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INTRODUCTION.
AMONG the ancient royal dynasties of India, the Gangas of the
West were devoted followers of Jainism. There The Ganga Dynasty.
use is a tradition that a Jaina Acharya, named Simhanandî, belonging to the Nandigaņa, helped Śivamâ ra, the first king of the Ganga dynasty, to rise to the throne. In one inscription we find a mention of the fact that Śivamâra Konguņivarmâ was the disciple of Simhanandi, and in another that the race of the Gangas prospered through the sage Simlanandi. It is therefore no wonder that we shall find in Jaina works verses to the effect that the Ganga kings worship the feet of Simhanandi, # or that a dynasty which owed its origin to the help of a Jaina Acharya should be staunch to
* Vide Repertoire d'epigraphie Jaina (A. A. Guerinot) Inscriptions Nos. 213 and 214. Also
"योऽसौ घातिमलाद्विषबलशिला-स्तम्भावली-खण्डनध्यानासिः पतुरर्हतो भगवतः सोऽस्य प्रसादीकृतः। छात्रस्यापि स सिंहनन्दिमुनिना नो चेत् कथम् वा शिला
स्तम्भो राज्यरमागमाध्वपरिघस्तेनासिखण्डो घनः"॥ [Inscription in Parsvanātha Basti on Chandragiri Hill, Sravana Belgola, Mysore. (Inscription No. 54-- Inscriptions at Sravana Belgola' by Lewis Rice, page 42.)] + “यस्याभवत् प्रवरकाश्यपवंशजोऽग्रे
कण्वो महामुनिरनल्पतपःप्रभावः। यः सिंहनन्दिमुनिपप्रतिलब्धवृद्धि
गंगान्वयो विजयतां जयतां वरः सः॥" [Manual of the Salem District-Revd. T. Foulkes, II, 369.] The reading बुनिप instead of fx in the above verse is according to Lewis Rice, * "श्रीदेशीयगणाधिपूर्णमृगभृच्छीसिंहनन्दिवति
श्रीपादाम्बुजयुग्ममत्तमधुपः सम्यक्त्वचूडामणिः । श्रीमज्जैनमताब्धिवर्द्धनसुधासूतिर्महीमण्डले रेजे श्रीगुणभूषण बुधनुतः श्रीराजमल्लो नृपः॥"
