Book Title: Jainism in South India and Some Jaina Epigraphs
Author(s): P B Desai
Publisher: Jain Sanskruti Samrakshak Sangh Solapur
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2. JAINISM IN ANDHRA DESA
The
forth so far. This wide blank in the account of Jainism can be explained by a study of the political and religious history of the Andhra Dēsa. Part of the country was under the influence of the Satavahanas who ruled from the 3rd century B. C. to the 3rd century A. D. and who were, on the whole, staunch supporters of the Buddhist religion. The same creed enjoyed patronage at the hands of the Ikshvākus who succeeded the Satavahanas. Salankayanas, the Vishnukundins and the Pallavas, governing different areas from the 3rd to the 7th century A. D., not only followed the Brahmanical faith, but also zealously led the movement for its revival. Thus for nearly 7 or 8 long centuries Jainism could not look forth for help from the rulers or the state officials. Besides, Buddhism and other doctrines also seem to have held the field during this age. From an allusion to the exemption of taxes in the Vilavatți grant of Pallava Simhavarma,' it may be gathered that the Ajivikas had settled in a substantial number in the region of the Nellore District in the 5th century A. D. But though vanquished and suppressed, Jainism was not wiped out from the land; and its teachers seem to have been carrying on their work silently and unflinchingly as seen from the subsequent history. With the conquest and establishment of their rule in the Andhra Desa by the Chalukyas of Karnataka who were generous patrons of the faith, Jainism came to the fore for some time in the Telugu country.
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EASTERN CHALUKYA RECORDS: Jainism received patronage at the hands of the members of the Eastern Chalukya house from the beginning. Kubja Vishnuvardhana, junior brother of Pulakesi II of the Western Chalukya family, founded this dynasty in the Andhra country during the first quarter of the 7th century A. D. Ayyana Mahādēvi, the queen of Kubja Vishnuvardhana, made the gift of the village Musinikunda, situated in the Tonka Nātavāḍi Vishaya for the benefit of a Jaina temple named Naḍumbi Vasati at Bijavāḍa (modern Bezwada). The gift was entrusted into the hands of the Jaina teacher Kalibhadracharya. The temple which was probably built by the donor herself, belonged to the Kavururi gana and Samgha anvaya. The grant was renewed subsequently at the time of Vishnuvardhana III, a later ruler of the family.
Encouraged by the material assistance of the princes of the Eastern Chalukya family, the doctrine of Lord Jina appears to have gathered much strength and influence in the kingdom. Vijayaditya VI alias Amma II, a later ruler of the house, was a great promoter of the
1 Ep. Ind., Vol. XXIV, pp. 296 ff.
2 The Ajtvikas were an independent sect and the view that they were a class of Jaina mendicants is not correot. See Mediaeval Jainism, pp. 218-23,
3 An. Rep. on S. I. Epigraphy, 1916-17, p. 116.
