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BHAGWAN
MUNISURVRATJI
The being that
was to be Bhagavan Munisuvrat purified its soul
during his birth as Surshreshta, the king of Champa
city in Mahavideh. He then reincarnated in the
Pranat dimension of gods.
King Sumitra of the Harivamh clan ruled over Rajgriha
town. His wife, queen Padmavati, gave birth to
a son, the being that had descended from the Pranat
dimension of gods, on the ninth day of the dark
half of the month of Jyeshta. After the traditional
post birth rituals the name giving ceremony was
celebrated. The king announced that since this
being had descended into the womb of queen Padmavati,
she took a variety of good vows and lead a life
as disciplined as an ascetic. As such the new
born named Munisuvrat (vow like ascetics).
In due course Munisuvrat was married and ascended
the throne. After a successful and long reign
he became an ascetic on the eighth day of the
dark half of the month of Phalgun. He wandered
as a ordinary ascetic for eleven months and attained
omniscience under a Champa tree. His first discourse
was on the subject of "scriptural and applied
philosophy". After a long life devoted to spread
of true religion he went to Sammetshikhar and
got liberated on the ninth day of the dark half
of the month of Jyeshtha.
Bhagavan Munisuvrat’s period was an important
period of Jain pre-history. His illustrious contemporaries
and followers included stalwarts like the ninth
Chakravarti-Mahapadma, the eighth Prativasudev,
Baldev, and Vasudev, Ravan, Rama and Lakshman
respectively. The elder brother of Bahagavan Munisuvrat,
ascetic Vishnu Kumar, also became famous for his
pioneering effort of saving the Jain organization
from the oppressions of mister Namuchi; the Rakshabandhan
festival is celebrated in the memory of that event.
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