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74/ The Later Gangas: Mandali-Thousand
tioned for the first time in an inscription of A.D. 1067 of Koppala (Nagarajaiah, Hampa: 1978-A: p/73). Bhaṭṭārakas would stay in the Matha attached to the temple, whereas the Nirgrantha friars would stay in the basadi, sleep on the floor during the blunt of seasonal variations. They were profound scholars in various branches of knowledge, not confined to their religious dogmas only. Most of them were grammarians, logicians, eloquent orators, litterateures, proficient in religious discourses and debates. They were experts in siddhanta, the Jaina philosophy, syādvāda, the doctrine of qualified assertion, anekantavāda, the doctrine of manifold aspects, with a working knowledge in medicine. Nirgrantha monks would take food only once in a day, in forenoon, and would not sip even a drop of water for the next 24 hours and never after sunset.
Jaina pontificates were established during the reign of the Mandali-Thousand Ganga kings at several places. Some of the basadis in the province were either newly built or repaired, or rebuilt, on the advice of these friars. Most of the Mandalināḍ charters simultaneously testify to the growth of the basadis and the Nirgrantha-mata, at the hands of the local Mandalinaḍu rulers and the commoners. Thus, religious activities of Jainas accelerated.
The descent of the seers of the Kräṇür (Kānūr) gaṇa, a cohort of the friars and nuns of the original congregation, the Mülasangha has been chronologically recorded, starting from its first and foremost ascetic the adept Simhanandi ācārya.
Apostle Simhanandi ācārya
Quite a good number of Jaina ācāryas flourished in the Mandalināḍu, commanding lot of respect from the state and its subjects. Among the very many monks that adorned the Mandalināḍ, it is the great Simhanandi ācārya who stands unique at the top and all the rest of ascetics simply walked on his foot steps. There were two or three Simhanandi ācāryas; one in the third century, the other in the fourth century.
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