Book Title: Sachitra Tirthankar Charitra
Author(s): Amarmuni, Shreechand Surana
Publisher: Padma Prakashan

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Page 130
________________ **☺ ऋषभ अजित - सम्भव अभिनन्दन fen - सुमति पद्मप्रभ O गज वृषभ corrective self-analysis they reincarnated as queens of lesser gods like Chamarendra, Balindra, Vyantarendra etc. At the time of Bhagavan Mahavir's divine pavilion creation they came for the Darshan (paying homage in person) and displayed their divine glamour and grandeur just like the sun god. What to talk of the common audience when even Ganadhar Gautam became spellbound at this heavenly display. When Gautam asked Bhagavan Mahavir about these सिंह goddesses he explained that these goddesses acquired these unique divine powers as a result of their practices of penance and discipline when they were the old-spinster ascetics in Bhagavan Parshvanath's order. All these references indicate that even during the period of Bhagavan Mahavir the faith and devotion for Bhagavan Parshvanath was wide spread. The masses strongly believed that remembering the name of Bhagavan Parshvanath was the panacea for all troubles as well as the means of success. This was the reason that in Bhagavan Mahavir's time Bhagavan Parshvanath was popularly known as “Purushadaniya". Many scholars are of the opinion that the Chaturyam Dharm (the four dimensional religion) was the leading and prominent religion in whole of India during that period. The Buddha also got initiated into this school in the early part of his spiritual life. Later he evolved and propagated his eight pronged religion out of this only. Bhagavan Parshvanath was a householder for thirty years and then an ascetic for seventy years. When he was 100 years old he got liberated on the fifth लक्ष्मी day of the bright half of the month of Shravan at Sammetshikhar. 7 It is believed that the time span between the Nirvana of Bhagavan Parshvanath and Bhagavan Mahavir's launching of his own school was about 250 years. There is a mention of four prominent leaders of Bhagavan Parshvanath's schoolपुष्पमाला 1. Ganadhar Shubhdatta (Shumbh) 2. Arya Haridatta 3. Acharya Samudra Suri 4. Arya Keshi Shraman The last one is believed to have existed between 166 to 250 years after the Nirvana of Bhagavan Parshvanath. Arya Keshi Shraman was a forceful Acharya. The staunch non-believer king Pradeshi became a highly devoted Jain Shravak under his influence only. There were nine groups of five hundred ascetics each, in the large religious organisation headed by Keshi-muni. These groups worked in far fling areas like Tailang (Andhra), Konkan and Maharashtra. He himself wandered in the Magadh area with one thousand ascetics. चन्द्र सूर्य Illustrated Tirthankar Charitra (800) सचित्र तीर्थंकर चरित्र विमल अनन्त धर्म शान्ति अर Jain Education International 2010_03 For Private & Personal Use Only www.jainelibrary.org

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