Yasastilaka and Indian Culture

SR No.: 001609
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Krishnakant Handiqui
Publisher: Jain Sanskruti Samrakshak Sangh Solapur
Publication Year: 1968
Total Pages: 566
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Story, Literature, & Culture
File Size: 16 MB

Page 514

APPENDIX ITI
493
of Saiva worship, like Somanāthapattana, Ujjain, Khajuräho, and Tanjore.
Apart from the Ellora and the Elephanta cave-temples, there were no doubt other temples dedicated to Siva in existence during the Rāştrakūta period. It was in a Siva temple that Govinda III (794-814 A. D.) deposited the two statues sent by the king of Ceylon as a token of submission." The custom of founding a Siva temple in commemoration of a dead ancestor, and of naming the deity after the person to be commemorated, had already become prevalent in our period. Hebbal inscription, dated 975 A. D., refers to a temple of Bhujjabbeśvara built to commemorate Bhubbarasi, the grand-mother of the Ganga ruler Mārasimha II.' It may be noted that Siva temples existed in Mysore during the Rāştraküţa period. The religion of the Gangas was Jainism, but they were liberal in their outlook; and some of the early kings favoured the worship of Siva, for example, Tadangāla Madhava and Avinīta (circa 5th-6th century A. D.). A considerable number of Siva temples seems to have been built during the rule of the later Gangas who were contemporaries of the Rāştrakūtas. Notable among these are the shrine of Bhoganandīśvara at the foot of the Nandi hills, Someśvara at Gangavaripalli, Kapileśvara at Manne etc. The construction of so many temples for the worship of Śiva proves the prevalence of Saivism side by side with Jainism in Mysore, although under the Gangas the latter was the more influential and favoured religion.
Saiva temples were constructed or maintained, on a wide scale, during the reign of the Cālukyas of Kalyani, as shown by the various grants and endowments recorded in their inscriptions. For example, an inscription of 980 A. D. belonging to the reign of Taila II is the subject of an endowment made for the benefit of the temple of Suvarṇākşi, a form of Siva, styled as Samkara-Svayambhū-Suvarnamabākşi, at Soval (Sogal in the Belgaum district). An inscription of 1064 A. D. records the grant of an endowment to the temple of Keśaveśvara at Pottiyur (Hottūr); another of 1074 A. D. deals with the grant of a town for the maintenance of the sanctuary of Rāmeśvara at Pomballi (Hombli); while the temple of Mahā-Svayambhū
Portuguese annalist Diogo de Couto writing in the opening years of the 17th century says that the interior of the temple had formerly been covered with a coat of lime mixed with bitumen and other compositions that made the temple bright and very beautiful and worth seeing; and the features and workmanship were such that 'neither in silver or wax could such figures be engraved with greater nicety, fineness or perfection. Unfortunately it was during Portuguese occupation that the temple was damaged and the figures sadly mutilated. For detailed references see CommissariatHistory of Gujarat, Vol. I, Appendix, pp. 541-9.
Altekar: The Răstrakūtas and their times, p. 69. 2 Ibid. p. 287. 3 Rao: The Gangas of Talkad, p. 232. A systematic study of the early temples of
Mysore is a desideratum. 4 Epigraphia Indica, Vol. XVI, pp. 2, 6. 5 Ibid. Vol. XVI, p. 82. 6 Ibid. p. 69 ff.