Jainism and Karnataka Culture

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

Page 71

HISTORICAL SURVEY
41
" the oil mills of logic."175 The inscriptions also indicate that Vişnuvardhana could not have persecuted his erstwhile coreligionists. A few facts will easily bear out this observation.
In the first place, the coversion of Bittdeva did not lead to the conversion of his queen even. śāntaļadevi continued to make grants to the Jainas with the royal permission, even after this event. 171 Secondly, Gangarāja, his minister and general, considered as one of the three pre-eminent promoters of Jainism in the South, continued to enjoy the favour of Vişnuvardhana. He endowed and repaired Jaina temples and protected priests and images. He built an enclosure round the colossus on Indra-Bețța, which probably needed such protection from the attacks of sectarian fanatics. Says an inscription at Belûr, “Whatever else might be said, the myriads of ruined Jaina temples restored and built again, and the many ways in which his unbounded gifts were made, caused the Gangavādi 96,000 to shine like Kopaņa through Ganganātha.176 And more than anything else, seven years after Rāmanuja had left Mysore (i.e. in 1125 A.D.) Vişnuvardhana himself made a grant to the noted Jaina controversialist Śri-Bāla Tärkikacakravarti.176 Similarly, when Gangarāja died, and his son erected to his memory the Drohagharațța Jinālaya at Halébid, Vişnuvardhana signified his respect towards it saying, "By the merit of the consecration of this God (Pārsvanātha ) I have obtained both a victory and the brith of a son, and have been filled with joy.” Thereupon he give to the God the name of Vijaya-Pārsva and to his son Vijaya-Narasimha-Deva. The former showed his deference to Jainism and the latter his adherence to the new creed of Vaişņvism.'77
173 Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Ancient India, pp. 207-08 ; cf. Buchanan
Travels, II ch. vii, pp. 80-81. 174 Ep. Car II, SB 73 and 75. 175 Ibid., V, Belür 124; IV Ng. 32; II SB 940; cf. ibid. Introd, p. 59, 16 Of. Krishnaswami Aiyangår, Ancient India, p. 939, 177 Ep. Car. V, Belur 124, JK02528-8