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WOMEN AS DEFENDERS OF THE FAITH
165
granting lands in Savanabili for the same. After some time that estate was added to by Kanakiyabbarasi. Of this lady it is said that wherever there was no Jina temple, there she provided a Jina mandira; and wherever the Jina munis had no place which produced an income, she gave them grants. Mention made in the same epigraph of Santiyakka, whose father was Kōti Sețți and mother Boppavve. Her uncle was Boppa Daṇḍanāyaka, and her husband was also called Kōți Seţţi. This person who made the basadi in Uddhare, is styled the "supporter of the Jina dharma." King Ekkala mentioned above, we may note in passing, was the disciple of Bhanukirti Siddhantadeva of the Tintriņika gaccha and the Krāṇur gana. He is said to have constructed the Kanaka Jinalaya in Uddhare, and given it over to the charge of his guru along with specific lands.1
To this period belongs the saintly figure of Santaladevi, the queen of the Hoysala king Viṣṇuvardhanadeva. Lithic records found at Sravana Belgola and elsewhere eulogize the beauty, skill, piety, and devotion of this remarkable queen. She was the eldest daughter of the Senior Perggade Mārasingayya, a staunch Saivite, and the virtuous Macikabbe, an ardent Jaina! Her younger brother was Dudda Mahādeva, while her uncle was the Perggade Singimayya.2 An expert in singing, instrumental music, and dancing, she was also renowned for her beauty. An inscription dated A. D. 1123 praises her beauty in two exquisite verses. Her guru was Prabhācandra Siddhantadeva, the disciple of Meghacandra Traividyadeva, of the Pustaka gaccha and the Desiya gana.4
1. E. C. VIII, Sb. 232, pp. 35-36.
2. Ibid., II, 132, pp. 60, 73.
3. Ibid., 131, p. 58, text, p. 57.
4. Ibid., 132, p. 60. He died in A.D. 1145. Ibid., 140, p. 67.
