________________
128
MEDIÆVAL JAINISM ing. Now thc Kāveri, though it swelled, sui rounded and pressed forward its waters (obviously during his attack on Talakād) did not touch the General Ganga. When this is said, how can the panegyrist adequately praise the greatness of his devotion ? "1
Lest this may be taken to be an exaggerated account of the munificence of the great Jaina general, we may cite the opinion of a later engraver who in A.D. 1184 wrote thus about him-By the restoration of numerous Jina temples, the rebuilding of ruined towns and general distribution of gifts, the Gangavādi 96,000 Province shone like Kopaņa through Ganga Dandanātha.?
As regards the place assigned to Ganga Rāja in the history of Jainism, we have the following estimate of that general in the record of about A.D. 1117—“ The Kondakunda line of the Müla sangha is the most ancient in the Jina creed ; and the promoter of that line is undoubtedly the general Ganga Rāja."3 And a later inscription dated A.D. 1159 in answer to the question-Who were at the beginning firm promoters of the Jina dharma ?, answers thus—“After him (Cāmūnda Rāya) only Gangana, praised by the learned, the excellent minister of king Vişņu."*
Both Ganga Rāja's wife and his son were like him fervent Jainas. When the great general died in A.D. 1133, his eldest son Boppa, who was like his father also a military commander, erected a Jinālaya called after one of the titles of
1. E. C. II, Cf. No. 240, p. 102.
2. E. C. IV, Ng. 32, p. :20. In a record dated A.D. 1115 the same is said of Ganga Rāja. Ibid., II, 127, p. 55. But this inscription is dated two years before the actual conquest of Talakād by Ganga Rāja. I am unable to explain this discrepancy.
3. Ibid., II, 73, p. 39. 4. Ibid., 345, p. 148.
