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Cāmundarāya - A Great Jaina Minister of Karnataka
47
Cámuqdarāya proved his loyalty to his master Mārasimba by defeating his two rivals, who aspired for the Ganga throne. The first was Chaladanka Ganga and the second Mudurācayya. The latter in addition to being a rival of his master had also offended Cāmundarāya by killing his younger brother Nāgavarma. Thus with one stroke, he avenged his brother's death as well as saved his master.
He fought along with his master Mārasimha against the Noļambas. The Noļambas who were ruling in Tumkur, Chitradurga and Anantapur districts had opposed the Rāştrakūtas and thus incurred the wrath of the Gangas. Mārasimha made a clean sweep of the Nolambas and came to be known as Noļamba-Kulantanka or the destroyer of the race of Nolambas, a bit of exaggeration. But they were thoroughly defeated and in achieving this result Cāmundarāya had a lion's share. He won a victory over them at Goņür and earned the title of Viramärtaņda. He also defeated Rājāditya who had the title of Raņasjnga or Raņaranga Singa and took his hill-fort of Uchchangi and bore the title of the defeated king. He also defeated one Vajvala, younger brother of Pātāļamalla. Vajvala is identified by Hultzch with a local chief ruling in the Chittoor region.
Besides serving his king as a military general and minister, Cāmuodarāya distinguished himself as a great writer boih in Kannada and in Sanskrit. In Kannada, he is the author of the Cāvundarāya Puräņa, which he wrote some years after Pampa's Adipurāņa. The early part of the Cāvundarāya Purāņa and the Adipurāņa have the same subject matter. They are based upon the same Sanskrit sources. But the treatment is different. Pampa's poetry is high-flown and can be appreciated only by scholars. Cāmundarāya wrote for the layman in simple prose. His main aim was religious propaganda. He nowhere takes liberties with the contents of the original works. He was formerly considered to be the first prosewriter in Kannada. But after the discovery of the Vaņdarādhane, which is an earlier prose work, his position in this respect is second.
In Sanskrit, he is the author of Caritrasära. He was as good a writer in Sanskrit as in Kannada. He was both a poet as well as a prose-writer. This work deals with Jaina ceremonies ( vratas) which are to be performed by the married people (grhasthas) and saints (munis).
In addition to being a poet, he was also a patron of poets, And the bestknown of his proteges was no other than Ranna the author of the Gada yuddha. When Ranna found it difficult to eke out a livelihood in Mudhol, he was patronised by Cāmundarāya. He thus was responsible in giving the Kannada language one of its greatest poets.
But the foremost claim to the fame of Cāmundaraya rests upon his promotion of art. He is the author of the Gommața statue in Sravanabelgoļa. This statue has won the admiration of art-lovers all over the world for the last thousand years.
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