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JAINISM IN SOUTH INDIA :: 5: The editor of The Kannada Inscriptions of Kopbal has made out the record almost completely. According to his reading the following additional information could be gathered about Pāyaṇa. He was pattana-svami or chief of the town assembly and the son of Chokka? Vodeya Nākigetti.
The inscription avers that it is the Nisbidhi of Pāyaṇa. As in the previous case, there is no indication in the present instance also to assume that the expression Nishidhi refers to any construction or even representation on or near the spot of the epigraph. So we have to interpret the expression with reference to the inscription itself which is both an epitaph and a memorial in the name of the deceased.
TEXT 1 Srimatu (Müla-sam]gha
Sēna-gana.....dēva-bhata(tā)ra3 ra......gudda .... 4 de......[se]ttiya maga 5 .........[Pāyal6 ņana nishidbi ( 1*]
TRANSLATION This is the Nishidhi (memorial) set up in honour of the late Pāyaṇa... the son of......setti, a lay disciple........dēva-bhatāra belonging to the illustrious Mūla Sangha and Sēna gaņa.
INSCRIPTION NO. 28
(Found in a Temple at Kopbal) This inscription was found incised on a slab of stone in the Něminātha Basadi in the fort area at Kopbal. The slab was built into the pavement of the temple. It is not known where the inscribed slab was kept originally. But it is obvious that it was somehow displaced from its original position and very roughly handled. The renovation of the temple seems to have taken place some time ago. On this occasion or even before, the slab was removed and put into service for the new construction. The persons who were responsible for the renovation were too ignorant or callous to notice the writing on the stone. The mason's hammer had its own rôle to play in the act of vandalism. As a result of all these unhappy vicissitudes the epigraph is miserably mutilated and woefully worn out for the most part of it.
The extant portion of the slab measures 38 inches in length and 22 inches in breadth. It contains about 61 lines of writing. These lines could be counted from the traces of letters left over at the extremities though most of the middle portion of the record is entirely effaced, obviously on account of its being frequently trampled down by the devotees visiting the temple. : Che name read as 'Chokka' in line 3 might be 'Chikka'. op. cit., p. 7.
