Acharya Vijay Vallabhsuri was a Jain monk. He was a disciple of Vijayanandsuri. He worked for the religious as well as improving the social life of people. He worked in Punjab so he was given honorific Punjab Kesari.
Life
He was born on 26 October 1870 at Vadodara, Gujarat. He was named Chhagan. His parents Deepchand and Ichhabai died in his early years. He met Vijayanandsuri at Janiseri Jain Upashray, Vadodara. At the age of 17 years, he was initiated as a Jain monk Muni Vallabhvijay on 5 May 1887 by Vijayanandsuri and became disciple of Muni Harshvijay at Radhanpur. In Vikram Samvat 1981, he was conferred the title of Acharya on Magshirsh Sudi 5 by Sumtivijay at Lahore. He also had the title of Pattadhar conferred on him by Jain sangha. Vallabhsuri was in Gujranwala for Chaturmas in 1947. Due to the partition of India, Gujaranwala fell in Pakistan. There was widespread communal violence across both nations. He refused travel by plane which was arranged by the Government of India as Jain monks do not use vehicles. He travelled by foot along with other Jains of Gujaranwala and entered India via the Wagah Border unharmed and reached Amritsarin September 1947. Throughout his life, Vallabhsuri placed emphasis on education and inspired Jains to build more educational institutions. He is well known as the founder of Shree Parshwanath Jain Vidyalaya in 1927 at Varkana Village in Pali district of Rajasthan. The seed which he sowed has taken shape of a dense tree in Godwad area of Rajasthan. He founded Mahavir Jain Vidyalaya, Parshwanath Umed Mahavidyalaya, Atmanand Jain College, Atmanand Jain High School and other educational institutes. He wrote some books and religious texts in Hindi, Gujarati, Punjabi Languages. He also established Atmanand Jain Sabha. He was also instrumental in establishing Jain unity and accessibility of Jain literature. He supported Mahatma Gandhi's non-violent movement for independence of India. He died on 22 September 1954, Tuesday at 2:32 am in Byculla, Mumbai. More than two lakh people attended his funereal procession. A memorial dedicated to him was built there later.
Recognition
also known as Vijay Vallabh Smarak, a grand memorial in Delhi was erected to honour him. It is managed by Shree Atma Vallabh Jain Smarak Shikshan Nidhi. India Post issued a postage stamp of Vallabhsuri on 21 February 2009 which depicted his image along with Vijay Vallabh Smarak as a background image. A large number of educational institutions set up by Acharya Vallabhsuri as well as his followers in his memory are imparting morals based education in various states - Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan, H.P., U.P., Gujarat, Maharashtra.
