Jain Journal 1969 04

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 39

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JAIN JOURNAL
of worship at a Jaina temple constructed by the Lord of Bekkallu. No. 32 is a Kalyani Calukyan record of 1119 A.D. saying that a Mahamandalesvara Bhrahmesvaradeva gifted land to perpetuate daily offerings to Parsvanatha of Peddakadumuru.
In the coastal Andhra at that period we find a confused political state prevailing. The western Calukyan king Vikramaditya invaded and conquered the Vengi country and continued to be the suzerain till he died. In this period the Jainas established pallis and bastis all over the east coast. The Godavari Parsvanatha of the Madras Museum perhaps belongs to this period.
Velanatichoda period-A confederacy of the feudal lords of coastal Andhra against the western Calukyas defeated them in a well-contested battle (1135 A. D.) on the Godavari and drove them out for good. Gomka II was the hero of the battle and he ruled the country round his capital Candavol virtually independent of the Colas, whom he served upto then. He was a Jaina in his affiliations. He donated land to a Jaina vasadi named the Prthivitilaka Jaina vasadi at Munugodu in the Sattenapalli taluq of the Guntur district. This was constructed probably by himself for the Svetāmbara Jainas. There was another temple at Munugodu constructed by one Aggoti to which a feudatory of Gonka I donated land. Several Jaina preceptors were residing in Candavol, the capital town of Gonka and all the vasadis round improved. They established a vasadi at Tenali.
The Kolani chiefs ruled over the coastal region between the rivers Godavari and Krisna with Sarasipura as their capital from 10th century onwards. Achanta, Penugonda Penumanchilli and Ellurupadu Jaina establishments are due to them. We find two heavy granite pieces of the Tirthankaras at Achanta. To the north of Penugonda we see a square tank which was probably the work of the Jainas. At its north east corner is to be seen a black stone Jina, the solitary relic of the once famous Jaina establishment of Penugonda. In Penumanchili we see a green stone Tirthankara.
In the Godavari delta the Haihayas were ruling. There is a sitting Jina in Tatipaka, a village on the Raxole island of the Godavari delta. The Tatipaka Jina deva is famous all over the Godavari district. Near Amalapur in the central delta of Godavari there is a village Nedunuru (Neminadhnuru) by name. We find in that village today big Jaina bricks wherever a well is dug. Tirthankara images are also found. At Lolla two miles from Atreyapuram there is a figure of a lady most probably of Ambika.