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JAINISM IN SOUTH INDIA the early age attributed to Kondakunda and other teachers who championed the cause of the faith in the South, and the patronage and support conferred upon it by the early rulers of the Ganga and Kadamba families of Karnātaka, are pointers that squarely justify the above assumption. The earliest epigraphical record that testifies to the eminence of Sravana Belgola as a Jaina holy place is approximately assigned to the 7th century A. D. This compares favourably with the earliest epigraphical reference to Kopbal as contained in a damaged inscription from Halgēri (No. 47) of the present collection, to be assigned approximately to the same period, though there is nothing in the record to connect it with Jainism.
Reference to this place occurs in three forms in the epigraphs: Kupaņa, Kupiņa and Kopaņa. The earliest allusion to the locality as a holy abode from the Jaina religious point of view is found in an inscription at Kopbul itself dated in the 9th century A. D. (No. 19). Subsequently, in the course of about a century or so, references to this place as a sacred centre of Jainism, gleaned from the epigraphical sources and contemporary literature, become sufficiently numerous and substantial, which go to establish its supremacy. From these it looks as though this place vied with Sravaņa Belgola at one time and overshadowed its glory for the time being. It is in no way easy either to trace the reasons that were responsible for the rise of this place as the holiest resort of the Jaina religion or to assess the factors that contributed to its growth. The following outstanding features however emerge from a close perusal of the epigraphical and literary references to this place between the 9th and the 13th centuries A. D.
i) It was reckoned as the foremost and supremely sacred amongst the Tirthas or holy resorts. According to an inscription from the Shimoga District it was distinguished among the millions of Jaina sacred places.' ii) Its purity was considered par excellence and cited as a standard of comparison. iii) It was replete with temples and shrines dedicated to the different deities of the Jaina pantheon. iv) Monks and lay disciples of various ascetic orders were residing here conducting their religious practices. v) Rulers
Kopbal is referred to in Nos. 26, 46 to 49 and 53 of the present collection. In No. 52 of the Bombay Karpatak Inscriptions, Vol. I, part I, from Lakkundi, dated in A. D. 1007, Kopbal is referred to as Kupiņa in laudatory terms. Nos. 127, 191, 345, 384 and 475 of the inscriptions at Śruvaņa Belgola contain reference to Kopbal. It finds mention in Nagar 46, Shimoga 64 and Shikaripur 317 also. For references from Tamil insoriptions cited and discussed by the lateC. R. Krishnamacharlu see the Kannada Inscriptions of Kopbal (Hyd. Arch. Series, No. 12, p. 3-5). Among the literary notices the following may be cited: Chåmundarāya's Adipurāņa, verse 15; Ranna's Ajitanāthapurāna, åśvāsa XII, verse 6. For further datails see Mediaeval Jainism pp.187-99, etc.
