Draft:Kamalsuri

Sākṣara Śiromaṇi Brahmamūrti Ācārya Kamalsuri Mahārāja Sāheb
Personal
Born	Rāmlāl 1851 CE Sarsā, Punjab, India
Died	23 March 1927(1927-03-23) (aged 75–76) Jalālpur, Navsari, Gujarat
Religion	Jainism
Parents	Rūpchand (father) Jitābāi (mother)
Sect	Śvetāmbara Tapa Gaccha
Known for	Being the spiritual ancestor of the ascetics of Tapa Gaccha, the largest subsect of Jainism
Religious career
Predecessor	Lakshmivijaya
Disciple of	Vijayanandsuri
Initiation	Kamalvijaya 1875 CE Ahmedabad, Gujarat by Lakshmivijaya

Sākṣara Śiromaṇi Brahmamūrti Ācārya Kamalsuri Mahārāja Sāheb was a 20th century CE Śvetāmbara Jain ascetic, researcher, writer and the head of the Tapa Gaccha after Vijayanandsuri. He is best known for his strict discipline and sharp criticism of the newly-formed aniconic sects of Jainism. He is also the spiritual ancestor of almost all ascetics of the Tapa Gaccha. He was one of the very few samvegi ascetics during the period of yatis.

Birth and early life

He was born as Rāmlāl to father Rūpchand and mother Jitābāi in 1851 CE. Rūpchand was a respected Gaur Brahmin and an astrologer. Rāmlāl is said to have had been sharp-witted as a child.

Rūpchand was a good friend of Jain yati Kishorchandra. The latter, upon witnessing a 5-year old Rāmlāl's intellect, requested Rūpchand to let him teach his son. Yati Kishorchandra sought to entrust Rāmlāl with his position. Rūpchand agreed and sent Rāmlāl to Yati Kishorchandra to gain knowledge who was impressed by his wit. Young Rāmlāl had learned Puranas, Vedas, Upanishads, and Manusmriti by the time he turned 10 years old.

Initiation

Initiation as a Yati

At 12 years of age, Rāmlāl was initiated as a yati by Yati Kishorchandra in a grand ceremony in 1863 CE after acquiring his parents' permission. He became popular as a young yati. However, the lifestyle of yatis was lavish and not in accordance with Jain principles. He also had to consume food that included root vegetables which are unfit for Jain monks. Yati Kishorchandra would often show him jewels to appease him, but that would only make his feelings worse. After realizing that a Jain monk strives to uplift his soul and that life as a yati was not helping him uplift his soul, he left without informing anyone.

Initiation as a Sthānakavāsī monk

He reached Jagraon and met Sthānakavāsī monk Visanchand Mahārāja. Visanchand Mahārāja had great reverence for idols due to the influence of Acharya Vijayanandsuri who was also a Sthānakavāsī monk then. Rāmlāl found the environment favorable for the study of scriptures. He studied the Uttaradhyayana Sutra and impressed by it, he requested Visanchand Mahārāja to initiate him into the order. Considering his strong desire, Visanchand Mahārāja initiated him into the order at Jagraon in 1872 CE. Regular sermons from Acharya Vijayanandsuri further strengthened his faith in the ancient Murtipujaka sect.

Initiation as a Samvegi (Mūrtipūjaka) monk

In 1875 CE, 17 monks including Visanchand Mahārāja and Acharya Vijayanandsuri who were both Sthānakavāsī monks then, came to Ahmedabad. They accepted initiation by Muni Buddhivijaya (also known as Buterāyji Mahārāja) into the samvegi parampara which was the unbroken lineage or pattavali of Jain monks starting with Sudharmaswami, one of Mahavira's 11 prime disciples. He was renamed as Muni Kamalvijaya. All monks ascended Shatrunjaya hill to visit Palitana temples. There were reportedly only 20 samvegi monks at that time.

Ascetic life

As a monk, he learned and memorized the content of all the 45 canonical scriptures of the Śvetāmbaras. He is said to have had been respectful towards other religions from the fact that he would pacify queries of anyone based on scriptures of their religion only.

In 1890 CE, Kamalsuri was at Tanda village in Punjab, where he was challenged to a debate by Sthānakavāsī monk Sohanlal. The latter fled and did not arrive at the debate after sending a letter stating that he would not come to debate. As a result of this, several thousands of Sthānakavāsīs turned back to the Murtipujaka sect.

In 1892 CE, he arrived at Papnakha and turned several people to vegetarianism and several Sthānakavāsīs back to the ancient Mūrtipūjaka sect. It is also said that several Muslims embraced vegetarianism after hearing his sermons in Gujranwala. In the same year, Kamalsuri turned a Sardar Icchasinh to vegetarianism and inspired the first-ever vegetarian wedding in Punjab.

See also

• Ratnaprabhasuri
• Vimalsuri
• Bappabhattisuri