Jain Siddhant Bhaskar

SR No.: 010062
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Hiralal Jain, Others
Publisher: ZZZ Unknown
Publication Year: 1940
Total Pages: 143
Language: Hindi
Classification: Book_Devnagari
File Size: 7 MB

Page 100

120
SHE JAINA ANTIQUARY.
[ Vol. V
were in charge of the religious endowments of that city. The same record informs us that the merchants of that centre were the protectors of that Jinalaya" (1.c., the famous Nagara Jinālaya of Sravana Belgola.
Ibid, 335, p. 143
244, p 104
36
Even in later ages the merchants of Sravana Belgola were in charge of the public charities of that centre. Thus in about A. D. 1274 the jewel merchants and the elavi (?), it was agreed upon, were to look after the charity which was made by some one whose name is not mentioned in the record But we are informed that a perpetual endowment of four gadyānas was made as an act of reverence to the memory of Medhavi Seṭṭi of Barakanur, the lay disciple of Prabhacandra Bhattaraka, with the condition that three monas of milk should be supplied every day as long as the sun and the moon last. In about the same year another endowment of three gadyānas made by Keti Setti (descent stated), for the daily anointment of the god Gommatadeva, was also entrusted to the charge of the jewel merchants of Śravana Belgola.1o
The extreme care with which they looked after the public charities entrusted to their charge is proved by an inscription dated A. D. 1288. This inscription relates the following:-That all the jewel merehants of the holy place Belugula and Jinanäthapura (Mosale?), agreeing among themselves, gave a deed as follows::-"For the repairs (of the temple) of the god Adi of the Nagara-Jinalaya, temple vessele, etc., and services, all the merchants of those two cities granted, with pouring of water, to continue for as long as the sun, the moon, and the stars endure, davana (2) at the rate of one gadyāna for every hundred gadyanas of davana received from either local men or foreigners, for the god idi." The concluding lines of this deed clearly prove the solidarity of the merchants, their intense patriotism, and their honesty of purpose. "If any one denies or conceals (his income)
8
9.
13
I. Ibid, 245, p 104. C No 246, dated also in about the same year, for a similar example Page 104-105,