________________
said turned out to be untrue. Once in order to test the power of right judgement of Dhanapala, the King asked him, “ Out of the four doors through which shall I go out?” After thinking Dhanapāla wrote the answer on a paper and handed it over to a servant. Then the King th 'ught that his going out through and one of the four doors must have been mentioned by Dhanapāla and therefore he would try to prove it wrong. Then, the King asked his servants to make a hole in the upper part of a wall of the central hall, and came out through it Then the paper was brought and read. It was written on it that the king would get through the upper part this incident produced greater love in the heart of the King towards Dhanapāla Then, during the course of discussion on the lives of the Jain ascetics, Dhanapâla explanied clearly to the King about Jain religion and about the lives of the Jain ascetics The material wealth of Dhanapāla kept equal paces with his poetic genius. He began to spend his wealth in all the seven places of pilgrimages. Then he got a beautiful temple of Ādijina constructed and requested Mahendra Sūri to perform the installation-ceremony. Then sitting infront of the Jin-image he composed a prayer of 500 verses beginning with जयजंतुकल्प etc
With the increasing contact of the Jain religion, the King's craving for enjoying its nector, began to increase The Kings are generally fond of listening to stories, therefore, once the king Bhoja entreated Dhanapāla to tell him some sacred story of Jain religion. Dhanapāla composed a new story in 12000 verses called Tilak-manjarî That story contained all the nine sentiments and till it was completed Dhanapāla leaving aside all the worldly affairs was thoroughly engrossed in it Then, with a view to avoid *Utsutra-prarūpanā it was handed over to Shanti Sūri who was well-versed in the science of arguing to review it At the time of listening to the story, the king ordered that the book should be placed in a golden dish so as to respect it. The king, while listening to the story, felt as if he derived as much delight as a person who drinks nector. He said, “ If you make the changes
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org