Book Title: Jainism The Cosmic Vision
Author(s): Kumarpal Desai
Publisher: UK Mahavir Foundation London

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Page 202
________________ Role of Women in Jain Religion Uday Vidyadhar's wife Saviyabbe died fighting in the battle of Begapur along with her husband. There is an edict at Shravanbelgola which gives an account of this courageous woman having a sword in her hand and mounted on the horse and she is depicted as hitting at a warrior who is mounted on an elephant. An equally courageous woman was Chandravallabha, wife of King Rajmal, the second. She ruled over her territory and established a huge Jin idols. Atimbbe from South India was known for her donations in the closing years of the tenth century. She had strongly opposed the practice of Sati, widow-immolation. She got thousands of copies of the manuscript of Shanti Puran written by the Kannad poet Ponne, and distributed all these handwritten copies, and thus she managed to save the original manuscript. This led to the survival of many volumes and to the spread of education and literature in Karnatak. She was instrumental in the establishment of many Jin idols. Mahakavi Ratna gave her the title of Dan Chintamani. In 1037 A.D. Akkadevi, sister of Chalukya King Satyashraya, was entrusted with the reign of one province in view of her proficiency in state administration. In South India women like Ketaldevi, Shantaldevi, Achaldevi are reputed for having constructed temples. As per an edict of 1147 A.D. princess Pampadevi having unusual learning is known to have composed Asta Vidyarchan Mahabhishek and Chaturbhakti. Yakini Mahattara is regarded as a most scholarly woman of the eighth century. Women also played the role of providing inspiration to men. It was because of the inspiration of Hemchandracharya's mother Pahini that he came to earn the reputation as the Ocean of Knowledge, Kavi Dhanpal was inspired by his sister Sundari 185 Jain Education International For Private & Personal Use Only www.jainelibrary.org

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