acharyas/shivsagar.jpg · 1000×1250Born Hiralal in 1901 at Adgaon in Aurangabad district, Maharashtra, into a Khandelwal merchant family, he lost both parents to plague while young. Drawn to the sangh of Acharya Shantisagar, he took a brahmacharya vow, then kshullak diksha from Acharya Veersagar in 1943. In 1949 at Nagaur, Rajasthan, Veersagar gave him muni diksha as Muni Shivsagar, his first muni disciple. After Veersagar's samadhi in 1957, the sangh made him acharya at Khaniyaji, Jaipur.
For about eleven years Shivsagar led the sangh through towns of Rajasthan such as Ajmer, Beawar, Sikar, Kota and Udaipur, and gave dikshas to many monks and aryikas. In 1959 at Jaipur he gave muni diksha to the scholar Bhuramal, who became Gyansagar. In his presence scholars held the well-known Khaniya Tattva Charcha, a written debate on Jain doctrine. After a short fever he attained samadhi at Shri Mahavirji on 16 February 1969, and the sangh chose Dharmasagar as the next acharya.
