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Significance of New Inscriptions from Koppala, Karnataka
north-west are Aihole, Pattadakal, Bädämi, Annigere, Ādür, Laksmeśvara (Puligere), Hungund (Ponnugunda), Gadag, Ron etc; towards north-east are Lingasûr, Mäski (Piriya-Mosangi) etc. These were the nerve centres of the 'ism of non-absolutism (anekanta). A bronze image from Lingasür (No. 16) has been dated to the sixth century C. E. [U. P. Shah, "Jaina Bronzes a brief survey," in Aspects of Jaina Art and Architecture, Eds., U. P. Shah and M.A. Dhaky, Ahmedabad 1975, pp. 269-98]. Apart from an active movement of Jaina missionaries, many champions of Jainism were holding sway over these parts for several centuries, and Jainism thus continually had received a powerful stimulus. An extensive and systematic survey of the scattered Jaina vestiges in and around these sites is still a desideratum. Because of the lack of such a consistent and methodical study of the available epigraphical, literary, and archaeological data, much remains to be known about the nature of the growth and spread of the Nirgrantha religion. This paper is an attempt in this direction to show that this hoard of nisidhikäs offer indubitable proof of the resurgence and supremacy of Nirgrantha cult at Koppola.
Jain Education International
371
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