભાણચંદ બોલ્યા તતખેવ નજીક તરણી નગત દેવ; તે સમયે કરિ બહુ સાર તસ નામિ સદ્ધિ અપાર. ૨૦ હુએ હકમ તે તેણી વાર સંભળાવે નામ હજા આદિત્ય ને અરક અનેક આદિદેવમાં ઘણે વિવેક. ૫ ”
This shows that it was Bhanuchandra who had advised the Emperor to worship the Sun. He had also given him the 1001
Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat
www.umaragyanbhandar.com
