Jain Journal 1999 01

SR No.: 520133
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication
Publication Year: 1999
Total Pages: 42
Language: English
Classification: Magazine, India_Jain Journal, & India
File Size: 3 MB

Page 34

JAIN JOURNAL: Vol-XXXIII, No. 3 January 1999 sprinkle of hallowed water of God Jina's ablution. Her graceful gait is comparable only to the dignified elephant's walk.
108
Bacaladevi, a woman of renown, did not confine herself to the four walls of seraglio. A fortune's darling, a patron of goddess of speech ('the muse'), Bacaladevi encouraged art, architecture, religion and culture. She had earned nonpareil distinction in performing art. So versatile in the art of dancing was Bacaladevi that she had the immaculate fame of competing with the professional expert court dancers of Indra, the chief of gods, without any exertion at all.
The prowess of the Mandali-Thousand King Bhujabali-GangaPermmäḍideva was such that the hostile rival kings were made to surrender and prostrate. Though the king had conquered the strong rulers by his might, Bacaladevi had conquered him by her talent and graceful coquetry. The way in which she captivated her husband was like a nāṭaka, a play. Pleased with her excellent dance performance, he gave her the befitting cognomen of paātra-jagadale 'chief of the world of dancers'.
Bacaladevi was also an adroit singer. She continued to glitter with unsullied fame in the field of vocal music that she effortlessly vanquished the opposite group of singers. Overjoyed with her genius, the Maha-maṇḍaleśvara Bhujabala-Ganga, with his queen consort Ganga-Mahadevi, granted the town Bannikere to Bacaladevi and confirmed its enjoyment to the third generation. Her father was an officer appointed by the king to perform domestic and ceremonial duties of the palace. She was a female bee at the lotus feet of the Jina, the spiritual victor. She was dedicated to enhance the glory of her religion, so was her elder brother Bahubali, who had earned name and fame as a devout Jaina. The patronisation of Bacaladevi to the cause of Jainism reached its apogee in the construction of a temple. Taking council with her brother Bahubali, she caused a Caityalaya which was parexcellence to desiga-gana and the Mandali-Thousand. Looking at the best of Caityalayas a resonance of exclamation found a vent: 'a similar Jinabhavana neither existed in the past nor is seen now or will be found in future, in the heaven or in the Nagaloka, the nether world'. Thus the construction of Jina-Parsvadeva Jinalaya at Bannikere was praised as an extraordinary feat, not within the reach of ordinary persons; the basadi was an ornament of the Mandali-nāḍ. In the oceangirdled world, celebrated is Gangavāḍi-nāḍ, in it is the distinguished Mandali-nāḍ, to which as the face Bannikere was its nose, blessing everyone was its Lord Parsvanatha. For that holy God in the year C.E. 1113, the king Bhujabala-Ganga Permmäḍideva, his crown queen