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JAINISM IN SOUTH INDIA
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epigraph, built icons of Aranātha, Mallinātha and Suvrata in this Jina temple, built by him. The epigraph also mentions the Pārsvanātha temple of this town, which was situated on the hillock Govardhanagiri. An earlier epigraph61, dated 1545 A.D., from Kārkal, records some gift for the Gommateśvara temple, during the reign of the local king Pāņdyappa Bodeya.
Mudabidure, of the same South Kanara district, was another great centre of Digambara Jainism, and we have records, from this place, from the beginning of the 16th century. The earliest record 6a, from this place, is a copperplate inscription, dated Saka 1426, corresponding to 1504 A.D. It refers to an influential Jain monk, called Cārukirti, but not to any Jina temple. A copper plate inscription, from this place 58, dated Śaka 1468, corresponding to 1546 A.D., mentions some gift for the Tribhuvanacūļāmaņi temple of this place, which was dedicated to Candraprabha (also called Candranātha). This temple of Candraprabha is also mentioned in contemporary literature, and this will be noticed in the chapter on the Jain Tirthas. The temple of Pārsvanātha of Mūdabidure is mentioned in a copper plate grant, dated 1563 A.D. It records, some gift for this temple and also mentions the saint Cărukirti, who was probably a very old man, at that time. An inscriptions, of the 18th century, shows that the saint Cārukirti was a contemptempory of the Vijayanagara monarch Vijaya Sadāśiva Mahārāja. Another copper plate grants, from the same place, shows that the Pārsvanātha temple, of this town, was originally built by this Jain saint.
An inscription 57, from Guruvayanakare in South Kanara district, dated 1484 A.D., mentions a Jina temple, called Kannadi-basadi. It was probably dedicated to śāntinātha, as another epigraph58, from the same place, proves. The great Kșshpadevarāya is mentioned in a Jain epigraph , from Varānganã, dated 1515 A.D. A temple, dedicated to
