Jain Journal 1969 04

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

Page 40

APRIL, 1969
247
In A.D. 1158, Vijayaditya of the Pithapur Calukya dynasty established his independence. His mother Candaladevi was a daughter of the Haihaya king Brahmaya, and Haihayas were Jainas by love. There are three Jaina figures at Pithapur.
The Jaina figures found on the north bank of the Gautami in Vegayammapet, Sila, Kazuluru, Aryavatam Kuyyeru and other places show that this area was a great Jaina territory for some centuries.
Nemam, a seaside village north of Kakinada, appears to have once had several Jaina temples made of bricks. The place now abounds in Jaina bricks. We do not have even one of those temples standing there now.
Proceeding northwards into the Kalinga country we do not see any Jaina relics till we go to Bhogapuram midway between Vizianagram and Bheemunipatnam. One Mannamanayaka constructed in A.D. 1187, during the reigning period of Anantavarma Rajaraja of Kalinga, a Jaina temple at Bhogapuram. He installed Parsvanatha in that temple and named it the Rajara jinālaya.
Turning to the extreme south of Andhra, in Chittor district we find Jaina establishments at Nindra and Nallathur. In 1162 A.D. Kalacurya chieftain Bijjala stormed Kalyana and usurped the western Calulkyan throne. Bijjala had Jaina affiliations and lived at Chippagiri. He built Jaina temple at Chhipagiri which is still standing.
Virasoiva deluge--Bijjala appointed Vasavesvara, the son-in-law of his minister, as treasurer of his exchequer. Vasava was a great devotee of Siva. He got Bijjala murdered and a civil war broke out in Kalyan. Vasava fled but the deluge he started worked havoc. The Veersaivaits killed the Jainas in thousands and destroyed their vasadis. At Otlacheruvu alone five hundred vasadis were demolished according to Palkuriki Somanathakavi. At Kolanupaka the Jaina temples were all appropriated by the Saivaits, Jaina Tirthankara figures mutilated or broken. This happened in other places also.
The Jainas made a glorious contribution to the philosophy, grammar, architecture, sculpture, literature and painting of south India. In Telegu, however, we do not have many books written by Jainas surviving due to the ravages of religious antagonism. But the Jaina wells with their revertments lived through nearly ten centuries. The tanks that the Jainas dug in Sivaganga, Aryavatam, Nemam, Penukonda (perhaps) Bhogapuram, Hanumankonda, Warangal fort and several other places are serving us to this day.