Temple of Satrunjaya

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

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him with refusing to worship the Sun.67 Hemacandra, not yet prepared to attack his opponents, satisfied the king, saying-"This splendid mansion of light I ever retain in my heart; at the tim of whose setting I abandon food.” With a like policy he was ever as ready to quote the Hindu śāstras as the Jaina authorities in support of his views, and when Kumarapala sought his advice as to a proper object on which to expend money as a religious act, the wily Jaina advised the restoration of the temple of Somesvara (A.D. 1168). But to ensure the successful completion of the work, he advised the king to take a vow to abstain either from connection with women or from the use of animal food until the work should be finished. The latter alternative was what the Jaina wished and the king chose; but when, after two years, the temple was completed and the king asked the monk to release him from his vow,--"Behold”, said the Acarya, “in virtue of this abstinence you are fit to appear before Mahadeva. When your pilgrimage thither shall have been accomplished, it will be time to throw off that vow." The Brahmanas thought to entrap Hemacandra and advised the king to propose: he should accompany the royal retinue to Somanatha; the proposal was made and the Jaina at once replied, “What need of pressing the hungry man to partake of food; pilgrimage is the life of the ascetic; what need is there of an order from the king.” The Acarya started on foot to visit Satrunjaya and Girnar by the way, arranging to meet Kumarapala at Deva Pattana. At the inauguration of the new temple, he astonished the king and the Brahmanas by his voluntary devotions to Siva. At the threshold of the temple he exclaimed, “In the splendour of this shrine Mahadeva, who dwells in Kailasa, is surely present.” Then entering and going through the proscribed gesticulations before the Linga, he said, "Thou existed whatever be thy place, whatever be thy time, whatever be thy name, of whatsover nature thou art. Thou art he in whom is no guilty act, no gultiness consequent upon the act,-one only god! Praise be to thee! He who has destroyed the affections, which are the secds that produce the bud of existence, be he Brahma, be he Visnu, be he Siva, to him be praise !"
67 The Suryapatyas or Sauras, "are those who worship Surya, the Sun-god, only:
there are a few of them, but very few, and they scarcely differ from the rest of the Hindus in their general observances. The tilaka, or frontal mark, is made in a particular manner, with red sandal, and the necklace should be of crystal: these are their chief peculiarities: besides which they eat one meal without salt on every Sunday, and each Sankranti, or sun's entrance into a sign of the zodiac: they cannot eat either until they have beheld the Sun, so that it is fortunate that they inhabit his native regions." Ananda Giri distinguishes six classes of Sauras, one of whom "deemed it unnecessary to address their devotions to the visible and material Sun: they provided a mental luminary, on which they meditated, and to which their adoration was offered."-H H. Wilson, Works, Vol. I. pp. 266 and 19, 20. This accords well with the Acarya's reply quoted above.