Jainism in South India and Some Jaina Epigraphs

SR No.: 011025
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: P B Desai
Publisher: Jain Sanskruti Samrakshak Sangh Solapur
Publication Year: 1957
Total Pages: 495
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 33 MB

Page 410

JAINISM IN SOUTH INDIA
The name of the donor who was the wife of Dēvaņārya is lost. She has been described in respectful terms and appears to have been a pious lady. She claimed allegiance to a teacher of the Müla Samgha and Dēsiya gana with which she seems to have been spiritually associated. More details in regard to the spiritual relationship of this lady are unfortunately lost. As observed previously, Erumbarage was an eminent stronghold of the Jaina faith which appears to have been patronised by the rulers and fostered by their officials. This is the third votive epigraph of the series from Yalbargi under study which lends confirmatory evidence in favour of this surmise.
TEXT Svasti [* śrīman-Mabāmaņdalēśvara Vira-Vikramādityadēvana Mahāpradhāna Tamtr-ādhishthāyaka Dēvaņārya-nāyaka ... ... ... punya-kāṁti chaladamka-Rāma ... ... ... [ suhādri] Mūla-Samgha Dēsiy.a-gana .................. chiņtāmaņi sajjana-jana-chūdāmaņi ......... nāyakiti ............ Pārsvanātha-chaitya-dye( dva)yaman= ettisiy = ā-sthānamam tammage ......... māļisi bittaļu [11* ]
TRANSLATION Hail! The lady ......... of meritorious lustre, ......... Mūla Saṁgha, Dēsiya gaña ......... the wish-fulfilling jewel, crest-jewel among the persons of righteous conduct ...... wife of Dēvaņārya Nāyaka who was Great Minister and Superintendent of Political Affairs, of the illustrious ruler, Mahāmaņdalēśvara (the great feudatory governor) Vira (valourous) Vikramādityadēva, caused to be erected the double-shrined temple of Pārsvanātha and dedicated (this image ) having had it prepared ...... the religious institution.
INSCRIPTION NO. 82 (Found on the Pedestal of an Image at Adūru) This inscription was discovered on the pedestal of a mutilated stone image. The pedestal was cast away and lying near Aļūru, a village situated in the Yalbargi taluk. Apart from the image which was broken and lost, even the surviving pedestal was partly damaged. Consequently, the epigraph was worn out, and could not be deciphered in full. The inscription comprises two lines of writing. It is engraved in small and round Kannada characters. The language is Sanskrit. The record is not dated but might be assigned approximately to the 12th century A, D, on palaeographical considerations. On account of the damaged nature of the epigraph the reading of some of the letters in the text given below is not beyond doubt.
It is a small label inscription. Its purport seems to be to record the gift of the image by a certain divine who was the head of the local congregation