Arhat Parshva and Dharnendra Nexus

SR No.: 002108
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: M A Dhaky
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad
Publication Year: 1997
Total Pages: 204
Language: English, Hindi
Classification: Book_English, Articles, History, Art, E000, & E001
File Size: 8 MB

Page 142

Arbat Parsva and Dharanendra Nexus
at the request of (one of his consorts) Ketaladevi. The grants included land, garden, house-site, shops, the sculptor's house (kalkutigara mane) and oil-mills. The recipient of the grant was evidently Mahasena-muni of Mula-sangha, Varasena-gana, and Pogari-gaccha.
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An inscription from Gudigere" (Dharwar District) which can be assigned to c. A.D 1075-76, records a number of gifts to the temple of Pärsvanatha at Dhvajataṭāka (i.e. Gudigere the findspot of the record) by astopavàsi-kantiyar, at the instance of her teacher Śrīnandi. Here astopavàsi-kantiyar is the nun who performed eight fasts in continuity; Calukya Someśvara II was on the throne on the date of this record. Another record from Soratūru (Gadag Taluk, Dharwar District) engraved during the reign of the same emperor (Someśvara II) refers to a very interesting occasion when Huliyabbajjike, disciple of the same preceptor Srinandi (his gana being mentioned as Surastha and anvaya as Citrakuta), received the grant made to the basadi. This hints to the fact that she was in charge of the management of the basadi. These instances reflect the important role played by the Jaina nuns or female preceptors during this period.
An inscription from Doni 10 (Dharwar District) belonging to the reign of Calukya Vikramaditya VI, dated A.D. 1097, refers to the administration of the place Dronipura by Lakṣmi-mahadevi, Vikramaditya's senior queen (piriyarasi), states that Sovisetti, a merchant of that place, caused the construction of the Jaina temple and made gift of a garden to Carukirti-pandita of the Yapaniya-sangha and Vṛkşamüla-gana. The temple no longer exists, the solitary image of Pärsvanatha from the place is the only indication of the deity in the basadi mentioned in the epigraph.
There are a number of Calukya period inscriptions assignable on palaeographical grounds to the 11th-12th centuries A.D., which furnish some evidence about the Pārsvanatha temples; to these I shall presently turn. According to an inscription preserved in Gulbarga," Aḍakki (the present-day Aḍaki in the vicinity of Gulbarga) which was a flourishing Jaina centre during this period, had a Jaina temple by name Koppa-Jinālaya, dedicated to Pārsvanätha. This temple is referred to as Cenna-Pārsva (also as Cenna-Päršvanätha; Cenna meaning beautiful). An inscription from Koppal (Raichur District) refers to Kusa-Jinalaya and the deity Pärsvanatha. Barnkur1 (Gulbarga District) has preserved ruins of a number of Jaina temples. Of these, bastiguḍi has the images of Parsvanatha and Padmavati, amongst other images like Adinatha, Caturvirśati-Jinas, Vardhamana, and others. On stylistic grounds, they can be assigned to the Kalyāņa Calukya period (11th-12th centuries A.D.). A thorough exploration may reveal many more sculptures and inscriptions of interest to us.