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THE JAINA GAZETTE. of the temples at Halebeelu, Belur and Somanathpur we are led to infer that an Indian sculptor of the type of the famous Dankanacharya must have done this.
We learn from the Sthalapurana and from the Rhys David's Gazetteer that Sri Chamundaraya after building several temples and establishing several charitable and religious institutions, requested his Guru, the celebrated Acharya Sri NernichandraSiddhanta Chakravarti to supervise all religious matters and made him the high priest of a Mutt. After hiin, the pontificial chair is being occupied by a succession of disciples.
When the Jain king Bettavardhana, became a Vaishnavite under the influence of Ramanujacharya, he changed his name into Vishnuvardhana and did great injury to the Jains and their temples by destroying them. As a result of this sinful act of his, there occurred a great earthquake near Halebeedu and a wide opening was made in the earth and many men and animals continued to fall into it and die. The king was immensely frightened at this. He called many magicians and men skilled in charms and asked them to avert the danger by their magical skill or by imploring to the gods and goddesses. But all their efforts were of no avail and the calamity continued to exist. The king did not know what to do. The great opening in the ground should be closed up to save lives. Some people requested the king to pray to the Jain Acharya at Sravana Belgola. He went there and prayed to him for help. The Acharya, whose name was Sri Subhachandra, compassionately acceded to the request and performed Ganadharavalaya, Vajrapanjara, and Kalikunda aradhanas and caused 108 pumpkins to be thrown into the opening. Ho! What a wonder was there! The dangerous opening in the earth closed up and the ground became even immediately. The king who was standing by became greatly astonished and offering his humble respects to the Acharya, gave him the distinguished title oi "Charukirtipanditacharya." Since that day the head of this Mutt is called by that name.
Since the Saka year 1533 when Srimad Raja Wadiyar Bahadur took possession of Serangapatam, this Kshetra has been receiving
from the Government Rs. 3,000 every year for the daily worship of Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat
www.umaragyanbhandar.com
