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MEDIÆVAL JAINISM and mahā-tirtha given to it in epigraphs.1
As regards the second point mentioned above, viz., that Kopbal contained many monasteries, tradition current at Kopbal today asserts that there were not less than 772 basadis in that place. Hence current tradition connects Kopbal, not with Buddhism, but with Jainism.
And, finally, Yuan Chwang speaks of the many relics of Buddhism at Kopaņa. These no doubt have yet to be discovered ; but the many ruins pertaining not only to Buddhism as narrated above, but also to Brahmanism and Jainism, that are found in and around Kopbal justify the statement of the Chinese traveller that that centre was noted for its sanctity.3
But here some objection may be raised against our assumptions. Firstly, as regards the name. Yuan Chwang gives it as Kongkin (kan) napulo which may have been another rendering of Kopaņapura. Secondly, the Chinese traveller does not give any detail concerning one special feature of Kopaņa-the hill-top and the dolmens in that village.4 While he speaks of the fertile nature of the country, the swarthy complexion of the people, of their rude and rough ways, and of their addition to intellectual and moral acquisitions," he
1. Charlu, The Kannada Inscription at Kopbal, p. 3.
2. This detail we owe to Mr. N. S. Rajapurohit and the late Mr. N. B. Shastry. See Charlu, Kannada Inscrs., p. 14.
3 Mr. Desai speaks of the Brahman inscriptions K. H. R. II, p. 12.
4. These dolmens are called Moreyana angaļi, meaning not, as Mr. Charlu says, " the shops of the Mauryas ", (Kann. Inscr., p. 1). but as Mr. Desai correctly says "the stalls of the pygmies” called Morayas, K. H. R. II, p. 15. In support of Mr. Desai, read Rice, E. C. XI, Intr. p. 32.
5. Watters, op. cit., II, p. 238.
