Born Changdev to a Gujarati Modh Bania family, the boy who would become Acharya Hemchandracharya was recognised as a prodigy at the age of nine, taken into the Shvetambar order, and rose to become a master of grammar, poetics, logic, history and Jain philosophy. By his middle years he was given the title Kalikalsarvajna — "the all-knower of the dark age." His student and friend was King Kumarpal, the Chalukya king of Patan. Through patient teaching across many years, the Acharya guided the king toward dharma. Under Hemchandra's influence, Kumarpal banned animal slaughter in his kingdom on Jain festival days, then on most days, then on every day. He outlawed gambling, encouraged liquor abstinence, restored shattered temples, and built new ones — including foundations at Taranga and at Mount Abu. When Hemchandra finally entered his fast-to-death (sallekhana), the king sat near him for days. After the Acharya's passing, Kumarpal followed his teacher within six months. Together their reign showed Bharat what a single king and a single Acharya, working in trust, could achieve for ahimsa across a whole people.