Jaina Corpus of Koppala Inscriptions X rayed

Author(s): Nagarajaiah Hampa
Publisher: Ankita Pustak

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2.2
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edit all the inscriptions and publish it for the first time [Nagarajaiah, Hampa: 1998-A]. I have carefully studied these inscriptions in the context of Nirgrantha tradition and other available contemporaneous supporting evidences, before passing my considered judgements.
Preamble / 3
The epigraphs under discussion speak abundantly for the powerful and pervasive influence wielded by Jainism. The present discovery add fresh material, augmenting the mass of the already known information and thus will help to revise the supposedly well established facts, positions and postulates. These inscriptions endorse that Koppal was a place of purity par excellence, eloquently speak of the monks, nuns and lay disciples of various ascetic orders, who constantly conducted their religious sermons, and who ended their life by the rite of sanyasana. A whole array of these charters provide lot of information about some pontiffs who wielded enoromous spiritual influence on the society, particularly the royal laity affiliated to Jainism.
2.2.1 These inscribed memorial columns have a special place in the ethos of Jaina culture and tradition, and a unitying effect so vital to the religious history of Jainism, depicting more succinctly the quintescence of syādvāda. Their majesty, even in ruins, bear testimony to the glory of the past. With this new addition, Koppal is replete with nisidhikas post-mortem memorial stones, giving details of the purpose for which they are set up. Some of them have a caityālaya motif, and in some a typical three-umbrella motif is visible. There are also certain significant socio-historical and cultural issues involved. This corpus throws light on the status of the lay-adherents in Jainism, which can be compared with the status of the lay people in Buddhism [Ahir, D.C.: 1996].
CHRONOLOGICAL SPAN
These new epigraphs belong to different period, covering a wide range of five centuries from 9th to 13th cent. C.E.,