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A COMPREHENSIVE HISTORY OF JAINISM
AD, has repeatedly mentioned the prosperity of the Jainas in south India.
It should not, however, be supposed that the Cālukyans themselves were Jainas, majority of their inscriptions indicate that they were devout Hindus, strongly believing in the traditional form of Brahmanical religion. Like their predecessors, the Kadambas, however, right from the very beginning they extended their hand of cooperation to the Jaina religion. It should also be remembered that all the Jaina inscriptions of the western Călukyas of Badami have been found from the state of Karnataka, which was so strongly associated with the Jaina religion from the early centuries of the Christian era.
Let us now once more turn our attention to the state of the Jaina religion in the Ganga territory. We have already seen that the western Ganga rulers actively associated themselves with the progress of the Jaina religion from the days of their founder. We will now briefly examine the Jaina inscriptions of this dynasty which were written after AD 600.
Durvinita was succeeded by his son Muskara or Mokkara, 24 probably before the end of the sixth century AD. A Jaina temple was erected in his name at Lakşmeśvara and was called Mokkaravasati.25 The erection of this temple indicates the extension of the Ganga kingdom in that direction.26 Muşkara was succeeded by Srivikrama, and it appears that both of them ruled for very short periods. This is evident from the fact that we have a genuine, dated inscription" of Srivikrama's son Bhūvikrama, which indicates that the latter ascended the throne in Saka 531 corresponding to AD 609. No Jaina inscription of either Srivikrama or Bhūvikrama is known, but we have evidence to show that during the reign of Sivamāra I (AD 670– 713), the son of Bhūvikrama, the Jainas enjoyed royal patronage. An inscription 28 from Kulagāna in Camarājnagar tāluk of Mysore district belongs to his reign. The second line of this inscription refers to Madhava I's indebtedness to a śramaņācārya. The king Sivamāra I is here called Avanimahendra (1. 16) and the lord of whole Pāņāța and Puņņāța. According to this inscription, several persons granted lands and dwelling sites with the approval of the king, who is also called Kongani Muttarasa. The king himself also made a grant to the Jaina Candrasenācārya, the kartārar (manager) of the temple. The fact that so many persons contributed for the temple shows that it was an important shrine in this part of Karnataka. The in
