Jaina Corpus of Koppala Inscriptions X rayed

Author(s): Nagarajaiah Hampa
Publisher: Ankita Pustak

Page 34

Koppaļa through ages / 15
and gained emancipation for his body in the beginning of A.D. 974 [EC.(R) 65 (59). 974. p. 23]. For Indra-IV, misfortunes had come in battallions; under the advice of Ajitasena ācārya, the rājaguru, Indra proceeded to SB, erected the (kūge) Brahmmadeva pillar of eminence in memory of Mārasimha, stayed at Indranahalli named after him near SB. For nearly eight years of agony and introspection, listening to the religious sermons at the Jaina-Matha, and finally died in C.E. 982 on the sepulchral hill olim Candragiri by the rite of Ārādhanā vidhi [EC. 11(R) SB. 163 (133). 5-3-982; pp. 106-09).
With the death of Mārasimha, the Gangas almost vanquished into a state of political limbo. Most of the dignitories who survived the calamity and catostrophe, reached enmass to Koppala, accepted the vows of monkhood and nunhood, and gradually and willingly submitted to the inevitable death, one by one. Padmāvati, Revakanimmadi, consorts of Būtuga II (935-61); Kundanasāmidevi and Bijjāmbika, daughters of Būtuga; Cangambā, wife of Rājāditya, a scion of Cālukya and son of the sister of Būtuga; Kañcabbarasi, wife of Rajamall-IV (c. 974-84), son of Bütuga; Gonambe, wife of Ajavarma and daughter of Ereganga - died at Koppala. A number of charters provide a prolegomena to the diaspora of the Gangas, a study of which confirms the fact that wherever they went, they have commissioned basadis. The path traversed by the Gangas from Kuvalālapura to Talavanapura, from Mandalinād to Koppala, from fourth to the end of eleventh cent. can be traced, and their vestiges at the far flung Jaina centres can be established [Nagarajaiah, Hampa; the early Ganga Monarchy and Jainism: 1999). Besides, a good number of the friars and nuns of the Ganga dynasty, also have preferred to die by the rite of sallekhanā at Koppala, and their laics have caused the post obitum records for the merit of the deceased.
ABODE OF JAINA TEMPLES
Koppa!a has the distinction of being a treasury of Jaina vestiges and an abode of a good number of basadis. During the days of its highest splendour, Koppaļa looked like a bivouac of basadis. Apart from its legitamate claim as ādi-tirtha and mahā-tirtha, Koppala also had the distinction of containing many Jaina mon