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Chapter 1
Shrimad Rajchandra's Life Sketch
Shrimad Rajchandra holds a prominent position amongst the great personalities of the Twentieth century. He possessed a spirit of great spiritual endeavor and was responsible for promoting and strengthening Mahatma Gandhi's faith in religion.
He was born on 9th November 1867 (the day of the full moon) in the Kartik month, in the year Vikram Samvat (VS) 1924 and in the village of Vavaniya, located in the Saurashtra district of Gujarat, India. This auspicious day is traditionally celebrated as Dev Diwali or the festival of Gods. This day has seen the birth of many divine souls in India, including one of the greatest of the Jain Acharyas of the past millennia, Shri Hemchandracharya. It is also on this day that the pilgrimage to the holy Mount of Shatrunjay (Palitana) commences.
His father, Ravjibhai, and mother, Devba, were a devoted couple, who led sanctified lives, adorned with the faith of religion. At his birth, Shrimad was named Lakshminandan, however, he was renamed at the age of four as Raichand or Rajchandra. For the remainder of this book, we shall refer to him with the name Shrimad as he came to be known in his later life.
