Kevalaodhi Buddhist And Jaina History Of Deccan Vol 2

Author(s): Aloka Parasher Sen, B Subrahmanyam, E Siva Nagi Reddy
Publisher: Bharatiya Kala Prakashan

Page 97

DIMENSIONS OF BĀBĀNAGARA INSCRIPTION
HAMPA NAGARAJAIAH
Introduction
The much mutilated epigraph under discussion, containing 71 lines, has recorded three separate donations, made at different periods, to three Jaina temples at Kannadige, the modern Bābānagara, a village at a distance of about 27 km to the west of Bijapura, the District head quarters in Karnataka. The language of the inscription is Kannada and is written in Kannada characters. Epitome of the text
It opens with a benedictory Sanskrit slöka from Bhatta-Akalankadēva's Pramāņa samgraha, invoking the Jaina Order initiated by Jina, Lord of the three worlds. Subsequent lines eulogize the valor and virtues of Bijjanadevarasa-II (C.E.1130-67), the Kalacuri king and eldest son of Permādidēva (C.E. 1118-30). Then follows the description of (Vīra) Maiļugi kșttoņisa (C.E. 1167), the youngest brother of Bijjanadeva and his affiliation to the Jaina creed. Māņikya Bhattāraka, a bee at the lotus feet of Jina, was the patriarch of the Kannadige diocese. His pupil (Ravi) deva, an ardent devotee of Jaina church, attained eminence by commissioning a shrine enshrining Candraprabha, the Eighth Tīrthankara, at Kannadige. Cāvundarāya, fostering probity and far famed for four types of charity, installed a huge Mānastambha, characteristic Jaina Pillar of Eminence, also called Pride Pillar, that looked like a scale to measure the three worlds.
Synchronizing the Aştānhika Jaina holy day in the year C.E. 1160, Bijjaņadeva, purifying his body by sprinkling Jina-gandhodaka, the scented holy water mixed with sandal paste and anointed on the Jina idol enshrined in the sanctum, gifted 24 mattars land, with its boundary specified. This land was for the specific purpose of performing Aștavidha-arcane, eight types of worship including the lamp-waving ceremony scheduled to take place on the Aştānhika, and to the repairs and whitewash of the Jaina shrine at Kannadige town.
This Jinalaya, shining like a mirror, was caused to be made by Māņikya Bhattāraka, head of the Mangalaveda monastery, and a pupil in the lineage of Tribhuvanadeva of Mülasamgha Desigaņa, a cohort of Jaina friars. Māņikya Bhattāraka, the abbatial monk, figures twice in the charter and seems to have been a celebrity and played a prominent role in the dissemination of his faith. Maiļugi, Bijja!a, Sovideva and Cāmundarāya were his disciples.
The third portion of the epigraph refers to the grant of land and money by Somanspa for the maintenance and repairs of the Basadi, the Jaina fane at Kannadige, founded by Candimayya. Somanrpa, second son of Bijjandevarasa, had the other aliases of Somadeva and Sovideva (C.E. 1165-76). On the auspicious occasion of the first anniversary of his pattabandha, coronation, at his residence at Modeganūru, the modern Mādanūru in Koppaļa District, Somanộpa donated land to the Jaina temple, in C.E 1167-68.