Jinamanjari 2000 04 No 21

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

Page 83

mahāmandalesvara Mārasimha - the Silahāra king was governing Kūņdi-3000 and Miriñje-3000 (Miraj) region - caused a Jaina basadi and made a grant of land to construct a feeding house for Jaina monks.
At Nadiharļahalli in Ranebennur taluk, a Jaina inscription dated C.E. 1168 on a slab set up in the Sõmēśvara gudi registers the commissioning of Rşabha Jinālaya by Arasigāvundi and Naga-gāvunda ( country sheriff) and a grant of land made for feeding the Jaina monks and nuns. At Annigeri in Navalgund taluk - a capital of Beļvola country and the place of Abbañabbe, mother of Kannada Poet Pampa (C.E. 941) - was a venerable stronghold of Jaina faith. An epigraph dated C. 751 C.E., engraved on a pillar set up in front of the Banaśankari non-Jaina temple, speaks of the erection of a Jaina shrine by Kaliyamma, the headman of Jebulageri, an extension of Annigeri (BKI.I-i. No. 5] Akin to this, another epigraph on a slab set up in front of the Purvada Virappa temple, contains an allusion to a group of pañcabasadi, five Jaina temples and another Jaina temple named Permāļi (Arsie 1928-29, App-E. No. 207. C.E. 1184). Evidently, the two temples where these two lithic records are found, were Jaina temples from the early period upto the 13th C.E. and conversion has taken place only after 14th C.E.. At Koņņūr a Jaina shrine commissioned in 860 C.E. by Bankeya during the time of Amoghavarşa has been converted into Parameșvara temple. This Jaina temple had once enjoyed endowment of the emperor.
Gadag: At Gadag proper, a Jaina inscription (C. 12th C.E.) found on the pillar in the southern gopura of the famous Viraparāyana temple states that Mahādeva, a follower of Jaina faith and a maha-pradhāna (chief-minister) of Ekkalabhūpāla of the town Uddhare (Udri in Shimoga district) renovated the Jinālaya. Seated JinaPārsva image and some other Jaina edifice are found in the compound of this temple. Prof. M.H. Haridas, a research scholar, has rightly observed that up to the end of 12th century a Jaina temple existed at this place.
At Hosūr, a slab containing a Jaina inscription dated C.E. 1028, is fixed to the ceiling of a Saiva temple. In the same place, a Jaina church and Yāpaniya monastery are converted into Virasaiva temples. At Jakkali village in Rön taluk, an inscription on a stone leaning against the front wall of Kalamēśvara gudi, though badly damaged, refers to the rule of the Cāļukya king Vikramaditya-VI. It registers a gift of land to a Jaina church in the year C.E. 1117, the details of which are completely lost.
Gulbarga: At Tēngaļi Jain temple founded by Yāpaniya monks has been changed into Pāņduranga temple. Once a huge Jaina shrine situated outside Jevargi town has been appropriated by others and has been adapted into god Hanuman temple., which still bears the Jaina vestiges of Rāstrakūta period, with the tutelary figure of Jina being intact. At Bankur, which was a nerve center of Jainism, there were more than three Jaina temples and a cloister of monks. One of these caityālayas has been reorganized as Hindu Rameśvara temple. It is fairly a big sanctuary consisting of a separate subsidiary shrine for goddess Padmāvatidevl, preserved sven to this day, losing its original features. There is a small shrine above the main manctuary with steps leading to it. A side entrance to the temple as well as the sanctum of the presiding deity of door-frames bear Jina icons.
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