Jaina Gazette 1927

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

Page 18

MUDIBIDRI
seeni to have sent a large uumber of Jaina traders and priests across the Ghauts into the land of Tuluva. A Jaina colony was established in Mudibidri and was called "Halavaravarga" (the Property of the Few "). In course of time the Jain traders succeeded not only in capturing the trade from their Hindhu brethren, but also in inaking Mudibidri the most important commercial town in the interior. Tradition says that Mudibidri came to be known as the town of 770 Houses--a number which does not seem to be improbable when we see the ruins of hundreds of houses that lie thicks along the narrow roads of the town. In very many places deep circular hollows that must have at one time served as wells can be seen : and they are situated in such a way as to give us the impression that they must have been of use to five or six households all crowded within the space of a large garden. One curious feature of some of the most ancient houses of Mudibidri is that they are almost of uniform length and breadth. A house of the right dimensions was reckoned to be 120 " Kolu" (360 feet) in length and 6" Kolu " (18 feet) in breadth and 18 feet in height. “Half houses" were said to be 60" Kolu" (180 feet) in length, 6 "Kolu" (18 feet) in breadth and 18 feet in height. No doubt with the depopulation that followed in the wake of the political and commercial ruin of Mudibidri, most of those typical Tuluva houses disappeared. But on a closer scrutiny one can even now find out that the Jaina houses of Mudibidri must have been at one time very long and narrow. Another feature of Mudibidri which throws some light on the commercial character of that ancient town is the Tombs of the Traders. The Tombs of Mudibidri give us the idea that the merchants, the Jaina Settigars of Tuluva, were a wealthy and powersul class of people. The Tombs are divided into two kindsthose of the Jaina Settigars (six in number) and those of the Jaina High priests. “These Tombs are of pyramidal structure of several storeys and are surrounded by a water-pot (Kalasa) of stone. Four of the tombs bear short epitaphs" (Dr. HultzsehEpigraphical Reports). Speaking about these Tombs. Fergusson
remarks—"A third feature, even more characteristic of the style, Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat