________________
4. JAINTEX IN KARNATAKA
148 The epigraph refers to the Basadi of Marudēvi Avve and states that the ima ge of Párśvanātha was installed therein by the revenge official (Srikaraņādbisa) Boppana in A. D. 1269, when Tipparāja was governing the entire Karnāta Mandala. The name of the temple is interesting. Marudēvi, as we know, was the mother of the first Tirthakara Rishablanātha; and so the temple might have been erected to celebrate her sacred memory. Or else, it derived the name from a local lady of some distinction who was directly or indirectly associated with its construction.
NĪRalgt: An inscription from Niralgi in the Hāvēri taluk registers & gift of land to the temple of Mallinātha Jināśvara constructed by him in his village Nörilage by the regional administrative official ( Nāļprabhu) Mallagā. vunda. The record is dated in A. D. 1147 in the reign of Pratāpachakravarti Jagadēkamalla Il and mentions the Digambara Jaina teacher Hariņandidēva of the Müla Saṁgha, Sūrastha gana and Chitrakūţa anvaya."
MANGUŅDI: Mangundi in the Dharwar taluk rose to distinction as a conspicuous seat of the Jaina faith during the age of the 12th and 13th centuries A. D. It owned a famous Chaityālaya which was known as Nagara Jinalaya. This shrine seems to have been consecrated to the deity Pārsvanātha. The temple was under the management of the preceptors of the Yāpaniya sect. The Bhavyas or the lay followers of the faith residing in the village, inspired by religious fervour, made a series of grants for the benefit of the looal temple. Preceptor Bābubali Siddhāntidēva who was the trustee of the temple, received these gifts. The inscription furnishing these details refers to the reign of Jayakēsi III who was a prince belonging to the feudatory family of the Kadambas of Goa. The epigraph bears more than one date the last of which may be approximately equated with A. D. 1215. The record mentions the names of two generations of preceptors of Bāhubali. One of them appears to be Ekaviryāchārya and the name of his pupil is unfortunately obliterated. The village Mangundi is referred to in the epigraph as Manigu. ndi or Manigundage and also by the Sanskritised appellation Māņikyapura.'
GABAG: Garag, another village in the same taluk, appears to have been a resort of the preceptors belonging to the Kumudi gana of the Yāpani. ya Samgha. This fact is disclosed by two inscriptions found in that yillage. One of the epigraphs is much damaged and the other records the death of a teacher named Sāntivīradēva by the vow of Samādhi. The precise dates
1.
1 An. Rep. on 8. I. Epigraphy, 1933-34, Appendix E, No. 61. 2 Ibid., 1926, Appendix 0, No. 439 and George M. Moraes: Kadamba Kula, Appendix
III, No. 6. 3 Ibid., Nos. 441 and 442.
19
