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MEDIÆVAL JAINISM
same capital, in which the death by sallekhanā of the Jaina merchant Nāmi Sețţi is registered. The main ground on which this inscription is placed in the early years of the king Ballāļa II is the fact that Nāmi Sețţi is mentioned as the disciple of the Jaina guru Nayakirti. Dr. Krishna rightly identifies Nayakirti with his namesake spoken of in a śravaņa Belgo!a record. But we have to fix the date of Nayakirti in order to prove the validity of our assertion that Nāmi Setti died in the reign of king Ballāļa II.
This can be done by ascertaining a few facts concerning Nayakirtideva. From the epigraphic evidence cited in connection with the great Jaina generals in the previous pages, it may be recalled here that Nayakīrti figures in many of the Hoysala records. This guru was the disciple of Guņacandra and the colleague of Mānikyanandi. Both these pupils of Guņacandra were great philosophers. Nayakīrti was “an emperor of philosophy", while Māņikyanandi was one who " had reached the other shore of the ocean of philosophy”. Nayakīrti was "superior to the lord of Khacchara (Jimūtavāhana) and Bali in liberality, was superior to Meru and the famous Kailāsa in weight (dignity), was the guru of the praiseworthy Irungoļa, and a true guru of the whole world." He belonged to the Desiya gaña and the Pustaka gaccha. He is highly praised as one who was proficient in literature, the Jaina scriptures, and as “a crest jewel of good conduct." For he was one who “destroyed the three śalyas,2 the three gāravas, and the three dandas.* The same
1. M. A. R. for 1929, pp. 78-79.
2-4. The three Salyas are the following--mithyā-salya (falsehood), māyā-salya (fraud), and nindāna-salya (covetousness). The three gūravas are the following pañca-sunā (cutting, grinding, cooking, carrying of water, sweeping); stri-mohādi (love of woman, etc.); and parigraha (land, house, cattle, grain, bipeds,
