Jinamanjari 1999 09 No 20

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

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Jinamañjari, Volume 20, No.2, October 1999
JAIN HISTORY OF KARWAR IN KARNATAKA
Dr. G.M. Hegde
During the time of Calukyas, after the Kadamba rule in Karnataka, it is known that a king named Honnama was ruling at Honnavara in the eight century. It is established that this northern coastal region lying south of Goa and north of Mangalore district in Karnataka was ruled by Jain kings, belonging to three families namely, the Saluvas of Nagire, the kings of Haduvalli, and the kings of Swadi. In fact, Swadi has many historical records such as memorial stones of Bhattakalanka and Akalanka, and Jain matha.
Saluva rulers reigned Gerusoppe (also known as Haivanadu) from 1350 to 1606 C.E., and their domain extended from Gerusoppe to Gangavali (Ankola) in the coastal region. Many records from Karwar district thus reveal their Jaina religious links with South Canara to the south. The richness and power of Jainism along coastal Karnataka in the historic period from seventh century to the sixteenth century reveals an extraordinary achivement under its Jaina rulers of Swadi, Nagire and Haduvalli.
The Saluvas were great Jain kings who reigned from about seventh to sixteenth centuries. During the period of King Saluvamalla, Salva was the first Kannada poet who composed the great epic Jain Mahābharata in Kannada. In it he wholeheartedly praises the Saluva kingdom and its kings, and describes the enchanting beauty of the region and the greatness of Jainism and its seers and sages. In addition, this poet who has been acclaimed as the greatest poet of the region has composed the Rasaratnakara, Vaidyasangatya and Sharadavilasa. Other Jain poets of this kingdom were Battaleshvara (circa 1630 C.E.) who compossed the Kaushikaramayana, Timmana who composed the Navarasalankara, Aditappa who composed the Dhanyakumaracarite, and Payana who composed the Ahimacarite.
The Nagire kingdom located near Gerusoppe was the administrative centre of Saluva kings, and their genelogy is as follows:
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