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S. B. DEO Coming to the Kshatrapas, we find that Nahapāna was a patron of Buddhism over and above the rest of the faiths. His inscriptions at Junnar, Kārle and Nāsik, and his construction of caves and cells for monks at Năsik, show that he had a high affinity for Buddhism rather than for Jainism.
It may, however, be noted that the Jaina literary tradition speaks of a certain king Murunda of Paitthāna whose headache was cured by Padalittasūri.334 According to Sten KONOW, Murunda is a Saka word denoting the sense of 'a lord.°335 We have no other definite corroborating evidence to show whether Pädalitta with the help of this king spread Jainism in the Deccan.
Regarding the state of Jainism or even its existence under the Abhīras and Traikūţakas, the successors of the Sātavāhanas, we have practically no evidence. On the other hand, Fa Hien's (5th cent. A.D.) account depicts the majority of the Buddhists over other faiths.336 Later on, according to the statements of Hiuen Tsiang (7th cent. A.D.), Deccan seemed to have been replete with numerous heretical sects.337
Coming to the Vākāțakas, we find that they were Brāhmanical rather than Jaina. For instance, Pravarasena "performed many sacrifices including the Vājapeya, Brhaspatisava and the Aśvamedha which he performed no less than four times.''338
It is only when we come to the Cālukyas and their successors that we can have a more clear picture of Jainism both in the Deccan and the Karņātak than we could have in the reign of the previous dynasties.
Under the western Cālukyas of Badāmi, we have both epigraphical and archaeological evidence to prove that Jainism was in a flourishing condition in the Deccan in the early medieval period (c. 500-950 A.D.).
The following Jaina records of the Badāmi Călukyas are known:
(1) Altem Copper-plates-Kolhapur State, Refers to Sāmiyāra, a feudatory of Pulakeśin, who built a Jina temple in §. 411 in Alaktakanagara with the permission of Pulakesin, and granted lands to it.339
334. Pinda-N. 498. 335. JAIN, Life in Anc. Ind. p. 393. 336. 1.A., Vol. 40, p. 211. 337. Ibid., Vol. 7, p. 291. 338. NAIK, op. cit., p. 71. 339. I.A., Vol. vii, p. 211.
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