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JAINISV IN SOUTH INDIA
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excellent state of preservation at Śravaņa Belgoļa. As we have already said, this inscription shows the great religious catholicity of that mighty Vijayanagara emperor Bukka I (1356-1377). The policy of religious concord, indicated in this epigraph, it appears, was followed by all the later kings of this great Hindu dynasty, but for whom, the temples of South India, would have met the same fate, as the temples of the North.
Two short inscriptions from Śravana Belgola refer to the death of two emperors of the Vijayanagara dynasty. The first epigraph 7, dated 1404 A.D., records the death of emperor Harihara II. The second epigraph 8, dated 1446 A.D., mentions the death of Dsvarāya II,
An epigraph from Belgoļao, states that queen Bhīmādevī, the wife of Deyarāya I (1405-1422), caused an image of the Tirthařkara sāntinātha to be made at this holy place. She has been described as the disciple of Panditācārya.100 That Devarāya I had a special love for the Jains, is proved by a record101, from Humch", which states that the two feet of Dharmabhūshana, the chief disciple of Vardhamāna Muni, were illumined by the crown of the rājadhirājaparameśvara king Devarāya. An inscription from Belgola1os, dated Saka 1355, corresponding to 1432 A.D, mentions the death of a great Digambara saint Śrutamuni, the younger brother of Pandita Yogīrāja, who was also a renowned saint of the 15th century. This particular epigraph also mentions the fact, that one of the spiritual predecessors of these two brothers, viz., Cārukīrti was the author of a work called Saratraya and another monk called Siddhānta Yogi was the author of the work called Siddhašastra. An earlier inscription08, from Śravaņa Belgoļa, records the death of a prominent monk of the Pustaka gaccha, called Subhacandra Muni in Śaka 1235, corresponding to 1313 A.D.
Jainism in other areas of South India: A few Jain epigraphs from some other places of South India, are known.
