Jinamanjari 1995 09 No 12

Author(s): Jinamanjari
Publisher: Canada Bramhi Jain Society Publication

Page 55

2. Kolanukonda
Another place of Bhogasangha establishment is Kolanukond on the right bank of the river, opposite to the famous coastal city of Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh. It is known that Kolanukonda as the crow flies is less than 10 km from Vaddamanu. The village has a high hill station that stands precariously with a temple dedicated to Bhogeswara. Three fourths of the original hill is erased to the ground to supply the stone for laying the road nearby. The northern remnant with the temple shows cultural deposits composed of micacious red, early black-and-red lead and terracorta objects that suggest a date going back to early Maurya period. The cultural sermons may be attributed even to Buddhists, but its proximity to Vaddamanu and the Bhogeswara temple are clues that suggest their association with Jains.
Incidentally, it appears to be that Kolanukonda is a modern version of Kondakunda, after the name of Kundakunacarya, one of the pre-eminent Jains. He was a great name as the leader of the mulasangha of the South.
3. Chiluvuru village, south of Kondanukona, . has a temple of Bhogesvara. The temples of Bhogesvara is no doubt medieval from the sculptural study of the linga preserved in them. Since Bhogesvara is a strange name of Siva, typical of the region and no where found in India from the evidence of the ancient mounds on which they stand today, it has to be concluded that they were later savite adaptation to the ancient Jain establishments attributed to activites of Bhogasangha instituted by the missionaries from Bhoganagara in Bihar.
Antiquarian Remains of Jain Origin
Apart from the above places, there are other places like Vijayawada, Choragudi, Vuyyur, Bhattiprolu, Kollur, Pedana, Nandigama, Ambarpet etc, that could be associated with the places of Mahavira in Bihar, Bengal and Orissa. All these places lie on either bank of the river and within a range of 50 kms.
The name is of recent origin and now identified as a hill of Kanakadurgamma or Durgakonda. It is disconnected on the southern
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