Contribution of Jainas to Sanskrit and Prakrit Literature

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

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Contribution of Jainas to Sanskrit and Prakrit Literature
(religious merit) and yasas (glory) of the parents and of oneself. The religious grant was especially made on parvans such as lunar or solar eclipse, Pūrnimā, Amāvāsyā, Ekādaśī, Sankranti, Uttarāyaṇa, Vyatipāta and so on. Almost all the epigraphic records commence with the auspicious symbol of om, which is sometimes substituted by svasti or Svasti jayo-bhyudayaśca.
The grants of the Solanki period are mostly given to religious institutions rather than individual Brāhmanas. These institutions included Jain temples along with the Brahmanical ones. Though the family religion of the Caulukya kings was Saivism, they and their ministers contributed to the construction or renovation of Jain temples.
The most sacred Jain place of pilgrimage in Gujarat is the Satrunjaya hill situated in the eastern part of Saurashtra. The inscriptions compiled from the Jain temples on Satrunjaya by Acharya Kancansāgar Sūri include 32 inscriptions dated from V. S. 1190 to 1360. Most of them are inscribed on images and record their installation. They corroborate the tradition that there existed an earlier temple of Adinātha before Minister Udayan of King Siddharāja Jayasimha and Kumārapāla and his sons rebuilt the temple in stone in V. S. 1211 or 1213.
The Jain tirtha of Mt. Girnar is also a famous one. The group of Jain temples contain three famous temples : The principal temple of Neminátha built by minister Sajjana, the temple ascribed to Kumārapāla and the temple assigned to Minister Vastupāla. Minister Sajjana is said to have constructed a stonetemple of Neminātha on Mt. Girnar in place of the earlier wooden temple. The inscription of Sajjana dated V. S. 1176 (A. D. 1119-20) is preserved in the present temple of Neminātha called Botera Jinālaya30.
An outstanding temple on Mt. Girnar is the triple temple built by Minister Vastupāla. The six stone inscriptions embedded over the six doors of · the side shrines, dated V. S. 128831 (A. D. 1231-32) state that Mahāmātya
Vastupāla and Tejahpāla erected numerous new temples and renovated many old ones on Satrunjaya, Girnar and Abu and Anahilapura, Bhrgupura, Stambhanakapura, Stambhatirtha, Darbhāvatī, Dhavalakkaka and other cities. On Mt. Girnar Vastupāla contributed four Devakulikās of Rsabhadeva, Pārsvanātha, Mahāvīra and Sarasvatī. Girnar stone inscription dated 129932 (A. D. 1243) adds that Mahāmātya Vastupāla built the temple of Adinātha along with Kapardin Yakșa behind it.