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JAINA BIBLIOGRAPHY
P. 173. Brahmanical; Saiva origin is suggested; because inscription (No. XII) clearly reads Sivabhatka(kta) ane on the jamb of the first entrance to the left of the same cave are two clear letters reading Siva; on Jain would have such names or engrave such records in any of their religious establishments. Three caves to the south-east of Gopālpur--in one of them is a partly effaced standing naked figure which I though may be that of a Tirthankara or Jaina saint; but it may very well be that of a Saiva saint. If may assumption is correct, then these would be the earliest rock cut caves dedicated to Saiva worship. Before the discovery of these caves, the earliest and perhaps the only caves dedicated to Saiva were those at Udayagiri in Madhya Bharat, belonging to the time of Chandragupta II.
Text of inscription, translations and plates given.
803
D. C. Sircar.- Jain Inscription from Shergarh, V. S. 1191, 1-plate (E. I. Vol. XXXI, Part II, for 1955. Pp. 81-36). Delhi, 1957.
Shër Shāh Süri, the Afghan emperor of Delhi (1539-45 A. D.), is accused by Badauni and other Muslim historians of wanton callousness in destroying old cities for founding new ones on them--one of them being Shergarh, about 90 miles to the south-east of Kotah (Rajasthan); its ancient name being Kośavarddhana. There are two epigraphs-a great religious establishment of the Jains flourished at Kośavarddhana in the early medieval period.
The first of the two Jain inscriptions was discovered in the fort. An interesting feature of the inscription is that a squarish space, in the centre contains a Padma-bandha design-its full description given; the Padma-bandha points to the skill of the author of the stanzas as a Versifier (monk Varasena).
The inscription begins with the Siddham symbol and the passage Om namo Vitaragaya, then follows eulogy of the Jina. Verse 16 says how a mahotsava (great festival) of the Tirthankara Neminātha was celebrated at the new Chaitya on the 7th of the bright half of Madhu (Chaitra) in v, s. 1162 (1105 A. D.). The 2nd inscription on the pedestal of the Ratnatraya image, was found in a temple outside the fort at Shergarh. The characters are Nāgari and the language is Sanskrit, influenced by Präkrit. It bears the date : v. s. 1191, Vaišākha-sudi 2, Tuesday. Devapāla and Guņapāla--thakkura's son and others, all these persons caused to be made the Ratna-traya (i. e., the images of the three Tirthankaras viz., śāntinātha, Kunthunātha and Aranātha) at Kośavarddhana.
Text and plate given.
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