Jaina Corpus of Koppala Inscriptions X rayed

Author(s): Nagarajaiah Hampa
Publisher: Ankita Pustak

Page 31

12/Jaina Corpus of Koppala
lence and the best of generals of the Hoysala kingdom, Kopana was a source of inspiration. Gañgarāja, in particular, built new basadis and renovated old ones on a large scale, in such a way that he made the province of the Gangavāḍi - 96000 appear like another Kopana [EC. 11(R) SB 156 (127). C.E. 1115. p. 98. lines: 168-71; EC.IX (R) BI. 389. 1133. p. 355, lines: 41-42]. The above statements establish the popularity that Koppala enjoyed.
SEPULCHRAL HILL
Kopana hill was evidently considered a holy place for death by starvation, on par with the other major centre, Sravanabelagola. Thus Kopaṇādri olim Kopaṇācala or Kopaṇagiri, is basically a sepulchral hill; the obitum slabs and columns in the present corpus are the replica of sepulchre. Jaina mendicants used to spend the last days of their spiritual sojourn in retired seclusion, if possible in the rock-cut caverns, lonely places and temples. Koppala, luckily provided all this and a lot more. Naturally, friars and nuns of Jaina order flocked Kopaṇa-tirtha. With hundreds of devotees and other members of the four-fold congregation of the sect, Koppala looked like a tiny Nirgrantha world.
Kumārasenamunipa, chief of the friars of Candrikāvāțasenānvaya, practiced severe vows, as sharp as the razor's edge, after accepting renunciation at Mulgunda, equally a major seat of Jaina settlement in Gadag district, at a distance of about 45 kms from Koppala. But, later the monk retired to Kopaṇādri, a far holier sepulchral hill, and breathed his last according to scriptural prescriptions of samādhi-maraṇa, attained liberation, and it was all unique on his part [Cāvuṇḍaraya puraṇa, C.E. 978, Verse 15; Fleet, JBBRAS, X-XXX, pp. 167-69; EI. XIII, pp. 190 f; Desai, P.B., Candrikāvāṭada Yatigaļu, (Kannada article in), Kannada Sahitya Pariṣat Patrike for 1951, pp. 41-60].
Nāgasena, Kumārasena, Vīrasena and Candrasena, all the four monks practiced severe penance and enhanced the glory of Jaina doctrine of the four-fold synod. Virasena was learned pupil of the pontiff Kumärasena, the latter was a confrere of Āryasena. Komārasena bhaṭṭāra, mentioned in an epigraph of late ninth cent. is identical with Kumārasena, the ascetic under discussion [EC. VI (R) Pāṇḍavapura. 16 C. 9th-10th cent. Kyātanahalli (Mandya dt. Pāṇḍavapura tk) p. 114]. Kumārasena is mentioned in an epi