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JAINISM IN SOUTH INDIA
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and Kaggere also. The gift of these three villages were confirmed by Ballāla II, according to the present epigraph, at the request of Hulla, who granted them to provide for the worship of Gommața, Pārsva and 24 Tirthařkaras,28 9 According to another epitaph 2*, dated 1163 A.D, Hulla made an epitaph, of his guru, mahāmaņdalācārya Devakīrti Panditadeva. Another epigraph®91 mentions Hulla's wife Padmăvati.
Several important Śravana Belgola epigraphs were incised during the reign of Narasimha's successor Ballāla II. We have just referred to his epigraph of 1175 A.D. That inscription mentions Adhyātmi Bālacandra, the disciple of Nayakirti. This Bālacandra is also described as a great promoter of the Jain faith in this epigraph.28% An epigraph of 1181 A.D. 298, records the erection of Pārsvanātha basadi at Belgola by Aciyakka, the wife of Ballala II's minister Candramauli. Although Āciyakka was a devout Jain and a disciple of the great Nayakirti. her husband Candramauli has been described, in this epigraph, as a Saiva. It was, at his request, that Ballāla II, granted the village of Bommenahalli for the god Pārsvanātha, set up by Aciyakka, also called Acaladevī* This particular epigraph of Belgola also informs us, that Nayakirti had celebrated disciples like Bālacandra, Bhānukīrti, Prabhācandra, Māghanandi, Padmanandi and Nemicandra.
An important epigraph 295, from Belgoļa of the reign of Ballāla II, dated 1195 A.D., records the pious works of Nāgadeva, the pațțanasvāmi of that king. We are told, that Nāgadeva made a dancing hall in front of the temple of Pārsvanātha and another dancing hall in front of Kamatha Pārsva basti. However, his greatest achievement was the construction of the famaus Nagara Jinālaya. The epigraph also records some grants, by the merchants of Belgola, for this particular Jain shrine. According to another epigraph ***, dated 1200 A.D, Nāgadeva, caused a tank called Nāgasamudra to be excavated, and he also built a new
