Contribution of Jainas to Sanskrit and Prakrit Literature

Author(s): Vasantkumar Bhatt, Jitendra B Shah, Dinanath Sharma
Publisher: Kasturbhai Lalbhai Smarak Nidhi Ahmedabad

Page 60

Proselytism of Jaina Shrines in post-medieval Karnataka
An inscription on a broken slab lying near the Anjanēyasvāmi chapel in kuruvatti (Bellary Dt, Harapanahalli Tk) opens with a Jaina invocatory verse. Mahāmandalēśvara Sankaradēva, a Duke under Vikramāditya-VI, the Cālukya sovereign, made over gift of land to Jaina sanctuary. Hanumantadēvara gudi at Gunda-karjagi (Bijapur Dt, Muddebihā! Tk) contains a charter recording the names of Jaina deities of Aparājitadēvi, Kubēra etc. (SII. XV. No. 591. C. 12th cent.] Poysala Jinālaya, a Jaina shrine of royal status, has been appropriated as Madhava temple at Muttatti (Hassan Dt.) Vāsudeva temple at Gorur (Hassan Dt) and Anjanēyagudi at Kumbhenahalli were Jaina houses of worship.
An aged Melguļi Jaina sanctuary in Hallur, dated C. 880 C. E., of the Rāstrakūta period, now enshrines a Sivalinga and Nandi : 'A fragment of the original stele bearing a Jina is lying inside the hall. The images of Pārsvanātha on the facade of the gūdhamandapa have been deliberately mutilated; this may have been during the Viraśaiva uprising when many Jaina temples in northern Karnāṭaka were forcibly converted into Saivite temples' (Soundara Rajan, K. V.: EITA (eds), Meister and Dhaky, M. A.: 1986 : 147]
At Mukkaļihalli (Câmarājanagara Dt) a hoary Jaina place of worship has been converted into a Mārigudi, abode of a village deity, with the images of Kūsmāndini and Padmāvati intact. A fragmentary record containing an eulogy of Nayakīrti Siddhānta Cakravarti, a Jaina ascetic of C. 12th cent. is found engraved on a pillar before the Mārigudi at Bāle-Attikuppe [Mandya Dt, Pandavapura Tk : EC. VI (R) No. 245. P. 320). A dilapidated archaic temple dedicated to Tīrthankara at Doddagadda-Valli (Hassan Dt) has been requisitioned as a Sivälaya. The modern Virabhadra dēvālaya at Hire-Anaji was once Neminātha Basadi. A venerable Jaina house of god at Ingalagi (Gulbarga Dt/Citāpur Tk) founded by Jākaladēvi, queen consort of Vikramaditya-VI, the Calukya monarch, in C.E. 1095, continues to exist except that the image of Jina in the sanctum has been very conveniently replaced by Sivalinga.
A Jaina shrine commissioned in C. 5th cent. C. E., perhaps the oldest of Jaina temples built of stone, at Yelavatti (Shimoga Dt) has been converted into a Sivālaya, but curiously the aged temple has been well preserved. Mallikarjuna Sivālaya at Soudatti, Sivālaya at Hūli, Bhavāniśankara temple at Hubli, Hanumantana gudi at Muttige, Canna-Basavanna temple at Cikka-Māgadi, Sivālaya at Udri and Erēhalli (Davanagere Dt, Honnali Tk) were all originally Jaina temples. Varāhasvāmi temple at Yelandur (Mysore Dt) was a Jina Pārsva