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JAINISM IN SOUTH INDIA (AD 600-1000)
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gion in the ninth century. We have already seen that there existed a Jaina shrine in Nāsik district, which was named after him. I shall at first discuss the available Jaina inscriptions of his reign and then turn my attention to the evidence supplied by the Jaina literary texts.
From a broken slab found from Ranebennur in Dharwar district an important Jaina inscription 21 has been discovered bearing the year Saka 781, corresponding to AD 859. Although the epigraph does not disclose the name of the reigning monarch, it was evidently written during Amoghavarşa's reign and within his empire. The inscription refers to a Jaina shrine constructed by one Nāgalūra Pollabe and therefore it was known as Nāgula vasadi. Lines 12 to the end record the gift of land made as a lifetime donation (jīva-âsana) for this temple by several villagers. The gift, we are told, was received on behalf of the temple, by Nāganandin Acārya of the Singhavura gana.
Much more important than the above-mentioned record is the Konnur stone inscription 122 dated Saka 782 of the reign of the same king. The inscription was discovered from a place called Konnur, which is situated on the south bank of the river Malaprabhā in Nawalgund tāluk of Dharwar district. At present the inscribed stone is built into a wall of the local parameśvara temple. Above the writing there are a few sculptures of Tīrthamkaras. The Saka date corresponds to AD 860. The epigraph has altogether 72 lines, of which 11. 1-59 represent the inscription of the time of Amoghavarsa I. According to this the emperor Amoghavarşa, while residing at Mānyakheța, at the request of his subordinate Bankeśa (Bankeya) in recognition of the important services, rendered by him, granted the village of Taleyura (1. 38) and some land of other villages for the benefit of a Jaina sanctuary founded by Bankeya at Kolanura to the sage Devendra, who was a disciple of Trikālayogisa, belonging to the Pustaka gaccha, Desiya gana and Mula Samgha. It is interesting to note that the opening verse of the inscription invokes the blessing of both Visņu and Jinendra. There is a magnificent tribute in v. 44 to the doctrine of the Jinas:
Ever victorious, like a royal edict be this doctrine of the Jinas, which destroys the false doctrines of peoples, who are filled with an excessive pride, arising from ignorance; which brings about the true happiness of all, who act in obedience to the commands of the wise; which is the place of glory of the excellent Syadváda by which things appear under manifold forms, and grants the quintessence of good conduct.
