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JAINISM IN SOUTH INDIA
113
Vāsu pūjya Siddhāntadeva, who is mentioned in many contemporary Karņāțaka epigraphs, is also referred to in the present inscription.
Bandalike, in Shikarpur taluk, was another very important Jain centre of this district, and is recognised as a tirtha in an epigraph150 of Śaka 840, corresponding to 918 A.D. The earliest Jain epigraph, of our period, from this place is dated in Saka 996, corresponding to 1074 A.D. It mentions the Cālukya feudatory Permāļi Udayāditya and his overlord Bhuvanaikamalla, alias Someśvara II. The epigraph101 records a grapt by Bhuvanaikamalla for the Šāntinātha temple of this place. The recipient was Kulacandradeva, the disciple of Paramānanata Siddhāntadeva, belonging to the Mūlasangha, Krāņūra gana. That the temple of Sāntinātha at Bandalike or Bandhavapura (this Sanskrit name of this place is found in several epigraphs) was quite famous, is also apparent from another epigraph183, found from Chikkamagadi in the same Shikarpur taluk of Shimoga district. According to that epigraph, the Hoysala general Rechana before 1182 A D., visited this place and granted a village for this temple. A good description of the templecomplex of śāntinātha, at this place, will aiso be found in an epigraph 108 from this place, dated Śaka 1125, corresponde ing to 1203 A.D. It mentions the erection of a mandapa by a merchant, called Bodha-Seţți, at the temple of śāntinātha. The priest Sabhacandra, belonging to Kragūra gana, was evidently a very influential monk of this area. Ao important minister of Ballāla II (1173-1220), viz. Malla alias Kammata, was also associated with this great temple, according to this epigraph. The death of Subhacandra is recorded in an epigraph 19+, from this site, dated 1213 A.D
From Kuppațūru in the same district, we have an epigraph 108 of Saka 997, corresponding to 1075 A.D. This epigraph mentions a Kadamba prince Kirtideva and his wife Mālaladevi, who was a great Jiin laywoman. This epigraph also incidentally mentions Bandalike (Bandanikā) as a great
