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Gommațeśvara Commemoration Volume
profound bearing on the history of Jainism in Karnataka. It provided much inspiration to the Jaina community; monks and laymen emulated, the two saints by coming to the smaller hill of Sravana Belgoļa to perform sallekhana. This is graphically indicated by a sixth-seventh century inscription which records and in course of time, seven hundred rşis similarly accomplished samadhi". That this practice continued into the later centuries is borne out by the numerous epitaphs engraved on pillars and the stony rock surface of the hill.
It is generally believed that it was the Digambara sect which was active in the proselytisation of the South. This does not reflect the actual state of affairs. The Svetāmbaras also sent missionaries to the South and their activities were sponsored by King Samprati, the grandson of Asoka, who was a Jaina having been converted to the Svetāmbara creed by Suhastin. References in Jaina literary treatises suggest that followers of the Svetambara sect had settled in Paithan, north Deccan, as also in Madkhed in the Deccan. The penetration of the Svetāmbaras deeper into the South is attested by an inscription recording the grant of a village made by the Kadamba king Mrgeśavarma (A. D. 470-488). The missionary activities of the Svetāmbaras, however, began to slow down in the first centuries of the Christian Era and then ceased.
The Digambara Jainas remained active in south India receiving munificent endowments from the rulers of different dynasties in Karnataka. Even if the kings. were not adherents of the Jaina faith but they were, nevertheless, very tolerant in the sphere of religion, allowing different faiths to exist side by side and extending generous support to them all.
Regardless of their personal beliefs and religious affiliations, many Karnataka rulers became closely associated with the Jaina faith. Jainism received consistent patronage under the kings of the Garga dynasty who ruled over the greater part of Mysore from the second to the eleventh centuries. This was the golden period of Jainism, and it was during this era that the Ganga kings built numerous basadis, consecrated images for worship, commissioned the hollowing of caves for Jaina ascetics and made grants for Jaina ācāryas. The rulers of the Rāştrakūta dynasty were, also, well disposed towards the Jainas and it was a favourable period for the Jainas in the Deccan and Karnataka, particularly so for Jaina litterateurs.
During the tenth century, the resurgence of Hinduism in the form of Vira Saivism and Vira Vaişnavism led to the decline of Jainism. The Jainas were persecuted and harassed. The best days of the Jainas in the South were over; it was an unhappy sequel to a long and glorious history.
Although patronage from the royalty and aristocracy had dried up and many adherents of the faith had gone over to other religions, Jainism, unlike
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