Jaina Monuments of Andhra

Author(s): G Jawaharlal
Publisher: Sharada Publishing House Delhi

Page 83

Jaina Temples
79
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The celebrity of Bodhan as a sacred Jain-Kshetra can be seen from the fact that several Jainacharyas thronged here from different regions for performing the sacred-vow, Sallekhana. A memorial pillar in Bodhan depicts a Tirthankara in standing pose engraved with an inscription below.35 It states that a certain Jaina teacher named Subhanandin, a disciple of Devendra-Siddhantadeva, after observing the Ratnatrays, attained samadhi and went to the abode of the Gods (Fig-35). This place is popularly called as Pampa-samadhi, though it is not known how the name Pampa, the first Kannada poet, came to be associated with it. Another epitaph mentions that the great Jinacharya, Chandraprabhadeva went into samadhi and reached the abode of during A.D. 1072. Thus the archaeological data of 11th-12th century A.D. shows that Bodhan was a flourishing Jain-kshetra during the Western Chalukya period.
The present Hanumakonda, ancient of Anumakonda or Anmakonda is situated in Warangal district, Andhra Pradesh. Epigraphical sources lead us to believe that it was a strong Jaina centre since the Rashtrakuta times. Following the replacement of the Rashtrakuta dynasty, this Jaina establishment passed into the hands of thier successors namely the Chalukyas of Kalyana and the Kakatiyas of Warangal.
A record found at Padmakshi temple in Hanumakonda refers to the construction of a Jain temple, Kadalalaya-basadi, on the top of the Anumakonda hill by Mailama, wife of Betana, minister of Kakati Prola II.37 It also records the gift of two martars of wet land below the bund of the tank excavated by her husband, Betana-Pergada and two martars of black soil to the west of the tank and six martars of uncultivated land for the daily worship, incence, lights and oblations in the temple and for the food and clothing of the temple priest on Monday 24th December A.D. 1117, when the Chalukya emperor, Vikramaditya VI was ruling the prosperous kingdom. The Kadalalya-basadi of the present epigraph afterwards came to be known as Padmakshi temple of the present day (Fig-36)
The Padmakshi temple has a sikhara or spire built in brick over