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COMPREHENSIVE HISTORY OF JAINISM
that illustrious Cālukya monarch. It also proves that this particular king took some interest in the development of the Jain religion. An important epigraph88, from Daddala, of the same district, of the time of Someśvara II (1048-7), mențions a Jain temple called Girigoțemalla-Jinālaya and yields the dated Śaka 991, corresponding to 1069 A.D. This temple was apparently built by the sāmanta Maleyamarasa Girigoțemalla, who was a feudatory of the above-mentioned Cālukya monarch. From Karadakal of Raichur district, comes an epigraph, containing the names Mūlasangha, Pustakagaccha and Desi gaņa. The epigrapho mentions the date, Śaka 1081 (1159 A.D.), and the Kalacurya king Bijjala, who as we will see afterwards, was an enemy of the Digambara religion.
Jain Epigraphs from Bijapur district : This important district of Karnatak, was once a stronghold of the Jain religion. As we have already seen, in the first volume of the present work®1, that Bijapur district was the home of the Jain poet Ravikīrti, who was directly patronised by Pulakesin II.
One of the earliest important Jain epigraphs of our period, is dated Saka 976, corresponding to 1054 A.D.It refers to the Western Cālukya king Someśvara I, who had the title of Trailokyamalla. The epigraph was discovered from Honwad, and refers to the erection of a great Jain temple, called Tribhuvanatilaka, dedicated to śāntinātha, which was built by Cāäkirāja, an officer of Ketaladevi, the wife of Someśvara I, who was then governing that town. We are further told that Somesvara I himself, on being requested by this queen (apparently a zealous supporter of the religion of the Tirthankaras), sanctioned some land and house-sites for the temple. In this epigraph, Cãukirāja has been described as a sincere Jain layman and a disciple of Mabāsena, who belonged to the Mülasangha, Sena gana and Pogari gaccha. The immediate guru of this Mahasena, viz. Brahmasena, has been described, in the Sanskrit portion
