Teacher of Humanity

Author(s): C S Mallinath
Publisher: Pulchandji Ved

Page 15

(in Marwar) and Patri. While staying at Kapodvanj Dharma Vijaya began the study of the Nyaya Sastra which he completed three years later, During his halt at Patri he caused the tirtha of Upariyala to be restored, and re-established the annual pilgrimage which had been discontinued. The chaturmasa of the year 1900 was spent in Mahuwa, Dharma Vijaya's native place, where he had never been since his consecration as a monk. When he arrived there, he found his father dead; his mother was living. As he entered the village with his monks and disciples, the villagers came in large numbers to receive him and do reverence to him. His mother was also there in the crowd with mixed feelings of joy and sorrow to see her dear son after a long interval. She saw him now as a learned man, a Guru and a mendicant whom she could no longer call her own, nor receive in her own house, nor clasp in her own arms. How many of the villagers that beheld him, could have recognised in that monk with the serene face and saintly appearance, the naughty Mulachandra who used to squander his father's money in gambling! During his stay in Mahuwa, he preached to the people on many subjects and exhorted them to attend first to matters which affected their vital interests, their social and moral well-being. Before he left his native place he consecrated two new monks.