Shantisagar

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

Acharya 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 the first Digambara Jain Acharya of the 20th century, and the first Digambara monk to wander in North India after several centuries, credited with reviving the tradition of Digambara monks. Most Digambara Jain monks today belong to his lineage. He was given the title Charitra Chakravarti (literally, Emperor of character) by his followers.

Life

Shantisagara was born in 1872[1] or 1873 in north Karnataka.[2] His father was either a farmer[3] or employed in the cloth business.[4] By the age of eighteen, having read religious texts and undergone pilgrimages,[2] he desired to become initiated into a religious order. After his parents had died in 1912, he visited Shravanabelagola and was initiated into a holy order in 1918.[4] He took the ailaka vow, the preliminary stage to full Digambara initiation, in front of an image of the Tirthankara Neminatha. He was initiated as a Digambara monk at the age of 47 or 48[3] at the village of Yarnal in 1922 and got his name Shanti Sagara (meaning Ocean of Peace).[2][4]

He preached principles of Jainism in various parts of the country and was given the title of Acharya due to his knowledge and wisdom.[2] His disciples gave him the title of Charitra Chakravarti (Emperor of Good Character)[4] along with various other titles like muniraj (king among ascetics) and silasindhu (ocean of observances).[3]

A cobra is said to have once stood in front of him when he was in a cave as if paying respect to him. He fasted to oppose the restrictions imposed on Digambara monks by British Raj and prompted their discontinuance.[3]

Death

Regarding the observance of sallekhana vow by Acharya Shantisagar, Padmanabh Jain 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 Jain 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.[5] ”

Acharya Shantisagar died on 18 September 1955 at 6.50 AM at Kunthalgiri, Osmanabad district, Maharashtra, India.[4][6]

Chronological outline

Based on the account given by Sumeruchandra Diwakar[7] and Dharmachanda Shastri,[8] Shantisagar was born in 1872 to Bhimagauda Patil and Satyavati at Yelagula (Bhoj), Karnataka.[2] His birth name was Satgauda. As a child, he was inspired by Muni Adisagar. He was married at the age of nine. His wife, however, died after six months. In 1905, he made a Pilgrimage to Sammet Shikhar with his sister.

Acharya Shantisagar Parampara, Paporaji

Eastern India wanderings

Central India wanderings

Northern India wanderings

Western India wanderings

Maharashtra wanderings

Final samadhi

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Shantisagar.

Notes

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  1. ↑ Natubhai Shah 2004, p. 55.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Dundas 2002, p. 185.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Natubhai Shah 2004, p. 56.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Desjarlais & Eisenberg 1996, p. 82.
  5. ↑ Jaini 1998, p. 1.
  6. ↑ Natubhai Shah 2004, p. 55-56.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Diwakar, Sumaruchandra (2006), Hemant Kala, ed., Charitra Chakravarti (8th ed.), Shri Bharatvarshiye Digambar Jain Mahasabha
  8. ↑ Br. Dharmachanda Shastri, Ed., Charitra Chakravarti, 1989

References

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