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MONASTIC LIFE IN SRAVANA BELGOĻA.
BY
R. N. Saletore, M.A. Ph. D.
Some light may be thrown on some features of monastic life of the Jaina monks of Sravana Belgola from the earliest times till the beginning of the 19th century, chiefly from inscriptions. Broadly their life may be divided into two spheres: religious and economic, the former, of course, depending on the latter in the sense that no monastic life or activity could either exist or survive without support from outside and this assistance was offered purely with the sole object of promoting the Jaina Dharma.
The Jaina monks of Sravana Belgola appear to have paid considerable attention to scholarship. Muni Pujyapada, for instance, was incomparable in grammar, skilfull in Siddhnta, poetry, and prosody. Another Jaina guru Prabhacandra was a celebrated author in logic.1 Kaladhantu Sridhara Deva, was skilled in mantras and medicine, 2 while Meghacandra of the śri Mula Sangha, was in Siddhanta equal to Jinavriasena, in the six systems of logic like Akalanka and in all Grammar, Pujyapada. Grammar, Poetry, Prosody, Siddhanta, Medicine and Logic appear, therefore to have been the principal subjects in which the monks of Sravana Belgola strove to achieve distinction and for which they devoted their quiet lives.*
3
These monks apparently lived in communities called sanghas, of which, at least in Sravana Belgola, there were three if not four separate divisions. They were known as the Kelaṭūr, Mayura,
1. E. C., II, Inscriptions at Sravana Belgola, 40, p. 121. The references henceforth given are to the inscriptions given in this work.
2
42, p. 123.
3. 47, p. 127.
4
Cf. Studies in the Nālanda Monastery, Shamans Hwui Li and YenTsung. The Life of Hiuen-Tsiang, p. 112. (Beal).
5. 33, p.
119.
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