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STATE AID TO JAINISM
303 his action gave one more proof that the Vijayanagara monarchs were more than ever sincere to promote the cause of the Jina dharma. Unlike the measures he had taken on behalf of his Muhammadan subjects, for whose sake he had ordered a copy of the Quran to be placed by the side of his throne, 1 this step in connection with the Jainas had no political significance, since the latter never assumed at any time, either in the reign of that monarch or in that of his predecessors, such proportions as to threaten the internal stability of the Empire. We may, therefore, assume that the construction of the Pārsvanātha basadi in the capital was obviously meant to satisfy the religious need of the time, and especially to demonstrate once again the validity of one of the birudas borne by the Emperors of Vijayanagara, viz., that they were the Protectors of sakalavarṇāśrama dharma.
In addition to these Jina temples we have a ruined basadi in the capital to the south of Hampe. Unfortunately the record which was found here is damaged and no details can be made out of it. The fact that the Sanskrit portions of two fragments of a sculptured piece of black granite discovered in the north-west of the famous Mahānavami Dibba in the capital, refer thrice to the death of a Jaina guru named Maladhārideva,' suggests that there must have been another Jinālaya near that well known platform about which, too, unfortunately no details are known. As to the identity of Maladhārideva, we have likewise no clue.
In the history of Jainism in the great capital much credit is to be given to General Irugappa, the most prominent Jaina general of the age. From an inscription dated A.D. 1422
1. Saletore, S. P. Lise., I. p. 439. 2. 42 of 1889. 3. 545 of 1893.
