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INTRODUCTION
Among the various sources of information for the intensive study of the history of Gujarat, the epigraphic source is the most copious and the most valuable one. The inscriptions are mostly incised on stone, copper plates and marble as well as bronze images.
In this research work we have presented an intensive study of the Jain image inscriptions of Ahmadabad.
Being the headquarter of the Jain Community of Gujarat, Ahmadabad has more than 200 old temples belonging to this sect. Each temple contains images of marble as well as bronze. These images are artistic and most of them bear Sanskrit inscriptions. We undertook the project pertaining to the study of the image inscriptions of Ahmadabad with the grant-in-aid sanctioned by the Indian Council of Historical Research, New Delhi in 1989. Under this project we deciphered as many as 1000 image inscriptions and studied them from the view point of the religio-cultural history of Ahmadabad in general and Jainism in particular.
Among these images, most of them are bronze Pañcatirthis with parikara, very few are Ekatīrthis, Tritirthis and Cauvisis. Quite a few are marble images also. In most of the images, the inscription in incised on the back side. On marble images, the inscription appears on the pithika of the image.
The image inscriptions are mainly of religious character. Most of them record particulars about the donors who got the images carved, the Sūris who installed them and the date of the installation. These inscriptions are also important for the study of different castes of Śrāvakas, Gacchas as well as pattāvalis of the Sūris, Gotras, places etc.
The inscriptions published in this corpus number as many as 893. Many of the images, especially those of metals are movable and are preserved in renovated temples at the same sites or are shifted to new temples built nearby. These image inscriptions well reflect the prevalence of Jainism at particular places from 13th to 16 th cent. A.D. Among these places, Ahmadabad also mentioned as Rājanagara,
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