Indian Antiquary Vol 02

SR No.: 032494
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Jas Burgess
Publisher: Swati Publications
Publication Year: 1984
Total Pages: 428
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 20 MB

Page 356

322
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
certainly have been one of the easiest ways of getting from the coast to Bijapur, and though perhaps not quite so short as that by Sâtavalî, yet it was probably much more easily guarded, and safer for unprotected travellers.
I can give no particulars of any old route to the south of this. Goa was always a muchcoveted port, but I have only seen the Fondâ Ghat mentioned in connection with it, which is a long way north. I have no doubt, however, that any one having a better acquaintance than I possess with the district lying between Goa and the Ghâts would be able to find traces of the Musalmans along some more direct route.
I must end this by acknowledging that there are many points of interest regarding even the places I have written about which require further elucidation, as I have now only been able
[NOVEMBER, 1873.
to put into shape some rough notes made at different times. And I must particularly mention that the villages on the Bankot creek, about which I have said nothing, contain a larger and more prosperous Musalmân popu. lation than any of the places I have mentioned. But I have never found any reference to any of these towns or villages in history previous to the time of the Marâthâs; and I am inclined to think that the Musalmâns of this part (known in Bombay by the too general name of Konkani Musalmans), who differ so strongly from others of their religion in prysical appearance, in dress, and in some of their customs, must be descended from seafaring Arabs who settled on this coast, and not from the Musalmân conquerors of India. I know no evidence, however, in favour of this theory, and must leave it as a mere hint to any one who may be able to investigate the subject properly.
JAIN INSCRIPTIONS AT SRAVANA BELGOĻA. BY LEWIS RICE, BANGALORE. (Continued from p. 266.)
II.
A long series of the rock inscriptions at Śravana Belgola, in the same old characters, consist of what may be termed epitaphs to Jain saints and ascetics, both male and female, or memorials of their emancipation from the body. Specimens are given below, with literal renderings and translations. It is painful to imagine the pangs of slow starvation by which these pitiable beings gave themselves up to death and put an end to their own existence, that by virtue of such extreme penance they might acquire merit for the life to come. The bitterest satirist of human delusions could hardly depict a scene of sterner irony than the naked summit of this bare rock dotted with emaciated devotees, both men and women, in silent torture awaiting the hour of self-imposed death, in haste to be quit of the human form, which yet from the opposite hill the gigantic granite image displayed in colossal proportions as that of the deity for whom they made such a sacrifice looking forth unmoved upon them with its impassive features. The irony is complete when we remember that avoidance of the destruction of life in whatever form is a fundamental doctrine of the sect. All the more striking must the
picture have been from the absence of the surrounding buildings, which were most probably not erected at the time to which the inscriptions refer.
The vow which these unhappy ascetics underwent appears to be known by the singular name. of sallekhanz. Regarding this penance a work called the Ratna Karandaka gives the following directions:
Upasarge durbhikshe jarasi rujâyám cha nishpratikkre
Dharmâya tanuvimochanam âhuḥ sallekhanâny âryaḥ. II
Antaḥ kriyadhikaranam tapaḥ phalam sakaladarsinastu gate,
Tasmâd yâvadvibhavam samâdhimarane prayatitavyam. II
Sneham vairam sangam parigraham châpahaya suddhamanâḥ, Svajanam parijanam apicha kshântvå kshamayet priyair vachanaiḥ. II
Alochya sarvam inaḥ kritakâritam anumatam cha nirvyâjam, Âropayen maha vratam âmaraṇasthâyiniḥ63sham. ||
Which may be freely translated as follows:When overtaken by portentous calamity, by