Manibhadra Swami

Description

Manibhadra was a great king who was devoted to Jain religion and preachings. He had enormous wealth and was also very fond of 36 musical instruments. He was declared as the Kshetrapal (Protector of the Area) because of his tremendous devotion.

Manibhadraveer, as the legend goes, was born in his previous birth in Ujjain as a Jain shravak Manekshaw. He was a staunch Jain Shravak whose Guru was Maharaj Hemvimal Suriji. During his chaturmas in Agra, Manekshaw was deeply influenced by his Guru’s discourses on the sacredness and importance of Shatrunjay (Palitana). Due to this, he decided to undertake the arduous penance of going on foot to Shatrunjay to do the Navanuni Yatra and end it with a 2-day(chatt) fast under the Ryan tree.

With his Guru’s blessings, he set off on the auspicious day of Kartiki Poonam. When he was close to present day Magarwada, a gang of dacoits attacked him and the group and fighting them He gave his life to save others severing his head, arms and lower body. Manekshaw, who was totally absorbed in his Navkar mantra jaap and the sacredness of Shatrunjay, was reborn as Indra Manibhadraveerdev.

Shri Manibhadra is originally a yaksha, worshipped by Indian masses. It is an image of six armed yaksha with an elephant as his vehicle. Shreefal and Sukhadi are his favorite.

It is mythologically stated that while fighting, His body got cut into three (3) parts and fell in three different directions. The

• “Pindi”  ie. “the part below the waist” fell at Magarwada in Gujarat,
• The “dhad” ( the body) at Aglod in Gujarat  and the
• “Mashtak” (the Head ) in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh.