Shantisagar

This article is about Jain monk. For lake with the same name, see Shanti Sagara.
Charitra Chakravarti Acharya Shri Shantisagar Ji Maharaj

Shantisagar
Religion Jainism
Sect Digambara
Personal
Born Satgauda
1873
Yalgud, Karnataka
Died 18 September 1955(1955-09-18) (aged 82–83)
Cremation place Kunthalgiri, Maharashtra
Parents
  • Bhimagauda Patil (father)
  • Satyavati (mother)
Senior posting
Successor Virasagar
Religious career
Initiated Virasagar, Nemisagar
Initiation 1919
Yarnal
by Devendrakirti

Acharya Shri Shantisagar (1872-1955) was a Digambar Jain Acharya of the 20th century, and the first Digambar Jain monk to wander in North India after several centuries. He was given the title Charitra Chakravarti (literally Emperor of character) by his followers.

Biography

Shantisagara was born in 1873 in north Karnataka, an area which along with adjacent south Maharashtra is the place of origin of most Digambara monks today.[1] Thwarted in his desire for ascetic initiation by parental refusal (and, presumably, by the absence at that time of anyone competent to confer it), the young Shantisagara spent much time performing minor acts of austerity and in going on pilgrimage to a wide range of holy places which confirmed his sense of Jain tradition and civilisation.[1] Having himself taken the ailaka vow, the preliminary stage to full Digambara initiation,in front of an image of the fordmaker Neminatha, he was eventually at the age of forty-seven able to take initiation at the village of Yarnal.[1]

He seems to have attempted to familiarise himself with the technicalities of Jain metaphysics only later in life through conversations with Jain scholars, and the title of Acharya was bestowed upon him by general acclaim as a token of his charisma and asceticism rather than because of any profound learning.[1]

Death

Regarding the observance of sallekhana vow by Acharya Shantisagar, Padmanabh Jaini writes:

“ It is August, 1955. On the holy mount of Kunthalagiri, in the state of Maharashtra in India, an old man called Santisagara (Ocean of peace) is ritually fasting to death. He is the Acharya (spiritual leader) of the Digambara Jaina community; now, after thirty-five years as a mendicant, he is attaining his mortal end in the holy manner prescribed by the great saint Mahavira almost 2,500 years earlier. Santisagara has owned nothing, not even a loincloth, since 1920. He has wandered on foot over the length and breadth of India, receiving food offerings but once a day. and then with only his bare hands for a bowl; he has spoken little during daylight hours and not at all after sunset. From August 14 until September 7 he takes only water; then, unable to drink without help, he ceases even that. At last, fully conscious and chanting the Jain a litany, he dies in the early morning of September 18. The holiness and propriety of his life and of the manner of his death are widely known and admired by Jainas throughout India.[2] ”

Chronological outline

Based on the account given by Sumeruchandra Diwakar[3] and Dharmachanda Shastri,[4] Shanti Sagar was born on 1872 to Bhimagauda Patil and Satyavati at Yelagula (Bhoj), Karnataka.[1] His birth name was Satgauda. At the age of nine, he was married. His wife however, died in six months. As a child, he was inspired by Muni Adisagar. In 1905, he made a Pilgrimage to Sammet Shikhar with his sister. His mother died in 1912 and his father shortly before it.[5]

In 1915 he was initiated as a Kshullaka by Muni Devakirti (Devappa Swami) who was a former Sena Gana Bhattaraka. He visited for a pilgrimage to Girnar in 1918. One year later, he was initiated as a Muni by Devakirti at Yarnal. He spent his first Chaturmas at Kognoli in 1921. In 1922 he spent his Chaturmas at Naslapur and then in Samdoli (1924). He was titled as a Jain Acharya and initiated Munis Virasagar and Nemisagar.

Eastern India wanderings

Central India wanderings

Northern India wanderings

Western India wanderings

Maharashtra wanderings

Final samadhi

See also

Notes

<div class="reflist columns references-column-width" style="-moz-column-width: [5] [3]; -webkit-column-width: [5] [3]; column-width: [5] [3]; list-style-type: decimal;">

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Dundas 2002, p. 185.
  2. ↑ Jaini 1998, p. 1.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Diwakar, Sumaruchandra (2006), Hemant Kala, ed., Charitra Chakravarti (8th ed.), Shri Bharatvarshiye Digambar Jain Mahasabha
  4. ↑ Br. Dharmachanda Shastri, Ed., Charitra Chakravarti, 1989
  5. 1 2 3 4 Desjarlais, Robert R.; Eisenberg, Leon (1995), DESJARLAIS:WORLD MENTAL HEALTH C, Oxford University Press, p. 82, ISBN 978-0-19-977219-3

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Saturday, May 07, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.