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266
JAIXISY IN SOUTH INDIA
worship of the god śāntinātha, for conducting special rituals on such ceremonial occasions as Jivadayāshtami, Nandiśvara-ashtami, Sarkramana and eclipses, and for the preservation and maintenance of the repairs of the structure, all the Three Hundred Mahājanas by common agreement made a gift of 24 mattars of cultivable land, a flower-garden and an oil-mill. They also gave a solemn undertaking that they would safe-guard the interests of the endowment in all respects and that their successors also would duly maintain and preserve the charity. Accordingly, they caused to be incised this charter on stone so that it might endure as long as the sun and the moon-a monument to their righteous reputation. May auspiciousness and glory attend this as long as this earth lasts!
Lines 53-58. Blessings on the protectors of the charity. Imprecations against the transgressors.
INSCRIPTION NO. 4
( Found in a Deserted Temple at Sēņam ) This inscription was found incised on a pilaster on the left of the entrance in the verandah of the same deserted Jaina temple at Sēdam, wherein the previous inscription (No. 3 ) was discovered. The inscribed area of the pilaster measures 47 by 12 inches. The epigraph contains 65 lines of writing. It is on the whole in a good state of preservation, though slightly damaged and worn out in some places. The observations made on the characters, use of spirals for marking the punctuation and the orthographical conventions in respect of the previous inscription are applicable to this inscription also. In addition, the following points may be noted : The Dravidian ! and Sanskrit | have been used promiscuously in the following instances: Chalukya for Chalukya (1. 9), imb-ali- for imb-ali- (1. 50 ). In the expressions, ildapudu ( 1. 45 ) and -ilda (1. 50 ), the consonant r of the root ir has been changed to the Dravidian l. The forms, priya for priya ( 1. 26 ) and munibrinda for munivrinda (1. 31 ), may also be noted. Barring a few conjunctive expressions in prose such as aritu (1. 11 ), tat-putraṁ (1. 19 ) and mattan ( 1. 40 ), the language of the record is Kannada verge throughout, interspersed with three verses in Sanskrit.
The epigraph apparently begins with an invocation and ends with an imprecation in the usual manner of grant documents. But as revealed by its contents, its purpose is not to record any gift. So it may be classed as a sort of prasasti or formal eulogy, intended to commemorate certain distinguished personalities who were associated with the temple. This position is again confirmed by its failure to mention the king's reign and regual year or other details of the date.
