Vallabhsuri

Acharya Vijay Vallabhsuri was a Jain monk. He is also known as Punjab Kesari. He was a disciple of Vijayanandsuri. He worked for the religious as well as improving the social life of people. He worked actively in Punjab.

He was born on 26 October 1870 (Second day of bright half of Kartik month, Vikram Samvat 1927) 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 (Jayesth Vad 9, Vikram Samvat 1944) by Vijayanandsuri and became disciple of Muni Harshvijay. 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.

Throughout his life, Vallabhsuri placed emphasis on education and inspired Jains to build more educational institutions. He founded Mahavir Jain Vidyalaya (at Mumbai, Vadodara, Pune), Parshwanath Umed Mahavidyalaya (at Falna), Atmanand Jain College (at Ambala, Malerkotla), Atmanand Jain High School (Ludhiana, Ambala, Malerkotla, Bagwada, Hoshiarpur, Jandiala Guru) and other educational institutes. He wrote some books and religious texts in Hindi, Gujarati, Punjabi Languages. He also established Atmanand Jain Sabha. He supported Mahatma Gandhi's non-violent movement for independence of India.

He died on 22 September 1954 (Asoj Vadi 11, Vikram Samvat 2011), Tuesday at 2:32 am in Byculla, Mumbai. A memorial dedicated to him was built there later.

Vijay Vallabh Smarak, a memorial in Delhi was erected to honour him. It is managed by Shri 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.