Book Title: Jainism in South India and Some Jaina Epigraphs
Author(s): P B Desai
Publisher: Jain Sanskruti Samrakshak Sangh Solapur

Previous | Next

Page 218
________________ 192 JAINISN IN SOUTH INDIA KAĻAGI This village is about 14 miles to the west of the Chitāpur Station on the Nizam's State Railway. It is regarded as a holy place and its sanctity is compared with that of the Kāšī Kshētra. This claim is justified by the presence, in this place, of a large number of temples dedicated to Siva. In the midst of these monuments of the Brahmanical faith it is interesting to observe the remains of a huge Jaina temple which was found lying in a deplorably desolate condition. The stately image of Pārsvanātha with his serpent hood and other paraphernalia, which must have once consecrated and adorned the temple, was still lying in the debris of ruins. No inscription pertaining to this temple could be traced. All the monuments referred to above may be roughly ascribed to the 12th century A. D. The old name of this place as gathered from inscriptions in other temples was Kāļuge. It was the headquarters of the district styled Mannedaời Thousand. The town was the headquarters of the chiefs of the Bāņa family, who were ruling in these parts. MAĻKHĒD This village situated in the Södam taluk has been identified with Mânyakhota, the eminent capital of the Rāshțrakūtas of the Dekkan. I have explored this place carefully during my visits to it more than once, with a view to secure confirmatory evidence in support of this identification. But I was rather disappointed with my findings which are as follows. Firstly, this place is poor in antiquities most of which are of a late period. Secondly, there is no trace whatsoever of cither the monuments or inscriptions of the Rāshịrakūta times. In the neighbouring villages which, as we shall see presently, are said to have constituted the suburbs of the great metropolis, I discovered some inscriptions of the later Chālukyas; but no single inscription of the Rāshtrakūțas was found anywhere. This glaring dearth of early relics may probably be ascribed to the close proximity of the river Kāgiņā which might have swept them away or submerged them by its overflowing operations. Excavations may yet reveal some of them. This suggestion is justified by the reported vestiges of old temples and other structures noticed by the residents of this place in the course of diggings for the foundations of new houses. Now we shall focus our attention for a while on the local traditions which are the next important, though secondary, sources of our information in the present enquiry. A tradition which uninistakably identifies this place with 1 It is probable that the place name, Malakotaka mentioned in the Mudbo! plates of Pūgavarman, of about the 6th century A. D., is indenital with Malkhēd. If this identification be correct, it would be the earliest epigraphical evidence regarding the existence of the place prior to the times of the Rashtrakūtas. Vide Progress • of Kannada Research in Bombay Province, from 1941 to 1946, p. 71.

Loading...

Page Navigation
1 ... 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383 384 385 386 387 388 389 390 391 392 393 394 395 396 397 398 399 400 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 410 411 412 413 414 415 416 417 418 419 420 421 422 423 424 425 426 427 428 429 430 431 432 433 434 435 436 437 438 439 440 441 442 443 444 445 446 447 448 449 450 451 452 453 454 455 456 457 458 459 460 461 462 463 464 465 466 467 468 469 470 471 472 473 474 475 476 477 478 479 480 481 482 483 484 485 486 487 488 489 490 491 492 493 494 495