Medieval Jainism

SR No.: 011082
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Bhasker Anand Saletore
Publisher: Karnataka Publishing House
Total Pages: 448
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 27 MB

Page 78

ROYAL BENEVOLENCE
63
chief, and in the language of the latter exclaimed-poy Sala (Strike, Sala !). Whereupon Sala hit the tiger and killed it finishing it off perhaps with his dagger. From the rescucd Jaina guru's exclamation, the chief assumed the name Poysala which later on became Hoysala.1
An examination of some of the most important stone and copper-plate inscriptions ranging from the first quarter of the twelfth to the last quarter of the thirteenth century A.D., reveals a few interesting details which, notwithstanding their divergence, yet enable us to understand the significance of the account concerning the Jaina guru and his lay disiciple. In the inscriptions of king Vinayāditya l (...A.D. 1022),12 and in those of his son and successor NȚpa Kāma Hoysala (...-A.D. 1047)," no mention is made of the above account at all. This need not come in the way of our appreciating it, since the times of these rulers were taken up with their bitter struggle against the Colas and the feudatories of the latter, the Kongāļvas, for
1. Rice, My & Coorg., p. 95. Such feats of courage and physical strength are met with even in our own days. It is reported that Rāmu Jotiba Patil, a villager from Kolhapur, showed his bravery thus-A cowherd Goru Tukaram was grazing his cattle in the forest on the outskirts of the village Savarda, Panhala Mahal, Kolhapur State, in the evening of Sept. 20, 1937. Suddenly a tiger five feet and three inches long, attacked the villager biting at his thigh. Hearing his scream for help, Rāmu Jotiba rushed at it and struck it with an ordinary bamboo stick. The brute turned on Rāmu who at once came to grips with it. The animal was finally killed by the neighbouring villagers who had hurried to the scene with their scythes and 'axes. Rāmu and Goru are reported to be making satisfactory progress in the Kolhapur State Hospital. (The Times of India, Bombay, Sept. 27th 1937).
2. M. A. R. for 1916, p. 51. 3. Ibid.