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MEDIÆVAL JAINISM applied to him in the Sāgarakațțe record. Here it may not be out of place to remark that the reigns of all the first three Hoysala rulers-Poysala, Vinayāditya I, and Nrpa Kāma--were shortlived. There is nothing strange that like the life of many an ascetic of India, and like that of many Jaina gurus as well, that of Vardhamānadeva, while it may have run into that of Vādirāja, may have, at the same time, covered that of the first three Hoysalas kings also. Whatever that may be, the fact that Vardhamānadeva had helped the continuance of the Hoysala rule in its early stages alone seems to be responsible for the deep-laid devotion which the Hoysala kings from Nrpa Kāma onwards showed for the Jina dharma in their great Empire.
2. The Status of the chief Sala. We have elsewhere shown that Poysala, the founder of the Hoysala House, belonged to the race of hill tribes of Karnāțaka.1 The age in which Poysala appeared was one of humiliation' to Karnātaka. As related above, it was the time of the Cola conquest of Gangavādi. The Ganga kingdom had been the creation of Jaina intellect. It is but natural that now when in the latter half of the tenth and beginning of the eleventh century A.D., the last remnant of Ganga rule had been wiped out by foreigners, Jaina wisdom should have again devised ways and means of rejuvenating political life in the country without which “ renovation" of the Jina dharma would not have been lasting and great.
There is no doubt Poysala was already a chieftain when he approached Sudatta Vardhamāna for aid. All accounts concerning him confirm this. Here we may be permitted to discuss the importance of his name, since it helps us to
1. Saletore, Wild Tribes., pp. 79 seq.
| SR No. | 011082 |
| Book Title | Medieval Jainism |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | Bhasker Anand Saletore |
| Publisher | Karnataka Publishing House |
| Publication Year | |
| Total Pages | 448 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English |
| File Size | 27 MB |