________________
JAINA EPIGRAPHS: PART II
$29
noted down by me at Aland, Nemichandra Siddhāntakirti (No. 2 of the above list) is given the epithets, Śrīmad and Abhinava, and he is represented as the originator of the present line of Malkhed pontiffs.
This Nemichandra Siddhantakirti appears to have been a prominent personality. His title 'Siddhantakirti', which may be contrasted with the unostentatious name of his predecessor Vidyananda Svami, and the suffix 'kirti' in particular, which was subsequently adopted by his successor disciples, suggest that he might have introduced some important land-mark in the traditions of the order.
I am now inclined to identify Vidyananda Svami of the present record with his namesake who figures at the top of the above list of pontiffs of Malkhed. My reasons for this identification may be enunciated as follows. Like Vidyananda of the Malkhed paṭṭāvali, Vidyananda of our inscription must have held a high position in the monastic order of the Jaina church, as may be seen from the dignified titles of his line. Both of them were members of the same spiritual lineage. Vidyananda of the inscription belonged to the Mula Samgha, Koṇḍakunda anvaya, Balātkāra gaṇa and Sarasvati gachchha. Vidyananda of the paṭṭavali also must have owned the same spiritual distinction as indicated by the significant designation Balutkaraguna of the Malkhed pontiffs preserved till the present day. This identification would receive further support even from the imperfect details of the paṭṭavali, which need not be adduced as a prima facie argument against the hypothesis.
Happily, by a strange stroke of coincidence, some more sidelight is forthcoming in respect of our teacher Vidyananda. This light is particularly welcome, and all the more so, because it emerges from another reliable epigraphical source which is not only thoroughly contemporary, but is also discovered in the same region of Hyderabad. This epigraph was found at Tēr in the Osmanabad District. It is incised on the pedestal of an image of Pārsvanatha in a Jaina temple. In view of the importance of the epigraph in our present discussion and for convenience of reference I may give the following relevant extract from its text:
1 Svasti [*] Śrī Śākē 1313 [Prajapati ]-samvaschhare Phalguna
vadi 11 Budhavārē
2 Śrī-Mülasamghiya-Śrī-[ Vardhamāna -svami-chaityalaya-kṛita-jīrņņō3 ddhārē samāyāta-Siddhant-acharya-Śrīmat-Pujyapāda-svāmināṁ priya 4 8( )ishya-Sri-Vidyānanda-svāminām...
5
**pādukā u
1 This district is contiguous to the Gulbarga District wherein Malkhed is situated.
2 G. H. Khare: Sorceus of the Mediaeval History of the Dekkan, Vol. II, pp. 82-83. 42
