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In Gandhar there was a devout Porval named Indraji. When he was eleven, he had a desire to be a Sadhu; but his brother Natha had stopped him from renouncing the world due to his love for him. Indraji, however, refused to marry and remained a celibate throughout his life. He was very rich and had got 36 images installed. Another man of Gandhar, Ramji Shrimali, was also a devotee of the Suri. He had constructed a large and beautiful temple on Siddhachal at the advice of the Suri.23 In Khambhat the chief devotees of the Suri were Sanghavi Somakaran, Sanghavi Udaykaran, Soni Tejpal, Raja Shrimalla, Thakkar Jayraj. Jasvir, Thakkar Laiya, Thakkar Kika Vagha, Thakkar Kunvarji, Shah Dharmashi, Shah Lakko. Dosi Hiro, Shrimalla, Somachand, and Gandhi Kunvarji. Parekh Rajia and Vajia of Khambhat were also greatly devoted to Suriji. They mostly lived at Goa, as they had a large commercial concern there. They had built five great temples. Out of these one was at Khambhat, where Chintamani Parshvanath was installed:30 one was at Gandhar; one at Neja;31 and two at Vardola. They had taken out Sanghas for the pilgrimage of Abu, Ranpur, and Godi Parshvanath. They were well respected by the Emperor also. They had obtained an order prohibiting animal-killing at Ghoghla. In V. S. 1661 there was a famine. Then they had distributed, free of all costs, 4,000 maunds of grain. They had sent some men to different villages and helped many men by giving them help in cash also. In all they had spent Rs. 33,00,000 for holy purposes.
Once the Portuguese of Goa had imprisoned a Khojgi and some other men. The Khojgi was fined one lac of lyaharis. Rajia paid the fine on behalf of the Khojgi and got him released. The Khojgi, in his turn, paid up the amount to Rajia later on.
Once this Khojgi captured 22 thieves. He was about to kill them all with his sword, when they said, "Take pity on us. Do not kill us. To-day is a holy day of Sheth Rajia." Hearing this the Khojgi at once released all of them. Pandit Shilavijay praises Rajia and Vajia thus :
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શ્રી શ્રીવંશી બહુ ગાજીયા પાંચ પ્રાસાદ કરાવ્યા ચંગ, સંધપ્રતિષ્ઠા મનનિ રંગ. ૧૩૦
Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat
www.umaragyanbhandar.com
