Jaina Monuments and Places First Class Importance

Author(s): T N Ramchandran
Publisher: Veer Shasan Sangh Calcutta

Page 29

SOUTH INDIA
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well known, continued to enjoy the king's favour. Moreover he himself is said to have endowed and repaired Jaina temples and to have afforded protection to Jaina images and priests. It is claimed for Vishnuvardhana-the name adopted by him after his conversion-that his reign was one of great toleration that continued even during the reigns of his successors. His successors, though themselves Vaishnavites, are said to have built Jaina temples (bastis) and to have protected Jaina Acharyas. Such are for instance Narasimha I (1143-73 A.D.), Vira Ballāla II (11731220 A.D.) and Narasimha III (1254-91 A.D.)
The Vijayanagara kings were always noted for their highly tolerant attitude towards religions and were therefore patrons of Jainism too. Bukka I (1357-1377-8 A.D.), is spoken of for the Jaina-Vaishnava compact that he was able to effect during his reign. This by itself speaks for the patronage that Jainism received at the hands of the early kings of Vijayanagara. Bimadevi, the queen of Deva Raya I, is said to have been a disciple of a Jaina teacher Abhinava-Charukīrti-Paṇḍitacharya and to have installed an image of Santinatha at Srāvana Belgola. We shall have occasion to speak of the faith of Irugappa, the general of Bukka II (1385-1406 A.D.) and of the toleration of the greatest of the Vijayanagara kings, Krshnadeva Raya (1510-1529 A.D.) when describing the temples at Tiruparuttikunram [Jina Kāñchi]. Almost all the rulers down to Rama Raya made grants to Jaina temples and were tolerant enough.
Such has also been the attitude of the feudatory and minor rulers under the Vijayanagara kings and of the ruling house of Mysore towards Jainism, an attitude which luckily continued down to the present day. It is said that some of the minor powers like the rulers of Gersoppa and the Bhairavas of Karkala "professed the Jaina faith and left monuments of importance in the history of Jaina art."