History of Early Ganga Monarchy and Jainism

Author(s): Nagarajaiah Hampa
Publisher: Ankita Pustak

Page 51

8/Ganga Monarchy & Jainism
2.3
1.
ai o
community. This, therefore, may be taken to be an example of mature wisdom scattered throughout the different texts of the Jaina Canon" [Deo, S.B: Jaina Canonical Literature - An Appraisal : 1981:30]. Why did ācārya Simhanandi move from Ganga Perūr to Kuvalālapura and Nandagiri, from where he left to Mandali hill, all too far away places- is a valid question. A permanent habitation is forbidden to a Jaina friar [Deo, S.B : 1956:342]. Therefore, Simhanandi ācārya kept moving and staying in the natural caves on Nandagiri and Mandali hill, where he finally breathed his last. The Gangas faithfully followed their preceptor, wherever he preferred to move. The preceptor Simhanandi was an outsider to Karnataka and he hailed from Ganga Perür in Cuddapah district (Andhra Pradesh). He had, obviously, no local followers in Karnataka. He belonged to the Yāpaniya sangha, at a period when it was just at its formative, and Simhanandi had laid a strong foundation for its glory. Karnataka was even then predominently a strong hold of Digambara tradition Naturally, the early Digambara epigraphs in Karnataka did not recognise and record Simhanandi's achievements, but the medieval records give a graphic description of the Yāpaniya tradition. It is only after the Yāpaniya sangha was superseded and amalgamated with the original Congregation (the Mūla sangha), Ācārya Simhanandi is respectfully mentioned in a Sravanabelgola charter, which is a nerve centre of Digambara sangha from the beginning. Ācārya Simhanandi lived at a period when the Yāpaniya sect was in its formative years and yet to become popu
5.
2.4