Bhavesh Bhandari and his wife.
Credit: X/@T_Investor_
Ahmedabad: A Jain real estate developer and his wife donated life's savings in their hometime Himmatnagar in north Gujarat's Sabarkantha district days before they are set to embrace monkhood.
On April 22, the couple along with 33 others including children and at least four other couples will renounce their material comforts on their path to adopt monkhood in a grand function being held in Ahmedabad.
Bhavesh Bhandari and wife Jinal will be taking diksha donated their life earnings to the tune of Rs 200 crore.
On Monday, they took out a procession in their hometown Himmatnagar where they donated their belongings as a gesture of renouncing the material world and embracing the life of ascetics. They will be following their children's path who adopted monkhood back in 2022.
Meanwhile, Gujarat chief minister Bhupendra Patel felicitated the couple in Himmatnagar on Tuesday evening during a public function related to Lok Sabha election. Another 16 years old girl who is taking diksha was present at the event.
Other couples renouncing the materialist world on April 22 in Ahmedabad along with Bandaris include Sanjay Sadariya, a textile trader in Surat and his wife Bina. Like Bhandaris, their son and daughter, too, took diksha in 2021. Jashvant Shah, another textile trader from Surat, is embracing monkhood with wife Dipika. Their twin sons are already Jain monks.
Jashvant's brother Mukesh and his wife Monika, son Heet and daughter Krisha are also embracing monkhood. Another couple from Surat Jagdish Shah and Shilpa from Surat are taking diksha while their only son took the pledge back in 2021. Heenal Jain from Mumbai, Devesh Ratadiya, Het Shah, 13, both residents of Surat, Heet Shah, 18, and Mukesh from Ahmedabad are also taking diksha during the event.