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JAINISM IN SOUTH INDIA (AD 600-1000)
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scription is undated, but there cannot be any doubt regarding its genuineness. Sivamāra I, it appears, like many of his predecessors, openly befriended the Jainas.29
The successor of Sivamāra I was Śrīpuruṣa, his grandson. He had a very long reign extending from ad 725 to the last quarter of the eighth century AD, 50 and was a great patron of the Jaina religion. The well-known Devarhalli plates," found from Mysore district, is dated in Saka 698 (AD 776) and the fiftieth year of the king's reign.
The village of Devarhalli is situated in the Nāgamangala tāluk of Mysore district. The inscription refers to a line of Jaina gurus belonging to Nandisamgha of Mūlagaņa. The name of the gaccha is given as Pulikal, which is probably connected with Puligere or Pulikara, the ancient name of Lakşmeśvara, famous for its Jaina temples. The earliest muni was Candranandin, who was succeeded by his disciple Kumāranandin, who in his turn was succeeded by Kirtinandi Ācārya and the latter by Acārya Vimalacandra. The earliest guru Candranandin therefore lived in the mid-seventh century AD. We are then introduced to a line of feudatory kings and the names of two members of this line are given, namely Nirgunda alias Paramagūļa. The wife of the latter, Kundācci, was the daughter of Maruvarman and her mother a daughter of the Pallava overlord (adhiraja). This lady, Kundācci, had built a Jaina temple called Lokatilaka on the northern side of Śrīpura (near Gudalur which is to the west of the Nilgiris). The inscription refers to the grant of the village of Ponnalli for the repair, maintenance, etc. of this temple. There is a long list of other grants made by several persons. The inscription was written by Viśvakarmācārya and the epithet ācārya shows that he too was a Jaina ascetic. According to the last two lines of the grant, he too also received some land.
There is little doubt that the Jaina temple by Kundācci, who had Pallava blood in her veins, was a celebrated shrine of Sripura. It is quite likely, and as the inscription indicates Srīpuruşa himself took personal interest in the welfare of this Jaina temple. A stone inscription of AD 801, belonging to his reign, 32 also indirectly shows his love for the Jaina religion. The destruction of basadis is regarded in that inscription as equivalent to the destruction of Vārāṇasī. Another genuine copperplate inscription of Śrīpurușa” refers to a grant made to a Jaina caityālaya. This inscription also refers to his successor Sivamāra II. This particular record was discovered from Narasimharājapura in Belur tāluk of Chikmagalur district. It is incised on five
