________________
40/The Räṣṭrakūtas and Jainism
There were none in the Ganga family to wield influence in imperial politics after Mārasimha.
2.7.6. After the death of Marasimha, held in high regard, a veil of uncertainty overcast the glorious history of the Gangas. However, the Gangas soon recovered from the calamity submitting to the new overlords of the later Calukyas, and continued to flourish in Mandali-Thousand division [Nagarajaiah, Hampa: 1999-B].
2.7.7. During the last years of the empire, amidst political turbulence, theological and pious activities had continued. Jainism possessed its status quo ante. A broken slab in the compound of the Kalamēśvara temple at Kōlivāḍa (Gadag Dt), bears the sculpture of Jina at the top. A rare invocatory, Sanskrit verse in praise of Jina, states the importance of the place as a Jaina settlement. This inscription belongs to the rule of Khottiga, the penultimate emperor [KI. V. No. 5. C. E. 971-72].
2.7.8. "We have a few Jaina inscriptions of the reign of Khoṭṭiga, the brother and successor of Kṛṣṇa-III. An inscription from Chitaldrug district dated 968 A. D. mentions the fact that Jakki Sundari, the wife of Pandayya, a Calukyan feudatory of Khoṭṭiga, built a Jaina temple for which her husband gave a grant. Another inscription, praising the Jain religion, of his reign has been discovered from Dharwar district" [Chatterji, A. K.: 210]. "Khoṭṭiga Nityavarṣa, who seems to have been also a Jaina by persuation" [Saletore: 40]. Puspadanta composed his two narrative Apabhramśa poems, Jasaharacariu and Nayakumaracariu, in the reign of Khottiga. Nanna, son of Bharata, was the minister of Khottiga.
2.7.9. Ankabbarasi, daughter of Dānārṇava (970-73), monarch of the Eastern Calukyas, and queen consort of Mārasimha, was governing Pullungur, modern Hulgur, in C. E. 972. She had Ganga Mahādēvi as her second name.
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
