Medieval Jainism

Author(s): Bhasker Anand Saletore
Publisher: Karnataka Publishing House

Page 23

MEDIÆVAL JAINISM branched off in the southerly direction. Two princes of the Ganga family came to a particular city in the south, thereby opening a new age in the history of the country. For here
century A.D (My. & Coorg., pp. 32, 49). Although the dates given by him to some of the later Ganga rulers, e.g., Durvinita whom he placed in A.D. 482-517... (Ibid, p. 49), as pointed out by Narasimhacarya, were wrong (Mysore Archeological Report for 1921, p. 28, where Narasimhacarya gives A.D. 605-650 as the dates of this ruler), yet we may accept, on the whole, the age (second century A. D.) given to the first historical figure in the Ganga history by Rice as correct.
The following will, for the present, be enough to prove that Rice's calculations were valid. One of the Ganga kings whose date of coronation was fixed satisfactorily by Dr. Shama Sastry is king Avinīta. This ruler was anointed to the throne while a boy in A. D. 475 (M. A. R. for 1924, p. 18). With this date we shall argue backwards in order to fix the age of Kongunivarmā I. Between king Avinita and Konguņivarmā I there were at least six monarchs Mādhava, Kiriya (styled by Rice Madhava II), Harivarmā, and his elder brothers Ayyavarmā and Krşnavarmā, his son Vişnugopa, followed by, according to Rice, Přthvīganga, and then Mādhava II (called by Rice Madhava III). (Rice, ibid., p. 49; M. A. R. for 1924, p. 17). Suppose we allot thirty-five years to every one of these, we reach at the following dates :
Mādhava Konguņivarmā I A.D. 230
Mādhava A.D. 265
Ayyavarmā
A.D. 300
Krsnavarma
A.D. 335
Harivarmā A.D. 370(?)
Vişnugopa A.D. 405
Madhava A.D. 440
Avinita A.D. 475