History of Early Ganga Monarchy and Jainism

Author(s): Nagarajaiah Hampa
Publisher: Ankita Pustak

Page 80

Times of Butuga-II / 37
Būtuga made Śivalayya basadi more prominent at Mügūru [E.C. V(r) TN. 270 & 272. 9th cent p. 654, 649] 6.6.1 During this period, Jainism flickered into greater brilliancy. A number of epigraphs and authors have recorded the unparalleled yoemen service to Jaina Church by Būtuga [ibid. EI. XXXVI. pp. 97-110; 1WG. No. 139, C.E. 962; ibid, No. 138, C.E. 962-96; SII. XX 35. 1055; EC. VII. (BLR) Nr. 35 1077]. Būtuga had married the elder sister of Kannaradeva alias Kriṣṇa-III, and in turn Kriṣṇa had married the daughter of Būtuga, and Būtuga's elder son had married a daughter of Kṛṣṇa. Thus Būtuga, though a highly placed governor of a province and a feudatory under the sovereign Rāṣṭrakūta king Kṛṣṇa, was both the brother-in-law and father-in-law of Kṛṣṇa. They both shared a common religion and served it to the maximum extent possible.
6.6.2 The entire family of Būtuga followed his footprints, emulated his religious and philanthropic way of life. Similar to his three consorts, his sons and daughters also dedicated their lives, to serve Nirgrantha church and faithfully perform the four-fold charity ofahāra-dāna, abhayadana, bhaiṣajya-dāna and sastra-dāna. A series of incidents in chronological sequence, as narrated in the inscriptions, breathe their tireless but devoted service to restore the glory of Jaina community and the four-fold congregation of the faith in making Jainism a state religion.
6.6.3 Nearly about 20 to 25 epigraphs give a vivid and authentic picture of how the members of the family of Būtuga, generation after generation, built basadis and feedinghouses, encouraged religious activities, inspired the mass to join the movement of non-violence and non-absolutism. Butuga's sons Puņuseya Maruladeva (961-93), Mārasimha-II (963-74), Nitimārga Goyindara-I, Rājamalla, Vāsava; and his daughters Kundana-sāmidevi