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MEDIÆVAL JAINISM of Belür", and caused it to be observed in future. And, then, the Mahā-mahattu had this stone śāsana duly written and presented to the leaders of the Jainas.
The benevolent Vira Saivas were not content with this formal method of giving the Jainas a charter of good will. All future injustice to the Jainas, especially on the part of the Vira Saivas themselves, had to be guarded against. And hence the following clause was inserted at the end of the śāsana, thereby showing that the Vira śaivas could be models of equity in matters of religious disputes. “Whoso opposes this Jina dharma is excommunicated from the feet of his Mahā-mahattu, is a traitor to Śiva, and the Jangamas, unfaithful to the vibhūti-rudrākṣa, and to the linga at the holy places of Kāśī and Rāmeśvara.” And so that none might question the validity of this important decision, the leaders of the Vira Saivas appended their signatures to the grant with a good wish that the Jaina religion might prosper—“The approval (or signature) of the Mahā-mahattu. May it increase, the Jina śāsana!”
The importance of this record lies in the fact that it affirms the legal method prevalent in the early days of the Vijayanagara Empire when, as we saw while describing the Tadatāļa Pārsvanātha basadi land dispute, the rulers had already set in the following precedent :-That all questions, especially those pertaining to the privileges and beliefs of communities, should be settled in the presence, and with the approval, of the leaders of both the parties, and the sanction of the State obtained at the end. And so far as the Jainas are concerned. the settlement of A.D. 1638 proves bevond doubt that the assurance given to them by king Bukka Rāya in A.D. 1368 had come to stay, not
1. E. C. V, Bl. 128, pp. 84-86.
