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JAINISM IN SOUTH INDIA
conch and disc. It was therefore evident that the temple was originally associated with the cult of Vaishnavism. It may be seen from the presence of the large number of Jaina images as indicated above that the village should have possessed more than one temple of the Jaina creed. Subsequently, with the ascendancy of the Virusaiva creed both the Jaina and the Vaishnavite temples must have fallen into disuse; and so the Jaina images appear to have been brought from their ruined temples and kept in the deserted Vaishnavite temple. Thus did the two creeds come closer and become friends in their common adversity. In this manner we can explain the apparently anomalous position of the Jaina images in a Vaishnavite temple. The Jaina antiquities noted above are reminiscent of the considerable influence wielded by the creed at one time over the inhabitants of this place.
A few facts regarding the historical significance of this place as gathered from the inscriptions of the area deserve to be noted here. These inscriptions huil from Chinmalli and are dated in the period of the 13th century A. D. The early name of the place was Attinūru and it is characterised as a Fort. It was the headquarters of a tract consisting of eighty villages. This tract was under the administration of the chiefs of the Silābāra stock. Epigraphical discoveries of the past decades have revealed the existence of a large number of units of the Silābāra families that had settled as petty local rulers, in the region of the Gulbarga and Bijapur districts, including the Akkalkot area. One of these units was the family of chiefs administering over the tract of Attinūru'.
HUŅASI-HADAGALI This is a petty village about 8 miles to the west of Gulbarga. It is looked upon as a holy place of pilgrimage and visited by Jainas of these parts. The sole object of interest for such pilgrims is an ancient Jaina temple that has survived to the present day through all the storm and stress of the past eight centuries and over, in a region which was the scene of political revolutions and an arena of warring creeds. The temple is known as the PārsvanāthaPadmāvati Basti. It is designated 'Sri Kshētra Huñasi-Haďagali Pārsvanā. tha-Padmavati Basti' in the official records.
The temple is situated in the western part of the village. It is an extensive structure surrounded by a compound wall with a spacious court-yard providing accommodation for the pilgrims. Most of these constructions are of luter times excepting the main shrine which has been somehow preserved as the earliest nucleus. The original temple appears to have
1
This information is Lased on unpublished inscriptions of my private collection. In an article contributed to the Epigraphia Indica I have discussed the history of the several branches of the Silähåra stock. See Vol. XXVII, part II, pp. 65-74.
