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PATRONAGE TO JAINISM BY THE SILAHĀRAS OF KOLHAPUR 291
chief of the Saiddhāntikas, a moon to the Jaina religion, resembling an ocean of nectar?”
Māghanandī is also greatly extolled in an inscripton at Śravana-Belgola.i “The prince of ascetics Māghanandī, honoured by the learned and by the whole world, a solar orb to the lotuses of the blessed, whose fame resembling the Himālayas, a glittering necklace of beautiful pearls, the moon and the white jasmine, spread to all the regions, was a new fillet of brilliant gems to the forehead of Sarasvati.” He had several powerful lay disciples such as the Sāmantas Kedāra-Nākarasa, Nimbadeva and Kāmadeva.2 Several of his religious disciples are mentioned in inscriptions of the period such as Srutakīrti-Traividya, Gandavimuktadeva, 3 Māņikyanandi-paņdita* and Arhannandi siddhānatadeva.5
Māghanandí is said to have founded a tīrtha (holy place) in Kolhapur. He was evidently the founder of the matha at Kolhāpur which became a powerful centre of Jainism in that period. When Nimbadeva erected the temple of Parávanātha near the Sukravāra Gate in Kolhāpur, he placed Māghanandī, his guru, in charge of it. This temple was known as Rūpanārāyaṇa, a biruda of Sāmanta Nimbadeva's Suzerain Gaņdarāditya. Later, Māghanandī appointed Srutakīrti-Traividya as the priest of the temple of Rūpanārāyaṇa.? The latter also was a learned man. He is thus described in a Sravaņa Belgoļa inscription: "Who attained fame like Srutakīrti Traividya, who on three occasions of contact with disputants, leaning on the support of his learning, cut off with the Syāduāda weapon, to the delight of the 1. Ep. Carn., Vol. II, p. 17. 2. Loc. cit.
Loc. cit. 4. Ep. Ind , Vol. III, pp. 207 f. 5. Ep. Ind., Vol. III, pp. 211 f. 6. Ep. Carn., Vol. II.
Loc. cit. 8. Ibid., Vol. II, p. 18.
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