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JAINA EPIGRAPHS: PART I
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PATRONS OF JAINISM
Many were the members of the royal families, feudatory chiefs and officials of the state, who contributed to the propagation and popularity of the Jaina faith by erecting temples and shrines in honour of the Jaina divinities and by making munificent endowments for their maintenance. Two great ladies of distinguished royal families, who held aloft the torch of Jaina creed under not quite favourable circumstances, are commemorated in our collection. They are Jakaladevi, queen of Vikramaditya VI of the Western Chalukya dynasty, and Santaladevī, wife of Vishnuvardhana of the Hoysala house, figuring in two epigraphs, Nos. 1 and 49.
Among the illustrious feudatories who were firm supporters of the faith and immensely promoted its cause, Butuga II of the Western Ganga family and Mahāsāmantadhipati Sankaraganda of the Raṭṭa extraction are celebrated by two records, Nos. 48 and 46. In the introductory discussion on Inscription No. 46, Sankaraganda has been shown to be identical with his namesake who is eulogised as one of the great patrons of Jainism in his peom Ajitatirthakarapuranatilaka by the Kannada poet Ranna.1 It is interesting to observe in this connection that out of the six stalwarts of the faith enumerated by the poet, two are reflected in our records.
We may next turn to the officials of the state, who either rendered direct service for the promotion of the creed or contributed to its growth, even indirectly, by their attitude of sympathy and encouragement. It has to be noted in such cases that not all the benefactors of the faith were its formal adherents and that many of them actuated by the catholic spirit of religious tolerance and social accommodation helped its cause. Chaudhare Rakkasayya of No. 2, though an official of not high status, was an ardent follower of the faith and actively advocated its cause by alineating a decent endowment to a Jaina temple at Hunasi-Hadagali. Mahamandalesvara Echabhupa of Mirinte Nadu figuring in No. 9 helped the faith by his attitude of sympathy and patronage. More enduring and substantial was the assistance rendered by a high official of Adaki, named Kopparasa Dandanayaka who played a prominent rôle in erecting a Jaina temple in the locality (No. 10.) Praiseworthy is the action of Dandanayaka Bhimarasa of No. 5, who approved the gift made by the city fathers to a Jaina temple at Sodam.
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The rulers of the principality of Erambarage and their officials seem to have entertained great regard for the Jaina doctrine and substantially helped the growth of Jaina art and religion in their chiefdom. For instance,
Asvasa xii, verse 9.
