Prof. Dr. Lawrence A. Babb
The fourth and last Dadaguru was Jincandrasuri II. Readers will recall that Jincandrasuri was also the name of the second Dadaguru. Just as the earlier Jincandrasuri is distinguished by the appellation manidhari ("gem-bearing"), the later Jincandrasuri is sometimes called akbar pratibodhak ("the influencer of Akbar") to distinguish him from his predecessor. He was born in 1541 in a village called Khetsar (or Khetasar) in the former Jodhpur State. His birth name was Sultan Kumar, and his gotra was Rihad.[1] In 1547 the leader of the Khartar Gacch at that time, Jinmanikyasuri, came to the village. The boy was influenced by his discourses, and was initiated forthwith. He then traveled with Jinmanikyasuri, and shortly after his guru's death in 1555 he was proclaimed Jinmanikyasuri's successor.
He was a great reformer who instituted strict new rules for mendicants and ably defended the Khartar Gacch against its detractors. Among his other achievements was his humbling of a distinguished Tapa Gacch mendicant by the name of Dharmsagarji. In 1560 the latter opined that Abhaydevsuri[2] did not belong to the Khartar Gacch. Jincandrasuri called a debate (sastrarth) to settle the matter. Dharmsagarji failed to show up, and Jincandrasuri thus proved his point.
Word of his extraordinary qualities eventually reached the court of Akbar the Great. The emperor invited Jincandrasuri into his presence at Lahore, where he arrived in 1591. He impressed the emperor greatly and caused Jainism to grow in his esteem.[3] At one point Akbar's son, Salim, fathered a daughter under inauspicious astrological influences, and the court astrologers urged that the infant be killed. Because of Jincandrasuri's teachings, however, Akbar instead had a special puja (something called the astottrisnatra) performed in a Jain temple to ameliorate the problem. Because of Jincandrasuri's influence Akbar protected Jain places of pilgrimage and gave orders that the ceremonies and observances of Jains were not to be hindered. He also forbade the slaughter of animals for a period of one week per year. According to Khartar Gacch sources, Akbar even bestowed the title yugpradhan on Jincandrasuri.
There were, of course, many miracles - performed, as always, for the benefit of Jainism. The most celebrated of his miracles took place at Akbar's court. We have seen that the miracles of the first three Dadagurus were frequently designed to protect Jainism from its enemies, who, as the hagiographers portray them, were preeminently Brahmans, Saivas, and Saktas. Now, in a later and very different historical milieu, the opponents are Muslim clerics.[4] For example, once when Jincandrasuri was entering court he suddenly stopped. When Akbar asked him to proceed he said that he could not because there were jivs (embodied souls) in an underground drain and that he could not walk over them. An envious Kaji (Muslim judge) had in fact concealed a goat there. The Kaji asked "how many jivs?"and the monk said "three." The Kaji was quite surprised because he had placed only a single goat there, but when the drain was opened there were indeed three. The goat had been pregnant and had given birth. Akbar was duly impressed.
In another, similar incident, a Kaji tried to discredit the monk by using mantra -power to cause his own hat to fly-up into the air and hover there. The monk sent his ascetic's broom flying after the hat; the broom retrieved the hat and set it back on the Kaji's head.[5] And once, when asked the date by some Maulvi (a Muslim scholar), one of Jincandrasuri's disciples had a slip of the tongue and said that it was the full moon day rather than the new moon that it actually was. The Maulvi then went around the city saying mockingly that a Jain monk had said that a full moon would appear in the sky on the new moon date. Even the emperor Akbar heard of this, and so for the sake of Jainism's reputation Jincandrasuri had to do something. That night he obtained a gold platter from a layman's house and threw it into the air where it shone like the moon. Akbar had the light tested, and it was discovered that the "moon" remained full for a distance of twenty-four miles.
The hagiographies also report that he exercised a good influence on Akbar's son and successor, Jahangir. Jahangir had once seen an ascetic in Jain dress engaged in some kind of dubious conduct, and as a result, in 1611, he ordered that all Jain monks should become householders or be expelled from the empire. Hearing of this, Jincandrasuri rushed to Agra to meet with the emperor. In order to prevent a breach of his imperial order, Jahangir forbade the monk to use the imperial road. Jincandrasuri thereupon spread his woolen mat on the Jumna river and floated to his imperial audience. The emperor was surprised and pleased. The monk then made the point that the entire Jain community should not be held accountable for one person's fault, and the emperor, agreeing, rescinded his earlier order.
While staying in the Marwari village of Bilada for the rainy season retreat of 1613, Jincandrasuri realized that his end was near. He called his disciples and lay followers together and informed them of his impending death. He named his successor, asked the pardon of the caturvidh sangh (the fourfold Jain community) and the caurasilakhjiv yonis (the 8.4 million forms of life), fasted, and died on the second day of the dark fortnight of the lunar month of Asvin (September/October).
It should be pointed out that other Jain mendicants are credited (by other sources) with similar influence over Akbar. Most importantly, Abu'l Fazl's A'in-i-Akbari lists three such mendicants among ''The Learned Men of the Time." They are Hirvijaysuri and his disciples Vijaysensuri and Bhanucandra Upadhyay (V. Smith 1917: 265, 267), all three belonging to the Tapa Gacch. Jincandrasuri is not mentioned by Abu'l Fazl. Hirvijaysuri is actually credited with the conversion of Akbar to Jainism (ibid.: 267). According to an inscription at Satrunjaya (dated 1593), Hirvijaysuri persuaded Akbar to ban the slaughter of animals for six months per year, to abolish confiscation of the estates of the dead, to abolish the tax on non-Muslims, and so on (ibid.: 272-75). See also Bhatnagar 1974. According to Bhatnagar, Vijaysensuri was sent to Akbar in 1593 by the Tapa Gacch in order to counter the influence of Jincandrasuri.
Of course Jindattsuri subdued the five pirs (above), who are Muslim entities. In an apparent echo of this theme, Jincandrasuri is said to have subdued the adhisthayak devs of the five rivers at Akbar's orders in 1595. These terms would suggest non-Muslim supernaturals. On the other hand, in the introduction to Josi (presumably written by A. and B. Nahta) these devs are identified as five pirs (illustration facing p. 29). In any case, the theme of Jain/Muslim opposition is a good deal stronger in accounts of Jincandrasuri's life than in accounts of the other Dadagurus.
