Jain Inscriptions of Rajasthan

Author(s): Ramvallabh Somani
Publisher: Rajasthan Prakrit Bharti Sansthan Jaipur

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(iii) The name of the ruling prince is generally not recorded. But there are cases also when these names have been mentioned.
Shresthis, who
(iv) Details regarding the families of the Jain had the icon installed, are given.
(v) The names of Jain ascetics, under whose instructions the icon was set up and who consecrated it are also recorded.
(vi) Some times the names of the Sutradhar, who had carved the icon, are also given.
On bronzes, the inscriptions are mostly found on the reverse side. Due to lack of space, abbreviations have sometimes been used for common words like Shresthi, Vyavahari, Vastavya, Upakesh, Gachchha etc. Inscriptions pertaining to grants and endowments :
Grants and donations were made for maintenance of Jain shrines and for performance of certain religious rites and celebrations, not only by Jain Shresthis, but also by ruling families and other officials. These grants can be broadly divided into two classes (i) Lengthy-Prashastis and (ii) fragmentary records mentioning a grant. The grants made by a ruling family were generally termed "Surah”. The word “Surah” is derived from “Surabhi”: (the divine cow that grants desires), which became a distinctive emblem of the royal charitable grants engraved on stone. The figures of Sun and Moon are carved on its top and cow and calf at its end. These were the emblems of religious endowments, which were supposed to have been made for all times to come till the Sun and Moon shines in the sky. The draft of the Surah or grants generally contained the following items:
(i) The date and year of the grant, which was either given in the beginning or recorded at the end of the inscription.
(ii) The name and antecedents of the granter. In case he was not the ruling prince, the name of the latter was also mentioned.