Jainism and Karnataka Culture

Author(s): S R Sharma
Publisher: Karnataka Historical Research Society Dharwar

Page 47

HISTORICAL SURVEY
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sentimentalist who exhibited this classic example of singular devotion to his faith, and fully evoked the admiration of his contemporaries. The result is seen in the erection of the great statue of Gommata by his general Caundarāya at Sravana Belgoļa, which is in itself a monument to the zeal of the Jainas during that great age.
Gommata is only the popular name for Bahubali, son of the first Tirthankara, and in the Bahubali-carita we find the following śloka which speaks of Rajamalla or Răcamalla IV, the son and successor of Mārasimha, as the promoter of the Jaina faith :
श्रीदेशीयगणाधिपूर्णमृगभृत् श्रीसिंहन दिनति श्रीपादांबुजयुग्ममत्तमधुपः सम्यक्त्वचूडामाणिः। श्रीमज्जैनमताब्धिवर्धनसुधा सूतिर्महीमंडले
रेजे श्रीगुणभूषणो बुधनुतः श्रीराजमल्लो नृपः॥" This passage is important also as confirming Simhanandi's connection with the Ganga dynasty. The great Ācārya had admonished its early founders with the words, “ If you fail in what you promise, if you dissent from the Jina-Śāsana, if you are addicted to spirits or flesh, if you associate with the base, if you give not to the needy, if you flee in battle,--your race will go to ruin."14 We have seen with what great devotion and consistency this high idealism was kept up in the family for generations. It affected even the officers working under the Ganga rulers; and a supreme example of this is found in Cãundarāya who, together with Gangarāja, the minister of Vişnuvardhana, and Hulļa, the minister of Narasimha Hoysaļa,
-is mentioned as forming the triumvirate of pre-eminent promoters of the Jaina faith.75 Câundarāya's name is associated with the Cāundarāya-basadi or the Jaina temple built by him at Śravaņa Belgoļa ; with the Caundarāya-purāņa which is a
73 Bähubali caritra, V. 6; Cf. Ghosal, Dravyasampraha, S. B. J. I,
Introd., p. xix. 74 Bice, Mysore Gazetteer I, p. 310... 75 Ep. Car. II, SB 345 ; of. ibid, introd. P. 34,