Jaina Gazette 1927

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

Page 19

THE JAINA GAZETTE
is found in the tombs of the priests, a large number of which are found in the neighbourhood of Mudibidri. They vary very much in size and magnificence, some of them being from three to five or seven storeys in height; but they are not, like the storeys of the Dravidian temples, ornamented with simulated cells and finishing with domical roofs. The divisions of each storey is a sloping roof like those of the pagodas at Kathmandu and in China or in Tibet. In India they are quite anamolous. In the first place, no tombs of priests are known to exist anywhere else, and their forms too are quite unlike any other building now known to be standing in any other part of India." (The History of Indian and Eastern Architecture). A third feature of Mudibidri which prompts us to say that it must have been at one time a populous town is the tanks, eighteen of which are said to have existed within the precincts of the town. In fact if one has the patience to wander a little about Mudibidri, one can even now see the remains of the 18 tanks, one or two of which are still in some good condition. Judged by some of these evidences, it may fairly be said that Mudibidri was at least two miles in length and a mile and a half in breadth in the hey-day of her commercial glory.
III. The Settigars of Mudibidri, who were the custodians of her trade, were not able to prolong the life of the "City of Reeds" when its rulers, the Chowtars, had to fight for their existence against the neighbouring kings. The Chowtars were originally the rulers of Someshwar near the coast. They were Hindhus by religion but later on they became the followers of Jina. Because of some unknown reason, they were compelled to desert their original home, and to travel to Puttige in the interior, and thence to Mudibidri which they finally made their capital. From the 13th till the 15th century the fortunes of the Chowtars passed through various phases, especially in the wars which they had to wage against the Bhairava Kings of Karkal, their own kinsmen, and the Bangar Kings of Panemangalore and Manjeshwar, their inveterete rivals. At present the descendants of the Chowtars of Mudibidri enjoy a pension at the hands of the Government. The Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat