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JAINISM IN SOUTH INDIA
Sallēkhanā and it would be interesting to notice some of the details here. Sanga Bhupa, born of the parents, Haiva Bhūpa of Nagire and Bhairala Rani, was ruling the chiefdom of Sangitapura or Hāḍuvalli. Haiva Nripa and Manga Mahipati were his two sons. His preceptor Māņikyasēna, disciple of Jayasena, was renowned for his religious austerities and ascetic practices. He was residing in the monastery attached to the temple of Chandraprabha. One day in the presence of the chief, his sons and the faithful adherents of the Jaina doctrine, Manikyasēna communicated his determination to undertake the vow of Sallēkhana and to carry it through with their help and cooperation. Accordingly in the bright fortnight of the month Jyeshtha in the Saka year 1352 and Saumya, the monk commenced his vow with due ceremony. He reduced the quantiy of his food gradually and subsisted on liquid juices only for some days. Finally he gave up everything and after 33 days of absolute fasting passed away on Sravana śu. 1, without physical langour and in perfect control of the senses. The obsequies of the teacher were celebrated by the chief in the manner befitting his greatness and the Nishidhi memorial was set up to perpetuate the event. The epigraph is dated in A.D. 1429 and it is engraved on a stone standing in the Hire Basti.
BILIGI CHIEFS: From Sangitapura we proceed to Biligi in the Siddapur taluk. This was the headquarters of a family of chiefs whose early members were zealous adherents of the Jaina faith for about a dozen generations. Andanna was the founder of this principality and his early headquarters was at Aisur situated near the mountain of Chandragutti.' This event may be placed approximately by the middle of the 14th centruy A. D. Without entering into the genealogical details of this family, which evince some discrepancies in the accounts of different sources, the main succession of ruling chiefs may be made out as follows: Andanna, Parsvabhupa, Mundanna, Kallappa, Narasimha I, Ghanṭanna I, Narasimha II, Virappa, Rangaraja, Ghantanna, or Ghantendra II.
The Biligi Ratnatraya Basadi inscription No. I describes the various temples erected by these chiefs and by the members of the royal household in honour of the Tirthakaras and the munificent benefactions granted
1
A complete account of the Biligi family is given in the Biligiya Arasugala Vamsavali, a Kannada literary work of the last century. The Ratnatraya Basadi insoription No. 1 narrates genealogical history of the house in details from the Jaina point of view.
2 I have discussed almost all the important facts of the history of this family in my article dealing with the 'Six Copper Plate Records of the Biligi Chiefs' under publication in the Epigraphia Indica. Here I am concerned only with the essential particulars of the early rulers who were Jaina by persuasion.
