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his pious actions made it possible for him to be successful obtaining the herbs that would turn any metal into gold Using it, he turned a great quantity into gold. Now his mind was free from the dissatisfaction of having gold, and by and by he became alert on account of the religious views given to him by Dharmaghosa Sûri.
He repented for discarding the lives of the living beings of six kinds in performing 'Śuvarṇa-siddhi, and hence he firmly determined never to do such as experiment in future. He began to get Jaina temples built by means of the wealth obtained by him. He got a large temple called Satrunjayāvatār with a gold mast of flag and a gold-spire, built in his own place Maṇḍavagadha at the cost of eighteen lacs. Besides this, he got in all eightyfour temples built at various places.
Out of all these, he adopted entirely a different method in getting the temple built in Dévagiri.
Dévagiri was ruled over by a king called Rama, who had a greedy minister calle Hemadi. The Brahmins of the place were very powerful and they did not allow even a single temple to be built in Devagiri. They had great influence even over the King. Pethad thought that if Hemādi was won over, the work would be very easy. To win over Hemādi he made an intelligent plan.
He started a house of charity in the city called Omkara Nagara, and it was announced that the person who financed this charitable institution was Hémâdi. The people began to avail themselves of that well-equipped institution and praise it. It was a matter of great wonder to them that Hamadi was the Pétron of it because his avarice was well-known. That Hémâd would start such an institution was unimaginable and it was an incident of boundless wonder. Atlast the matter reached the ears of Hémadi and he was wonderstruck and completely absorbed
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