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JAINISM IN SOUTH INDIA also mentions two teachers, Somājvara Pandita and Maladharidēva of the Pustaka gachchha.'
Age op DECADENCE : The downfall of Jainism was partly due to the violent activities of the followers of the rival faiths and Karnataka was not free from outbursts of religious persecution. . Other calamities also were added to this. These observations are substantiated by a few epigraphs noticed in this area: An inscription from Aņņigēri' in the Navalgund taluk registers a gift of land to the god Trikūtāśvara of Gadag. The record is dated in A. D. 1184 in the reign of Tribhuvanamalla Sõmēśvara IV, the last ruler of the Chalukya house, and states that the gift was entrusted to the care of Vira Goggidēvarasa. This trustee of the Saivite temple appears to have been a local chief of some importance; and what is significant in the context is the display of the titles of this dignitary in the inscription, such as a death to the Jainas', 'an eagle to the Jaina snake'. This shows that hostile propaganda against the followers of the Jaina doctrine had been organised and the movement of persecution was already afoot in the country by the latter part of the 12th century A. D. This is further confirmed by the evidence of the famous inscription at Ablūre in the Hirekerür taluk, which graphically narrates the victories gained by that unflinching advocate of the Saivite faith, Ekāntada Rāmayya, against the adherents of Jainism by violent methods reinforced by mysterious miracles. The Ablür record is placed approximately by the end of the 12th century A. D.
Jaina religious institutions and works of art must have also become viotims of the forces of vandalism let loose in the country in the wake of foreign invasions. Revealing in this context are the incidents recorded in two insoriptions at Mulgund. One found on & pillar in the Pārsvanātha temple, refers to an encounter with the Mohammadans who burnt the temple of Pārsvanātha and states that the preceptor Sahasrakirti. of Lilitakirti Achārye of the Dēsi gana, Hanasõge anvaya and Pustaka gachchha, died in the fight. Another on a pillar in the Chandranātha Basadi' states that Bandămbike, wife of Nāgabhūpa, reconsecrated the image of Arhat Adinātha, which was polluted by the Mobammadans. The former epigraph bears no date and the latter is dated in A. D. 1675. It is not known whether the two records allude to one and the same raid by the Mohammadan aggressors or to two assaults on different occasions.
1 An. Rep. (op oit. ), No. 51. 3 Ibid., 1928-99, Appendix E, No. 207. 3 Ep. Ind., Vol. V, pp. 297 ff. 4 An. Rep. (op. cit.) 1926–27, Appendix E, No. 92. 8 Ibid., No. 93.
