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JAINA KPIGRAPHS: PART II
293 the Vidyādēví Jvālāmālini rides a buffalo and bears the weapons, a bow, shield, sword and disc.
Probably what may be regarded as the only iconographical detail furnished by the present inscripton in regard to the goddess Jvālini is that she bore the golden earrings. This characteristic feature of the deity worshipped by the councillors of Sēdimba may favourably be compared with that part of the above canonical description of the two divinities, which specifically refers to the shiningly white complexion of their persons. It must however be admitted that the above iconographical details of the Yaksbiņi or the Vidyadēvi contain no direct allusion to the golden earrings, which, on the contrary, figure prominently in the epigraphical record under study.
The hypothesis regarding the identity of Jvälini of our record with the Yakshiņī in the Jaina pantheon, is happily supported by the authority of an epigraph from Jāvūr, Navalgund taluk, Dharwar Dt., which speaks of the existence of the basadi or temple of the goddess Jvālāmālini at Navalgund." This record thus unmistakably testifies to the prevalence of the worship of the deity of the Jaina pantheon among the followers of the faith in the Kannada country and shows that even individual temples were erected in her name. In like manner, it seems likely that the town of Sēdimba also contained a separate temple dedicated to the Jaina goddess Jvālini who was adored by the members of the Jaina community in general and the unbiased representatives of the local assembly in particular.
The following names of geographical interest deserve attention. Pottalakere which is said to have been the residence of the king (1. 45) has, as shown on page 212 in Part I, to be identified with Pattancheruvu near Hyderabad. This place appears to have been a fairly important Jaina centre, The Kuntala country in ancient times seems to have comprised roughly the major portion of the northern Karnāțaka, including the Kannada districts of the Bombay and Madras States and later on, its northern limit extended as far as the river Gödāvarī. As shown previously, Aral Nāļu (1. 59 ) or the district of Aral derived its designation from the headquarters of that name, This tract roughly included the area covered by the present day taluks of Sõdam and Chitāpur in the Gulbarga Dt. The territory consisted of three hundred villages and it has been mentioned as Aral Three Hundred in the
1 Jaina Iconography, p. 173. 2 An. Rep. on S. I. Epigraphy, 1928-29, Appendix E, No. 228. 3 For more elaborate discussion on the cult of Jvälini see above pp. 47-48, 143 and 172-73, 4 Contra. Ind. Ant., Vol. XIX, p. 162. 5 Bomb. Gaz., Vol. I, pt. II, p. 437, f. n. 5. 6 Annals of Bh. Or. Res. Institute, Vol. XXV, p. 40.
