Jainism and Karnataka Culture

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

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JAINISM AND KARNĀTAKA CULTURE
Vikramaditya gave the grant to "Śri Vijayadeva Panditācārya who belonged to the sect of Devagaña of Mūlasamgha, the disciple of Rāmadevācārya who performed the most austere penances, who was the house-pupil of Jayadeva Pandita."98 But it is strange that this Jaina grant contains an invocation to Vişnu, in obvious deference, of course, to the family god and symbol of the Calukyas. It says, “ Victorious is the boar-like form that was manifested of Vişņu which agitated the ocean and which had the earth resting on the tip of his uplifted righthand tusk.”99
Under Vikramaditya's successor, Kirtivarma II, the Calukyas were defeated and dispossessed by the Rāştrakūtas. In the obscurity that surrounds the succeeding career of the Calukyas we still find them consistent in their attitude towards the Jainas. For, from a Rāştrakūța inscription of Govinda III we learn that Vimalāditya Calukya, son of Yaśovarman and grandson of Balavarman, made a grant to a Jaina temple in order to ward off the evil influence of Saturn. It is also stated that this was done at the instance of the donor's uncle Cākirāja of the Ganga family.100 We have already indicated the hold that Jainism had over the Gangas, and this inscription reveals the influence they must have exercised over neighbouring princes in the matter of religious belief. Who exactly were these Calukya princes it is not easy to determine. Bhandarkar and Rice thought that they must have belonged to an independent branch of the main family of Calukyas.101 The former also mentions, in this connection, that another branch of Calukyas ruled from Jola named by Pampa in bis Jaina Bhārata ; Arikesari appears to have been the patron of the poet.104 Mr. E. P. Rice observes that Pampa was " apparently also a general
98 Float, S. and 0. 0. Inscriptions, Ind. Ant. VII, p. 111. 99 Ibid., p. 110, 100 Rico, A Rästrakūta Grant from Mysore, Ind. Ant. XII, p. 18. 101 Ibid. p. 12 ; Bhandarkar, Jarly History of the Dekkan, p. 79. 102 Ibid. pp. 79 80