Book Title: Medieval Jainism
Author(s): Bhasker Anand Saletore
Publisher: Karnataka Publishing House

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Page 195
________________ 180 MEDIÆVAL JAINISM The ordinary title Caladanka, however, was borne by other merchants as well. Thus in A.D. 1120 Caladankavāra Hede Jiya along with two merchants who bore the same name Māci setti, and another merchant called Madi setti, repaired a pit to the right of Gommateśvara at Śravana Belgoļa granting dues for the same. The commercial classes were not the only adherents of the Jina dharma. The agricultural sections of the people too were devout Bhavyas. When in A.D. 1154 Pārīśvasena Bhattāraka repaired the ruined basti of śāntinātha at Holalkere, and when the grants made by Voddama Gauda and others had been interrupted, it was that Gauda's sons (named) and others who petitioned the government official Pratāpa Nāyaka, after paying 100 gadyānas, to grant the lands behind the Hiriyakere tank and the tribute from the houses of the citizens for the worship and offerings of the śāntinātha basadi.2 But it must be confessed that from the practical point of view thc piety of the Vira Banajigas was more important for the cause of Jainism than the devotion of the Gaudas. This will be evident when we examine a few inscriptions of the latter half of the twelfth century. The earliest among these is that dated A.D. 1165 relating to the construction of a Jinālaya by the Silahāra general Kālana mentioned in an carlier connection. The protectors of the public charity made by the Ratta king Kārtavirya and others, were the Vira Baņañju merchants and their leaders, the 500 Svāmis of Ayyāvole and the 1,700 Gavare, Mummuridanța, Ubhaya-nānādesis, and the Tāļa-samasta of Ekkasambuge who, in addition to the above duty, unanimously agreed to 1. E. C. II, 377, p. 162. 2. Ibid, XI, Hk. 1, p. 115.

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