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4. JAUNIST KARNATAKA
119 Honnūr: Interesting information is furnished by the inscription on the pedestal of an image in the Jaina temple at Honnür near Kagal in the Kolhapur region.' It records a gift of land to the Jaina temple, constructed by Bammagāvuņda, made by Mabāmaņdalāśvara Ballāļadēva and Gandarāditya for feeding the ascetics. This Bammagāvunda, we are further told, was a lay disciple of Kanti, i. e., the Jaina nun, Rātrimati who belonged to the Punnāgavrikshamūla gana of the Müla Saṁgha. It becomes clear from this that, as in the Tamil country, there were in Karnāțaka Jaina nuns who entertained men as their disciples. We are not sure if Rātrimati is the correct reading of the name; could it be Kāntimati? The information regarding the existence, in the Mūla Samgha, of the Punnāgavrikshamūla gana which is generally associated with the Yāpaniyas, is also noteworthy. Ballāladēva and Gandarāditya were the princes of the Sila Karād. With the assistance of this fact we can assign the inscription approximately to A. D. 1110, though it is not dated. On the pedestal bearing the inscription stands the stately image of the Jina surmounted by the seven-hooded serpent. He might be identified as the Tirthakara Pārsvanātha,
TERDĀĻ: Terdal in the Sangli area had developed as a renowned centre of the Jaina religion in the age of the 11–12th centuries as a result of the patronge it received from the rulers of the Raţta house on one side and the devotion bestowed by the members of the wealthy mercantile community on the other. This town with the adjoining tract was under the - administration of the chief Mandaļika Gonka who was an ardent follower of the Jaina faith. Mallidēva and Lõka were the two immediate ancestors of Gonka and this family was an offshoot of the Silāhāra stock. The implicit faith of Gonka in the Jaina religion is illustrated by an anecdote narrated in the inscription in the Jaina temple at Terdal”, which reveals that he was cured of snake bite by pronouncing the names of the Five Saints.
At Tēridāla, which was the old name of Terdal, situated in the Kūņdi province, Gonka constructed a Jaina temple dedicated to Nēminātha und made suitable endowment of land for the maintenance of its establishment and for the feeding of Rishis or the Jaina monks. The grant was made in the year corresponding to A. D. 1123-24 under the auspices of the Ratta chief Kārtavirya II, and the revered pontiff and preceptor Māghanandi Saiddhāntika who was specially invited for the occasion, Māghanandi was the superintending priest of the illustrious Rūpa-Nārāyaṇa Basadi of Kollāpura or Kollagira and head of the provincial pontifical seat ( Maņdalāchārya). He
1 Ind. Ant., Vol. XII, p. 102. 2 Ibid., Vol. XIV, pp. 14 ff.
