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Jainism in Early Medical Karnataka
this practice even in the 12th century. On the basis of an undated inscription, assigned to 1110, he refers to the nun Rātrimats of the Punnāgavřkşamüla Gana of the Mala Sangha, who acted as the preccptress of the male devoice Bammagāvunda. These striking examples of nuns having monks as their disciples clearly demonstrate the persistence of matriarchal traditions of the peninsular India, which affected the Jaina monastic order in Karpataka during the carly mcdieval period. Some other elements of matriarchal society such as the economic independence of women, worship of female deities or female ancestors, women's education on similar lines with males, etc., are clearly perceived among the Jaina community in Karnataka. In Karnataka Jainism, women enjoyed religious privileges almost equal to those of men. The religious independence given to Jaina women had its repurcussions in other spheres of Karnataka socicty. There is epigraphic evidence to show that a Jaina woman named Jakkiyabbe successfully discharged administrative duties in the Nagarakhanda 70 during the reign of the Rāşțrakūta king Krşņa III. We havcalso some Jaina women who distinguished themselves in the literary circle. Kanti, who belonged to the 12th century, figures eminently as the earliest Jaina poetess in the Kannada literature. Besides, the adoration of female deities or female ancestors, which has been considered to be one of the elements of matriarchal survivals, is also proved by the worship of the Jaina goddesses in Karnataka during the 10th-12th centuries.
Church Administration and Its Functions
The emnergence of the Jaina monasteries, separate from the temples, in Karnataka called for a systein of discipline and organization, which could regulate the settled life of the Jaina monks and nuns. Therefore the Jainas evolved a wellregulated hicrarchy of Church officers. They were the acārya or thc chief pontiff, the upadhyaya or the preceptor, the ganadhara or the head of a gana and the Sadhu or the ordinary monk. 1. P.B. Desai, op. cit., p. 119. 2. Baron Omar Rolf Ehrenfels, Mother-Righi in India, p. 11.
