Jaina Gazette 1928

SR No.: 034890
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Ajitprasad, C S Mallinath
Publisher: Jaina Gazettee Office
Publication Year: 1928
Total Pages: 502
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 33 MB

Page 402

BAHUBALI COLOSSI
233
Raya and his king Racamalla bowed down.' This statement of a contemporary suffices to prove that Nemicandra was the preceptor not only of Camunda Raya, but also of his king Racamalla ; and the further fact that this opening verse refers to the prostration of king Racamalla at the feet of Nemicandra will no less suffice to prove that Nemicandra must have written the 'Trilokasara, while the king was yet alive, i.e., before 984 a.C. (as Racamalla IV reigned from 974 A.C to 984 A.c.) As Camunda Raya has nowhere been called in the 'Trilokasara' by the name of 'Gommata' (or 'Gommata Raya'), it goes without saying that he could have received that name only after 984 A.C. (when Racamalla died.)
Now, when could Nemicandra have come into contact with Camunda Raya and become his 'guru' ? Before discussing this question, we have to turn our attention to another and earlier 'guru' of both Camunda Raya and king Racamalla, who was none other than the famous 'Ajitasena' of Bankapura ; 1 for it was he, who officiated at the ceremony of the installation of the Sravana Belagola colossus, and not Nemicandra.
(1) This Ajitasena was the preceptor of Marasimha, Racamalla and Rakkasa Ganga, the three successive kings of the Ganga dynasty, of whom Marasimha is said to have died by penance at the feet of Ajitasena at Bankapura.
(2) The poet Ranna also speaks of him in his Ajita-purana as his own as well as the Ganga kings' 'guru' (1.7); and further down in the same poem, he couples the name of Ajitasena with that of Camunda Raya, whom he calls his beneiactor (XIII, 48). In the colophon to every canto of the same poem, he calls himself as Ajitasena's disciple.
1 This place is in the Dharwar district of tbe Bombay Presidency. It seems to have been a very sacred centre of the Digambara Jainas, especially of the Sena' section, for it was there that the great Jinasena and his disciple Gunabhadra lived and wrote their 'Adipurada' and Uttarapurana'. There seems to bave been a large number of Jaina temples at Bankapura, some of which 'Hulla', the great general of king Narasimha I of the 'Boysala' dynasty, bad repaired or renovated (Sravana Belgola Inscription, Do. 345 of 1159 A.C.) 2 Inscription, no. 59 (974 A.C.) at Sravana Belgola.
30 Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat