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in Kartika month like national festival regularly with earnestness, devotion and zest by the pious people of towns and villages:
.... Jinendra Mahima karya pratisamvatsaram kramat astahakṛita maryyāda kārtikyantaddhanagamat II. Dharmmepsubhirijanapadaih Jinendra puja satatam praneya iti sthāpitavan Ravisaḥ'
The king himself assures the people :
Yasmin Jinendra puja pravartate tatra tatra desa parivarddhini nagarānāṁ nirbhayata taddesa svaminanchorjja II namo namah II'
Bhanu Varma, the brother to Ravi Varma, also, made land grants for abhiseka in the Jinamandira on full Moon day, in Halshi. Hari Varma (c.519-530) of the main line, virtually the last rular of the independent Kadamba kingdom, gifted land for the celebration of Astanhika Puja in an Arhadayatana got built by Mrigesa, the son of Simha senapati, a Parama Mahesvara' went specially a step ahead in a big way by advocating that meditation as propogated by Arhat Vardhamana, would purify individual from sin;
Vardharam Varddhamanarhacha chhasanam samyamasanam yenadyati jagajiva papa pumja prabhanjanam II Namorahate Vardhamanaya."
The Gangas and their patronage to Jainism
Now, let us review how did the contemporary Wester Ganga dynasty, extend its patronage to Jainism. As mentioned above, according to the tradition recorded in the eleventh century Kannada inscription29 in Kallur Dhadiga and Madhava, the two brothers, well versed in Vedic tradition, with blessings of and under the guidance of Simhanandi, the Jainacharya, founded a kingdom of their own with Kuvalalapura (i.e. the modern Kolar, a district head-quarters) as the capital. Durvinita (c. 529-579) one of the few most able rulers of the dynasty, performed a particular Vedic Yazna Hiranyagarbha'. The kings were variously, well versed in may sastras: Kautilya's Arthasastra, medicinal works by Atreya, Dhanvantari and Charaka: science pertaining to horse and elephant by Rajaputra, Sällhotra; Bharata's Natyasastra31. In music and dance they were like Tumburu, Narada and Kambalacharya32. They were reverential towards God, teachers and brahmanas ('devadvijaguru pujitayah. Probably their family god was Padmanabha. But individually, Visnugopa was devoted to the god Narayana, Madhava II, to the god Tryambika Durvinita, to the goddess Katyayin and Polavira to the god Sankara. A few of the later kings seem to have leanings towards the Jainism. Marasihma was a staunch devotee of Jinendra; 'Bhuvanaikamangala Jinendra Nityabhisekah 39
Madhava composed an important work: Dattakasūtravritti40 and Durvinita,
Arhat Vacana, July 2000
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