Jain Journal 2003 07

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

Page 22

HAMPA NAGARAJAIH: EPIGRAPHIA JAINIKA
13. Graphic description of persons possessing virtues of sterling character, learning, political status, and similar high qualifications - is notable.
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15. Repairs and construction of temples, tanks, wells and canals for the benefit of the cultivators of a locality.
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16. Patronising artists (muscians, dancers, sculptors), men of letters and the scribes.
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Activities of the various types of merchants' guilds throw light on the system of economic life.
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Jaina lithic records/copper plates whether they are dāna-śāsanas, endowments/reviving the donations/prasastis, are stylistically elegant and positive in their presentation.
Through epigraphs we learn that the Camundi Hills at Mysore, the famous pilgrimage centre Melukote in Mandya Dt., were once nerve centres of Jaina order. Many temples in Karnataka, as is elsewhere, now in the custody of non-Jainas were originally Jaina places of worship.
An hitherto unsolved question of the Kalacuri king Bijjala's faith is solved on the basis of an epigraph found in the premises of a Jaina shrine [SII. Vol. XVIII. No. 151. C.E. 1167].
One more salient feature is the mode of dating. Inscriptions are mostly dated in Śaka era, but other methods of reckoning are not rare. Aihole prasasti of Pulakesin-II is dated Śaka year 556 (C. E. 634) but it also refers to the Kali year 3735. The early Gangas referred to the regnal years. So did some of the epigraphs of the Bādāmi Calukyas, the Raṣṭrakūtas, the Senas and the Hoysalas. It is well-known that Vikramaditya-VI formed the Calukya-Vikrama Era, named after himself, replacing Śaka, commencing from C.E. 1077.
The contribution of the Jaina epigraphical poets to the Indian inscriptional literature needs special consideration. The Jaina records of literary excellence constitute an important branch of