Jaina Corpus of Koppala Inscriptions X rayed

Author(s): Nagarajaiah Hampa
Publisher: Ankita Pustak

Page 48

Theme and aim of the epigraphs / 29
These biographical details speak of the native place of the copyist, his religion, devotion, liberal attitude and the ideal that Jinna, the scribe, had in preparing the holy manuscript of Dhavala-Tikā. Thus the colophon has an additional information apropos of Koppaļa. Koppaļa has the rare distinction of producing great sculptors, architects. scribes. religious leaders, donors, friars and nuns.
Nirgrantha monks
The Nirgranthas and their followers go without clothing and so attract notice, making it a meritorious act to pull out their hair by violence, their skin dried up and their feet hard and in appearence like the decayed wood on the river bank [Hiuen Tsang, C. 7th cent. A.D.]
The barefooted monks travelled widely in the pathless country side, Indian wood and up and down the rocky hillocks. to propogate the message of non-violence. Bhadrabāhu, Simhanandi, Candragupta - the pioneer messaiahs, paved the avenue for generation of monks to carry the torch without let; their teachings have moulded the lives of millions of people.
According to the Greek view, nudist (jaina) monks (GK. Gymnosophists) exposed to hardships and courted death by starvation (sallekhanā), who held a high position of esteem in society. Ladies, practicing restraint, studied religion and philosophy under the guidance of these nirgrantha monks who made no discrimination on grounds of caste, sex and class, but gave a high place to personal conduct. The naked monks used to worship stūpas.
Different lines of (ganas) preceptors are mentioned in the inscriptions, with their other subordinate or subsidiary groups (gacchas), indicating their particular surname, usually suggesting the particular place the line first sprang up or the main head quarters. Of the lot, Desiga gana, Pustaka gaccha (Sarasvati or Śāradā are other aliases) seems to have originated from Kondakunda, the sacred seat of the celebrated Padmanandi ācārya, who had the other names