Mahavira and his Teaching

SR No.: 008019
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: C C Shah, Rishabhdas Ranka, Dalsukh Malvania
Publisher: Bhagwan Mahavir 2500th Nirvan Mahotsava Samiti
Publication Year: 1977
Total Pages: 509
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Biography, Religion, & Principle
File Size: 12 MB

Page 300

PATRONAGE TO JAINISM BY THE SILĀHĀRAS OF KOLHAPUR 293
erected by one Chaudhore-Kāmagāvunda, and the gift of a field together with a flower-garden was made in its favour by King Vijayāditya at the request of his maternal uncle Samanta Lakşmaņa for the spiritual benefit of the latter's family.
Another temple dedicated to the Tírthankara Candraprabha was built by Nemagāvunda at the instance of Nāgaladevī, who was probably the mother of Gandarāditya. It was at HāvinaHerilige, modern Herlel, a village about 11.25 Km. west of Hātakanangale in the Kolhapur District. Like the Rūpaārāyaṇa temple of Kolhāpur, it was named after a biruda of Gaņdarāditya, viz., Tribhuvanatilaka. Its priest Sāntivīra-siddhāntadeva, was a disciple of Balachandra-vrati, who is glorified in the Nemināthapurāna of Karnapārya, who was patronized by Lakşmīdhara, a minister of the Silahāra king Vijayāditya. The inscription at Herle records the grant of one mattar of land and a garden for the worship of the Tirthařkara Candraprabha. It is dated in Saka 1040, (A.D. 1118).
The foregoing account of gifts made to the Jaina priests who were disciples of the Jaina Muni Māghanandī Saiddhāntika will show what influence this centre of Jainism exerted on the religious life of the adherents of that religion in the territory of the Kolhāpur Silāhāras.
Māghanandī Saiddhāntika was venerated beyond the dominion of the Silāhāras of Kolhāpur. Gonka, who, like the Silāhāras, claimed descent from Jímūtavāhana, was a feudatory of the Chalukya Emperor Vikramāditya VI. He erected a temple of Neminātha, called Gonka-Jinālaya after him, at Teridāla, modern Terdal in the former Sangli State. The inscription set up near the temple states that Goňka invited the venerable Māghanandi Saiddhāntika of Kollagira (i.e. Kolhāpur), the preceptor of Samanta Nimbadeva, evidently for the consecration of the temple. The Terdal inscription mentions several disciples of this 1. Graham, Kolhāpur, p. 349. I owe this information to Dr. G. S. Gai. 2. Ind. Ant., Vol. XIV, pp. 14 f.