Book Title: Mahavira and his Teaching
Author(s): C C Shah, Rishabhdas Ranka, Dalsukh Malvania
Publisher: Bhagwan Mahavir 2500th Nirvan Mahotsava Samiti

View full book text
Previous | Next

Page 295
________________ V. V. MIRASHI The Silāhāras of Kolhapur not only mention with pride that they had obtained a gracious boon from the goddess Mahālakṣmi but are known to have made liberal grants for her worship and naivedya. They built temples of other gods also. Thus, Gaṇḍarāditya built a temple of Siva, together with those of the gods of other religions to be noticed later, at the village of Irukuḍī (modern Rukaḍi, near Kolhapur) and made grants of land for their worship.1 He also donated land for the temple of the god Kheḍāditya (evidently a form of the Sun) at Brahmapurí, a suburb of Kolhapur.2 At the request of his minister Maillapayya who had repaired the temple, adding two more shrines of Brahmā and Visņu to it. King Vijayaditya is said to have built the temple of Koppeśvara, a few miles from Sirol.3 King Bhoja II, the last known member of this branch of the Silāhāras, made grants of land for the naivedya of the goddess Mahalakṣmī and also for the worship of the god Uma-Maheśvara installed in a matha in the court-yard of her temple. It is needless to multiply instances of patronage to Puranic Hinduism by the Śilāhāras of Kolhapur as they were themselves followers of that religion. 288 It is, however, noteworthy that they extended their patronage to other religions also which were flourishing in their kingdom. Thus, the aforementioned king Gandaraditya, when he built a temple of Siva at Irukuḍī, erected also similar shrines of the Buddha and Arhat (Jina) in the neighbourhood and made similar grants for their worship.5 This is one of the few references to the flourishing of Buddhism in that age. But references to the flourishing of Jainism are many more. We have already referred to the erection of a shrine of Arhat 1. JB B.R.A.S. Vol. XIII (Old Series), pp. 1 f. 2. Ep. Ind., Vol. XXIII, pp. 28 f. 3. K. G. Kundangar, Inscriptions from Northern Karnataka and the Kolhapur State, p. 14. Ep. Ind., Vol. XXIX, pp. 13 f. J.B.B.R.A.S., Vol. XIII (Old Series), pp. 1 f. For Private & Personal Use Only 4. 5. Jain Education International www.jainelibrary.org

Loading...

Page Navigation
1 ... 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383 384 385 386 387 388 389 390 391 392 393 394 395 396 397 398 399 400 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 410 411 412 413 414 415 416 417 418 419 420 421 422 423 424 425 426 427 428 429 430 431 432 433 434 435 436 437 438 439 440 441 442 443 444 445 446 447 448 449 450 451 452 453 454 455 456 457 458 459 460 461 462 463 464 465 466 467 468 469 470 471 472 473 474 475 476 477 478 479 480 481 482 483 484 485 486 487 488 489 490 491 492 493 494 495 496 497 498 499 500 501 502 503 504 505 506 507 508 509