Jaina Corpus of Koppala Inscriptions X rayed

Author(s): Nagarajaiah Hampa
Publisher: Ankita Pustak

Page 32

Koppa!a through ages / 13
graph from Balasore (Orissa state). Ugraditya (C.E. 820) has mentioned the names of Srinandi, Kumārasena, Virasena, Siddhasena, Daśarathaguru and Pätrasvāmi. The tradition continued on candrämabande, the huge boulder at Koppala, its nomen derived from the name of Candranātha alias Candraprabha, the eigth Tirthankara, builder of the ford and the omniscient spiritual teacher prophet of the Jainas, for a thousand years without any let.
Kaļvappu olim Kaļbappu is a native Kannada word which means 'a hill of the dead', i.e., a sepulchral hill, where the sepulture customs take place. The Kannada (Dravidian) place name Kaļvappu was Sanskritized as Katavapra. Kopana olim Kupiņa and the popular usage Kopp!a, is said to have been derived from kuppe (hill, heap, elevated spot) + ane (situation, direction) signifying its location on a hill top [Saletore: 1938: 187]; considering Kuppal, Koppal, Toppal as the variants or cognates, the etymology of the place name suggests that it was 'a place on the slopes'; but, the local hills were used for sacred death.
There were similar sepulchral hills in the ancient times, such as Mohenjadaro which means an hill of the dead. VäsupujyaJinālaya at Campānagara (Bihar state) is referred to, in the early text, the Vasudevahindi of Sanghadāsagani-Vācaka (C. 5th cent. C.E.), as nisihikāyataņa in Prakrit (Sk. nisidhikayatana), which means 'a place of holy death’. Considering these and similar instances, it can safely be said that the hills at Koppaļa, particularly the Candrāma-bande, were the sepulchral hills, which the Jaina tradition held as sacred for death by starvation. The present corpus of Koppala inscriptions substantiate the above fact. THE GANGAS AND KOPPAĻA
The history of Jainism is part and parcel of the history of Karnataka and it cannot be studied in isolation. The history of Jainism is an integral, and not the least interesting part of the history of Karnataka. Karnataka is one of the oldest inhabited regions by the Nirgrantha cult with pre-Aryan elements in it. For an active expansion and continuation of this transmarine movement, Karnataka provided a bedrock base. The flourishing period of Jainism started in the south around the very beginning of the current Era. It blossomed into full bloom with the sustained refuge