Jaina Gazette 1927

Author(s): J L Jaini, Ajitprasad
Publisher: Jaina Gazettee Office

Page 15

THE JAINA GAZETTE
Jains of North and South India, the ancient town of Mudibidri is a remarkable place. Hallowed by the memories of a once-powerful royal family, Mudibidri was at one time a Town of Temples, and a most flourishing Jaina commercial city. But when South Canara got itself entangled in the meshes of South Indian politics, and the shadow of small or great kingdoms grew smaller or bigger in the coarse of many centuries, Mudibidri lost its central position and its commercial prosperity and dwindled into a hamlet of little importance. And as one walks through the long narrow roads that once were busy streets, a feeling of antique desolateness creeps once oneself at the fate of a city which was the most important Jaina settlement next to Sravana Belgola in the whole of South India. Even now in its fallen grandeurs Mudibidri attracts to it Jaina pilgrims who pour across the Western Ghauts in kundred's, and sometimes in thousands, to have a look at the Tirthankaras whom they hold in great veneration.
II. But time was when Mudibidri had neither Tirthankaras nor Bastis in it. Popular belief, however, associates Mudibidri only with Jainism. But that is not so. There can be no doubt that at one time, when the major part of South Kanara or Tuluva was under the sway of the powerful Aluvas of Humbucha and of Udyavara (7th till 13th Centuries A.D.), Mudibidri was considered to be as great a centre of Hindhuism as it is now considered to be a seat of Jainism Inscriptions of Mahamandaleahvara Alupendra Kulashekhara (Saka 1126 --1704-1705 A.D.). inform us that that King gave large grants of land to the Gauri Temple which although in ruins, is considered to be the oldest Hindhu Temple in Mudibidri. Another Hindhu Temple is that of Krishna which was established under the paironage of the great teacher, Madhvacharya of Udipi, when the faith of that indefatigable preacher made considerable progress in South Kanara.
But somewhere in the 13th Century, Mudibidri passed into the hands of the Jainas. How that came to be is a matter that is yet to be explained. All that can now be said is that it was due
to the untiring zeal of the early Jainas of Sravana Belgola, who Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat