Comprehensive History of Jainism Volume II

Author(s): Aseem Kumar Chaterjee
Publisher: Firma KLM Pvt Ltd

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COMPREHBNSIVE HISTORY OF JAINISM
were also contemporaries of Jayasimha and they will be discussed in the chapter on the Svetāmbara literature. :
We have already seen, that according to Hemacandra's Dvyāśrāya, which is a contemporary work, Jayasimha was basically a Saiva. This is fully confirmed by the epigraphs, and contemporary manuscripts where he has been given the title of paramešvara. We have also the extremely valuable contemporary evidence of Hemacandra's Dvyāśrāya,64 which not only describes him as a worshipper of Siva and also his excavating of Sahasralinga tank.68 The Prabandhacintamanio gives a detailed description of the great temple of Rudramabālaya, which was built by Jayasimba. But both the Dyyaśrāyaor and the Prabandhacintamanio 8 also speak of Siddharāja's deference for the religion of the Jinas. According to Hemacandra, Jayasimha built at Siddhapura a temple of Lord Mahāvīra and he served the Sangha there. A number of ministers and officials of this king were directly involved in the propagation of the religion of the Jinas. The most prominent of such officers of Siddharāja was Sajjana, 6e who was appointed by the king as the governor (dandadhipati) of Surāştra. This gentleman, who had an inveterate faith in the Nirgrantha doctrine, we are told, devoted the proceeds of the taxes for there years, to building on the holy mountain Girnar, a new stone temple of Neminātha in place of the old wooden one. In the fourth year, the king summoned him to Pattana and asked him for the money collected in three years. He offered the king money equal in amount, which he had obtained from the merchants. This greatly pleased the king. Afterwards, Sajjana presented silken banners to the temples of both Urjayanta (Girnar) and Satruñjaya (Palitana). According to the author of the Vividhaiirthakalpa,'' the new temple of Neminātha at Girnar, also called Raivataka, was built by him in the Vikrama year 1185. Indraji"1 refers to a Jain inscription of Sajjana at Girnar dated in the year 1176, the existence of