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JAINA EPIGRAPES : PART III
971
poraneous. Judging from this contemporaneity and taking into account the high family, eminent position and religious devotion owned by the former it is bighly probable, nay, we are almost certain, that the two are identical.
Sankaraganda hailed from a family which was of the Rāshtrakūta extraction as indicated by his title Rattara Mēru. A number of families associated with the Rāshtrakūta lineage that were ruling in Karnāțaka and other parts of India in the mediaeval age have been discovered hitherto. Yet we have no means 'to ascertain whether Sankaraganda was connected with any of the known branches. But from the list of his immediate ancestors given in the present record he seems to belong to a family that was established in Karnāţaka some time ago. This family is not known so far. By a rough calculation of twenty-five years per generation we may place Pāṇararāja, the earliest ancestor of Sankaraganda, approximately in the first quarter of the 9th century A. D. Thus he becomes a contemporary of the king Nripatunga Amõghavarsha I of the main line of the Răshtraküțas of Malkhöd.
A zealous adherent of the Jaina doctrine as he was, it is in the fitness of things that Sankaragaŋda constructed a Jaina temple at Kopaņa, the para. mount centre of Jaina religion. Such an act seems to have been believed to be a consummation of their devotion by the followers of Jina. We have to note in this context the specific name of the temple which was Jayadhira Jinālaya. As we have observed above, Jayadhira was one of the titles borne by Sankaraganda; so the temple was evidently named after this title of his.
It may be seen from the above discussion that Sankaraganda who was in charge of the administration of the Banavāsi province had no jurisdiction proper over Kopaņa or its adjoining area. This is why we do not see him, in spite of his vast resources, make an endowment himself to the temple of his construction. He had therefore to depend upon somebody else to fulfil his meritorious intentions. It is for this reason and under these circumstances that we are introduced to a generous local chief who came forward to assist the holy cause. He owned some estate close by in the tract of Kukkanūr Thirty. Out of this private property he alienated three hundred mattars of land for the temple erected by Sankaraganda. This chief was named Rāttayya. He is not known before. He was a scion of the Chalukya lineage and a Mahāsāınanta (feudatory ruler). He bore the following titles: Tējörņava (ocean of valour), Guņaśuddhamärga (pure and virtuous in conduct), Pagege Balganda ( a tough warrior to the foe), Nudidante Ganda (firmly true to his words), Kritayugagalla (a thief of the righteous age). The record gives the genealogy of the following five generations of his ancestors : Govaņa, Rāja, Bikkiyaņņa, Sūdraka, Goggi, Rāttayya.
