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The genesis and popularity of the Dhavala commentary have solid connection to the Rüstrakūtas in the Deccan and their branch at Hastikundi, as well was the Chāhamana in Western India. In the Western India branch of the Imperial Rāstrakūtas, the Hastikundi Rāstrakūtas not only commissioned the Rsabha Jina temple at Hastikundi, and gave grants, but also named one of the kings as Dhavala. "The Bijapur inscription (C.E. 940) preserved in the Ajmer Museum furnishes the information as to his name and his many endowments to Jaina establishments. As noted already, the appearance of the name of pro-canonical Satkhandagama in the Bijoloa lithic record of Chūhamāna king Somesvara, (C.E. 1169) attests to the fact that both works - Satkhandāgama and its commentary the Dhavala were held in high in esteem by kings and ordinary people, from the south to the western part of India.
In this contexts, the adjective Dhavala stands for bright, white, luminescence, and probably it is an appropriate term for it synthesizes accumulate knowledge and introspection of saint scholars Dharasena, Puspavanta and Bhūtabali. 4. The Hindi Edition of Satkhandagama
There appears to be two principle people who worked on the Hindi edition of the Satkhandāgama. One was Pandit Hiralal Jain, a reputed Siddhānta Sastri and Nyāyatirtha, and Prof. Hiralal Jain, the General Editor of the whole 16 volumes of the Satkhandagama works, based on the Dhavală commentary. 4.1 The Dhavala Manuscript
The Dhavatā palin - leaves manuscript preserved now at Mudabidri in the western part of Karnataka, based on palaeography evidences, belongs the time of Billivardhana, the Hoysala king, and his queen, Sāntala. The manuscript is dated CE 1113. The records also show that at the time of the Later Ganga monarchy, which ruled mandali - 1000 - nādu in the Tunga and Bhadra river region of Shimoga district of modern Karnataka, the Dhavalā was copied twice. During the reign of Bhujabala Garga, the copy of Dhavata was cominissioned by Devamati, mother-in-law of the king. It was given to Subhacandradeva (C.E. 1119), the chief preceptor of caityalaya at Bannikere, commissioned by Bacaladevi, queen of Bhujabala Ganga. In the beginning of the twelth century, Mallikabbe, queen consort of Sūnusenarāja, also commissioned the copying work of the Dhavala, and gave it to her preceptor. Maghanandi. The Jaina copyists who were well versed in Prakrit. Sanskrit and Kannada had used a specially prepared ink instead of an iron - style so that the work would last longer
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Arhat Vacana, 14(4), 2002
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