________________
54 / The Rāstrakūtas and Jainism
Khottliga, was the earliest to become a vassal and acknowledge the suzerainty of Tailapa-II. The Rattas persisted to favour Jaina art, architecture, literature, sanctuary and monastery for a prolonged period. The Sāntaras
3.7.5. The Sāntaras, one of the minor hereditory chiefs of provinces, were governing their own particular principality, with all authority of petty rulers. The tiny principality of the Sāntaras started as feudatories of the Cālukyas of Bādāmi. Vikramāditya-I(C.E.654-81) won over the Sāntaras to his side by confirming Pombu!ca as a fief to Jinadatta, who seemingly was the progenitor of the Sāntara olim Mahā Ugravamsa dynasty, an ancient clan of Jina Pārsva, the 23rd Tirthankara.
3.7.5.1. Jinadatta, first maker of Pomburcapura, launched the Sāntara's political career sometime in mid seventh century, and wiped out the local petti chiefs. He usurped some areas from the hold of the Alupas, Pombuļca in particular, and fortified it by conquering the border villages, during the reign of Aļuvarasa-I alias Gunasāgara Āļupēndra (C. E. 650-80). Whatever be his mother tongue before he developed provincial affiliation, Jinadatta and all his successors most willingly adopted Kannada for all practical and official purposes.
3.7.5.2. It is amazing to note that with so much of vigor, vitality and innovation, politically and otherwise, the Sāntaras were not ambitious to widen their territories beyond a particular line of control of their own. Sāntaligenādu, a division of the larger Banavāsi-12,000 province, had stipulated boundaries of the Gangavādi to the East, extensive coastal land strip of the Aļupas to the south, Kadambavādi of the Kadambas to the North. After they completely established their hold on Pombuļca, they made
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
