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JAINISM IN SOUTH INDIA The phonetic transformation of the base ir into i and irl, as noticed in the formas like ilda, irl da, etc., merits the attention of the linguist. Express ions like Pattale-karaṇam, denoting an official designation, present good examples of adaptation of the Sanskrit vocabulary for use in the Kannada administrative records (No. 2). The name Kāmalatikā of a metre is disclosed for the first time in No. 7. The passages describing the episode between tbe king Vikramāditya VI and his queen Jākaladēvi (No. 1), the religious austerities of monks (No. 2), the Mahājanas and the impregnable fortifications of the agrahāra town of Sēờimba (Nos. 3, 5 and 7), make a happy reading as decent literary compositions of the age.
Lastly we may note with interest how some of the descriptive verses from our epigraphs are found either reflected or literally reproduced in the incriptions at Sravaņa Belgola. For instance, verse 10 of No. 4 from Sēdam, devoted to the praise of Prabhachandra, with the significant expression, i-bandan = i-banılan, is echoed in Sravaņa Belgola No. 72, with the repetetion of the suine characteristic phrase. The description of Vardhamānadõva cont. ained in verse 8 of the Huñasi-Hadagali record (No. 2) occurs verbatim in a fragmentary inscription from Sravaņa Belgola, No. 71. And again, verse 10 of the same epigraph figures in its entirety in S. B. No. 117. As all the abovenoted three inscriptions from Sravana Belgoļa belong to a later date than the corresponding epigraphs of our collection, we might reasonably assume that the former were influenced by the latter. This coincidence can be explained in another way also. It may be assumed that such verses dwelling upon the eminence of religious teachers were composed by an unknown poet or poets at some earlier period and that they were adapted or borrowed with equal right both by the drafters of the Sēdam and Humasi-Hadagali records on the one hand and of the Sravaņa Belgola inscriptions on the other.
