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COMPREHENSIVE HISTORY OF JAINISM
lingered, in the period under review. Ancient Vijayanagara (modern Hampi) in Bellary district, has yielded a few important Jain epigraphs of our period. An inscription from this place18, dated Saka 1307, corresponding to 1386 A.D., of the time of the emperor Harihara II (1377-1404), discloses the construction of a temple of the 17th Tirthankara Kunthunātha by Iruga, the son of the Dandādhinayaka Caicapa, a great Jain devotee, and the disciple of Simhanandi of Mülasangha Balātkāra gana and Sārasvata gaccha. This epigraph further describes the beautiful city of Vijayanagara. It further proves that in the earliest period of the rule of the Vijayanagara kings, Jainism was accepted as one of the major religious systems of this newly-created Hindu empire. Another inscription 19 from this place, dated Śaka 1348, corresponding to 1426 A.D., of the time of the emperor Devarāya II (1422-1446), records the construction of a temple of Pārsvanātha in the capital Vijayanagara, by that king himself. We have already seen that Vijayanagara kings, although devout Hindus, were also equally respectful towards the Jain religion.
From the same Bellary district, we have a few more Jain epigraphs, one of which 20, was found from Hampi. It actually refers to a Jina temple, dedicated to Kunthunātha, which was constructed at a place called Kundanavrolu, probably not far from Vijayanagara, by Immadi-Bukka, the son of the minister Baicapa Dandanātha. The Jain saint Dharmabhushana, who is mentioned here, is also referred to in the epigraph from Vijayanagara, mentioned above, as belonging to the lineage of Simhanandi. It is dated in 1395 A.D. An earlier epigraph*1, from Rayadrug, in the same district, dated 1355 A.D., of the time of Harihara I (1336-1356), the Vijayanagara emperor, mentions the setting up of an icon of Santinātha by Bhogarāja, a lay disciple of Māghanandi, who belonged to the Balātkāra gana and Sarasvati gaccha. This proves that even, at the time of this earliest king of the Vijayanagara dynasty, Jainism was not neglected.
