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No. 29] TALANGERE INSCRIPTION OF JAYASIMHA
203 These facts are revealing. They show that the Yakshi bad gained popularity among the followers of Jainism from very early time and that her images, like those of the Jinas, were installed independently in shrines created for the purpose and placed under worship. This should appear strange if we examine the original status of a Yakshi in the Jaina pantheon. A Yaksha and a Yakshi are the devotees of the Jina and their function is to attend on him. These are depicted in sculptural representations in small figures at the corners of the pedestals adorned by their masters, the Jinas.' It thus becomes clear that the Yakshi is a subservient deity and can claim no independent place for herself. The above epigraphical notices therefore go contrary to the original conceptio:1 of the Yakshi and provide instances of the characteristic evolution of the Yakshi worship.
Inscription II contains reference to Hēlācharya, which name devoid of phonetic accretion would be Elāchārya. Elächärya wis an eminent teacher of the Dravida-gana and he is regarded as the innovator of the cult of Jvälāmālini. This deity, though a Yakshi in the beginning, was, with the passage of time, attributed mysterious powars including those of the fire-goddess. She was involved in the practices of Tantric worship and works like the Jvīlāmālinikalpa were composed around her. It is of interest to note that in an inscription at Sēdam in the Gulbarga District, Hyderabad State, the Muhajans of the place are described as performing mystic rites for propitiating this derby
No. 29–TALANGERE INSCRIPTION OF JAYASIMHA
(1 Plate)
N. LAKSHMINARAYAN RAO, OOTACAMUND and D. L. NARASIMHACHAR, MYSORE The inscription edited below is engraved on a stone slab lying in front of the big mosque at Talangere near Kasaragod, the headquarters of the taluk of that name in the South Kanara District of the Madras State. It was reported that the slab was being used for washing clothes and that consequently a portion of the writing on it was getting worn out. It was, therefore, copied during the winter of the year 1952-53 by Mr. N. Lakshminarayan Rao, Government Epigraphist for India, in the course of his official tour in that district.
The record contains 27 lines of writing. The first four lines embody a Sanskrit verse in Sārdülavikridita metre and are engraved in Grantha characters. The rest of the inscription is in Kannada characters and language. The record may, on palaeographical grounds, be placed in the 10th century A. C. The script does not show any peculiarities calling for special remarks. However, attention may be drawn to the forms of the initial vowels, a (lines 9, 23), a (lines 16, 21). i line 7), i (line 20), u (line 9) and ů (lines 9, 26). The shape of the long ù is particularly noteworthy. The form of final l (line 6) may also be noted. The specimens of Grantha and Kannada scripts in the record may be compared respectively with thoso in the Grantha inscriptions of the 10th century, e.g., Udayondiram Plates of Bāņa Vikramaditya" and the Kannada inscriptions of the same period, e.g., the Devihosūr inscription of Saka 884 and the Sogal insoription of the reign
under publica
1 Jaina Iconography, pp. 92-93.
Pravachansara, Introduction pp. 4 and 12. .. Author's own epigraphical collection. This epigraph which belongs to the 12th century, tion in my Jainism in South India mentioned above.
Above, Vol. III, p. 76 and plate. Ahore. Vol. XVI, pp. 285 ff. and plate.
