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JAIN JOURNAL
Vol. XXXVII
No. 1 July
2002
DIMENSIONS OF BĀBĀNAGARA INSCRIPTION
(Vide South Indian Inscriptions, Vol. XVIII. No. 187, C.E. 1168, pp. 256-59]
PROF. HAMPA NAGARAJAIAH
Introduction
The much mutilated epigraph under discussion, containing 71 lines, has recorded three separate donations, made at different periods, to three Jaina temples at Kannadige, the modern Bābānagara, a village at a distance of about 27km to the west of Bijāpura, the District head quarters in Karņātaka. The language of the inscription is Kannada and is written in Kannada characters. Epitome of the text
It opens with a benedictory Sanskrit sloka from Bhațța-Akalankadeva's. Pramāṇasamgraha, invoking Jaina Order initiated by Jina, Lord of three worlds. Subsequent lines eulogize the valour and virtues of Bijjañadevarasa-II (1130-67), the Kalacuri King and eldest son of Permāờideva (1118-30). Then follows the description of (Vira) Maiļugi Kșoņiśa (1167), the youngest brother of Bijjaņadeva and his affiliation to Jaina creed. Māņikya Bhatýāraka, a bee at the lotus feet of Jina, was patriarch of the Kannadige diocese. His pupil (Ravi)deva, an ardent devotee of Jaina Church, attained eminence by commissioning a shrine enshrining Candraprabha, the Eighth Tirthankara, at Kannadige. Cāvunarāya, fostering probity and far famed for four types of charity, installed a huge Mānastambha, characteristic Jaina Pillar of Eminence, also called Pride Pillar, that looked like a scale to measure the three worlds.
Synchronizing the Aștānhika Jaina holy day in the year C.E. 1160, Bijjaņadeva, purifying his body by sprinkling Jina-gandhodaka, the scented holywater mixed with sandal paste and anointed on the Jina idol enshrined in the sanctum, gifted 24 matter land, with its boundary specified. This land grant was for the specific purpose of performing
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