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49 Śri Devasundara Sūri Birth V. S. 1396 Initiation V. S 1404 Sūri V. S. 1420.
No information regarding Śri Devasundara Sūri's place of birth or about his family is at present available. He was initiated in the years 1404 V S at a village named Mahes'vara and was awarded the Ācārya-ship with due festivities at Aşahıllapura Påţaņa in VS 1420.
He possessed excellent characterstic marks on his body, and therefore his personality was unique. Once Udaryipā, un abstract meditator of Ana hulapura Pastaņa publicly commended Sri Dévasundara Suri with much respect. This ascetic lived on a lake called Gurgadi; was followed by no less than three hundred meditators, could wasily remove all fear of water fire, sergents, lions and the like; was well aware of both the past and the future; and was well honoured even by such great personages as the King and the minister He was a perfect devotee. Being asked about his humility, he gave the following reason : 'My preceptor Kagayarīpā had instructed me to pay homage to such holy personages a. are possessed of a lotis, a Niscus, a mace, a sofa, and similar other marks As I learnt that Divasundara Suri is the reservoir of all these characteristics, I salutid him "--This illustration indicates his influence even over people not belonging to Jainism
His career as a writer too is worth-recording It was a well-known ancient tradition to write volumes on palmyra leaves But this tradivon underwent a drastic change in the times of Dévasundara Sūri Due to scarcity of palmyra- leaves-or for some reason or another-paper replaced palinyra -leaf in the fifteenth century, and ancient works on palıryia-leaves were copied down on paper Libraries of Guierāta and Rājaputāns were resaired simultaneously she task of libraries of both Khambhata and Pățaņa was well-accomplished by Śrī Dėvasundara Suri and his chief disciple Sri Somasundara Sîrt; while that of the
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