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JAINA EPIGRAPHS: PART I
191
in elephants and gems. Critically examined, these stories seem to contain some grains of historical truth. Epigraphical evidence is at our disposal, which shows that this village was allotted to his queen Jakaladevi by Vikramaditya VI and that it was administered by her. It may therefore be concluded that these traditions which only appear to be indistinct and tortuous echoes of the above event, attempt to portray in their own way a hazy picture of those times.
An inscription from Hirelingadahalli, Hāvēri taluk, Dharwar Dt.,' speaks of one Jākalamahādēvi, a queen of Vikramaditya VI. The epigraph refers itself to the reign of the king; but its date is lost on account of the damaged and mutilated condition of the stone. This Jakalamahādēvi who appears to have been ruling over the village, made a gift to the god Svayambhūdēva. An examination of the prasasti with which she is introduced shows that she was different from the Jakaladevi of the Ingalgi record. This is confirmed also by the former's religious leanings which are indicated by the gift. Thus we have to conclude that Vikramaditya VI had one more queen who bore the same name as his queen of the Hunasi-Haḍagali inscription, who was administering a village in the Dharwar area, and who was most probably a follower of the Brahmanical faith of her husband.
I have discussed at some length in my introductory remarks on the Ingalgi inscription the probable identity of the deity Mahu Maṇikya occurring in the record. The point may further be elaborated in the light of additional evidence. An inscription from Hunasikaṭṭi, Sampgaum taluk, Belgaum District, incidentally refers to the Basadi of Manikyadeva at Koḍana Pūrvadavalli which has been identified with the present-day Mugaṭkhan Hubballi. The epigraph is dated in A. D. 1130-31 in the reign of the Western Chalukya king Bhulōkamalla and records a gift of land for the worship of the deity Ekasaleya Parsvanatha associated with the above-named temple of Manikyadeva. There is no indication in the record to determine the nature of the god Manikyadeva. But it is clear from the context that he, at any rate, could not have been Parsvanatha; for the latter figures in the same context as a collateral deity. However, it is not unlikely that this Māņikyadēva stands for Vardhamana, the illustrious Jina of the pantheon. Jinamanikya Suri' is the name borne by some members of the Jaina ascetic order. Herein also we can possibly trace a reference to the particular divinity (viz., Vardhamana) of the Jaina pantheon, which was characterised as the 'manikya' or gem among the Jinas or the Tirthakaras.
1 In. Rep. on S. I. Epigraphy, 1932-33, Appendix D, No. 105.
2 Ind. Ant., Vol. X, p. 132. 3 Ibid., Vol. X1, p. 250.
