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MEDIÆVAL JAINISM Niligiris). The Chāmarājanagara Pārsvanātha basti record dated A.D. 1117 gives the following graphic account of Punisa's success in the south--The Mahāpradhāna, Dandanayaka Punisa frightened the Toda, drove the Kongas underground, slaughtered the Põluvas, put to death the Maleyāļas, terrified king Kāla and entering the Nīla mountain offered up its peak to the Lakşmi of victory. On king Vişņu once giving the order, Puņisa seized Nīlādri and pursuing the Maleyāļas, captured their forces and became the master of Keraļa, and then again showed himself in the Bayalnād (plain county).
But like Ganga Rāja Puņisa was large-hearted. True to the Jina dharma, both looked upon humanity with an impartial eye. The above Chāmarājanagara Pārsvanātha basti inscription has the following interesting account to give of Punisa's broad-mindedness-The ruined trader, the cultivator with no seed, the ousted Kirāta (chief) with no power left, who had become his servant, he gave them all what they had lost and supported them—the Dandanātha Punisa.2 And when about four years later (A.D. 1121) the Cālukya Hemmāļi Deva's son Soyi Deva made certain grants to the god Jayangondeśvara in Brahmasamudra, General Punisa was present along with General Ganga Rāja, their monarch king Vişnuvardhana Deva, the queen Mahādevī śāntāladevī, and the four ministers.3 Obviously to Punisa endowments to non-Jaina deities were as sacred as those to the Jaina gods themselves.
But it must be remembered that so far as the cause of the Jina dharma was concerned, Puņisa was a second Ganga Rāja. The above Chamarājanagara Pārsvanātha basti record says
1. E. C. IV, Ch. 83, p. 10. 2. Ibid. 3. Ibid., V, Cp. 260, p. 235.
