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Jina Parsva and his Temples in Inscriptions: Southern India (Karnataka)
While the village Ciñcoli' has preserved a Pāršvanatha sculpture, Hagaragi's has a sculpture of Pärśvanatha attended by Padmavati and Dharanendra; Kalagi1 and Malkhed" have again preserved images of Pärśvanätha amidst the temple ruins. At Hunisi-Hadangili, the medieval Jaina temple of the site is referred to as ŚrīkṣetraHuñasi-Hadangili-Parsvanatha-Padmavati-basti, in the official records. These all are in Kalyāṇa-Calukya style and may be assigned to 11th-12th centuries A.D.
Two inscriptions from Halebid" (Hassan District), of the Hoysala period, are of considerable interest. The first refers to the construction of the temple of Pärśvanātha by Tippana and Harideva, sons of Mallisetti, while the second record refers to punise-jinälaya. Since the latter record is also from the same place, the reference therein is obviously to the same Pärśvanatha-Jinälaya, which may have been referred to as such, because it may have been situated in the vicinity of a tamarind tree (punise).
The inscriptions of the 10th or 11th century, though mostly donative, furnish some important and interesting account of the temple-building activity for Jina Pārsva. However, in respect of the period prior to those centuries, a further epigraphical survey is needed. As earlier noticed, a number of sites have preserved ruins of Jaina temples and sculptures. A thorough examination of these may possibly bring to light some hitherto unknown epigraphs, some even referring to Jina Pārsva
A comparison with the situation in other parts of India, particularly Southern, reveals similarity to a fair degree in the nature of inscriptions, temples, and sculptures pertaining to the Pärśvanatha cult. In Karnataka, as also in other parts of Southern India, the sculptures installed in the sanctum sanctorum are of stone. The uniqueness of Karnataka is that the worship of Parsvanatha is attested to in all ages after Jainism had secured a firm foothold.
NOTES AND REFERENCES
1. B.R. Gopal (ed.), Epigraphica Carnatica, Vol. II (Rev.), pp. 3 ff.
2. Ibid., Corpus of Kadamba Inscriptions, p. 35; cf. also P.B. Desai, Jainism in South India and some Jaina Epigraphs, Sholapur 1957, p. 97.
3. Ibid., p. 149. At Bādāmī (Bijapur District), the rock cut cave IV of the Vatapi-Calukya period (c. A.D. 600) contains Jaina sculptures of all tirthankaras seemingly added in the Hoysala period. However, there is no contemporaneous epigraph in the cave.
4. Desai, Jainism., p. 149.
5. N.L. Rao (ed.), A.R. Ep., 1950-51, No. B. 67.
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