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JAINA EPIGRAPHS: PART II
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epigraphs that he belonged to the Vanasa family and bore the titles, Mahapradhāna, Mahāprachanda-dandanayaka, Kaditavergade (Superintendent of Records), Kannada-sandhi-vigrahi (Minister for peace and war for the Kannada country), Chalukya-rajya-samuddharana (Upholder of the Chalukya sovereignty) and others. As the present charter is dated nearly half a century later than the two inscriptions mentioned above, we may reasonably assume that he was not living at the time of our record. We may seek further justification for this surmise in the cursory manner he is referred to in this record. His son-in-law, general Bhimarasa, is introduced for the first time by the present epigraph.
The claims put forth for the courage and valour of the Three Hundred Mahajanas of Seḍimba, through some of the epithets in their prasasti, seem to possess some bearing on facts as pointed out in the introductory remarks on the foregoing charters. These Mahajanas, it may be noted, are referred to as the Vipras or Brāhmaṇas in verse 9 of this and verse 14 of the previous record. This is substantially attested by their characteristic description in the prasasti, which contains more than one allusion to their leanings for the Brahmanic faith. Further, it is these Mahajanas or city fathers who are addressed as the guardians and masters of the citadel of Sedimba in verse 16 of the preceding document. It is interesting to note how this assembly of various representatives maintained its heroic traditions with due pride.
The deity Adi-Bhaṭṭāraka in whose honour the gift was made is evidently Adinatha or Rishabha, the first of the twenty-four Tirthakaras of the Jaina pantheon. We might easily identify the temple in the southern quarter of the town, which was consecrated to this deity, with the dilapidated temple in the Potter's Colony where the epigraph was discovered. The present day condition of the temple has been described in the opening lines of this introduction.
As a major part of the record, particularly almost all the descriptive passages in prose and verse, is identical with its corresponding part of the previous inscription, not much material is left out for an independent literary appreciation. The expression 'Chaitra-Pavitra' occurring in line 54 conveys two festivals, the Chaitra festival and the Pavitra festival. Of these the first was celebrated in honour of the deity in the month of Chaitra. The second is the one known as the Pavitrotsava or the festival of Pavitrārōpaņa, when 'garlands of sacred thread made of cotton or silk are put on the necks and other parts of the body of the holy image'. This festival was celebrated in one of the months from Jyeshtha or Ashadha to Kartika. The term Ubhaya Nānā Dēsis in 1. 54
1 See Ind. Ant., Vol. XXXVIII, pp. 52-53,
