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124 Śramaņa, Vol 58, No. 1/January-March 2007
stayed at the imperial court. He composed a panegyric on Akbar, describing the Emperor's pious works done under the influence of Hira Vijay Suri, called 'Kriparasa-Kos'. Shanti Chandra left the court in 1587. Akbar granted him a farman again confirming the abolition of jeziya and prohibiting animal slaughter on the specific days.12 In 1590 a farman was issued to Governor of Gujarat that no one should be permitted to interfere with Jaina temples and no non-Jaina should lodge in them. It further says that there should be no hindrance in the way of their repairs and that no one should ill-treat the Jains under the wrong notion that they practised magical art. IN 1592, he issued another farman, for Hira Vijaya Suri, addressed to the governors of Malwa, Agra, Lahore, Multan, Ahmedabad and all the rest of the provinces to the effect that the hills of Siddhachal, Girnar, Taranga, Keshrinath and Abu (all in Gujarat), the five hills of Rajgir and the hill of Sammet-Sikhar or Parswanath in Bengal, together with all the temples and kothis at the foot of these hills and likewise in other places of pilgrimage of the Śvetambara Jains should be handed over to them." 14
13
When a daughter was born to Prince Salim, Akbar was told that the constellation under which she was born augured ill for their father. Bhanuchandra suggested the performance of certain Jaina rituals which would effectively avert the evil. Accordingly, elaborate arrangements for the same were made at the Jaina upăśraya, and the ceremonies were witnessed by the Emperor and prince Salim, who both attended with the members of the court. Another incident mentioned in the Jaina poem in that Akbar desired to have the title of 'Upadhyaya' bestowed on Bhanuchandra, but being told that the privilege of granting the same was vested in the head of the Jaina church, Abul Fazl was ordered to write to Hira Vijaya Suri to confirm and make valid this title, and the acarya willingly sent a letter to the effect. When Akbar went to Kashmir in August, 1592, Bhanuchandra accompanied him on feet, and it was at Shrinagar that he requested the Emperor to remit the tax on
