Jainism in Ealy Medieval Karnataka

Author(s): Ram Bhushan Prasad Singh
Publisher: Motilal Banarasidas

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Jainism in Early Medieval karnataka
said to have accomplished samadhi in the presence of Ajitasenabhattāraka at Bankapur in the district of Dharwar. Thcir ministers and feudatorics also followed this ritual. An insciiption of the same century informs us that Nägavarma, the son-in-law of Narasinga, who served the Ganga king Ereganga as minister renounced this world and observed this Jaina vow.” Another inscription records the death of Kiviriyya wlio kept the vow for twelve days in the Cangalva basadi and expired. *
The royal ladies of Karnataka did not fail to observe this rite. Pambabbe, a very austere Jaina lady, who was the clder sister of the Ganga king Būtuga, died by fasting in 971.4 Another such royal lady was Pullapa, the younger sister of Cāmundarāya, the famous minister of the Ganga king Mārasirnha. A nişidhi (called here nişidiha of Pullapa) was sct up to commemorate this event.5 Moreover, Jakhiyabbe, who served as the governor of Nagarakhanda 70 under the Rāştrakūtas, performed this rite at the holy place called Bandanike in full faith. There is similar other epigraphic evidence to show the impact of this Jaina vow on the princess of Mysore during the 11th-12th centuries. Pocikabbe,? sāntaladevis, Macikabbe, Boppavelo, and Lakşmimatsil were such royal patronesses who ended their lives by observing the Jaina vow of self-sacrifice. These examples clearly prove that Jainism had made a deep impression on the minds of the people of royal families. Although men and women of royal houses were accustomed to a life of comfort and luxury, they were prepared to undergo severe austeritics involved in the vow of salleh hanā.
1. EC, i1, SB 59, 974 A D., p. 14; EI, v, no. 18, P. 180. 2. Ibid. SB 150, 950 A.D., p. 76. 3. Ibid, i, Cg. 30, 1050 A.D., p. 64. 4. Ibid. vi, kd. I, p. 1. 5. Tob. List of Inst., no. 597 of 1905, i, p. 545. 6. EC, vii, Sk, 219, pp. 230-1. 7. EC, ii, SB 118, pp. 48-9. 8. BA. Saletore, op. cit., p. 166. 9. EG, ii, SB 140, pp. 65-7. 10. Ibid, vii, Tr. 198, p. 207. 11. Ibid. ti, SB 127-8, pp. 51-5.