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MEDIÆVAL JAINISM The ladies of the Sohrab noble family were orthodox Jainas. Lakşmi Bommakka, the daughter of Sohrab Vira Gauda, and the wise of the Aļva-mahaprabhu Tavanidhi Brahma Gauda of Sohrab, was one of these. Her guru was Simhanandi Ācārya, the head of the Balātkāra gana. In A.D. 1372 she died by the rites of samadhi. The record commemorating her death praises her highly for her virtues and charitable deeds as a Jaina.
She was not the only lady who lived an exemplary life. Mecakka vied with her in devotion and service. This lady was the daughter of Baciya Rāja of Uddhare, and the wise of the Sohrab Mahāprabhu Deva Rāja. In A.D. 1405 she too died in the orthodox manner.2 About fisty years later Bhāgīrathi, the daughter of the mahāprabhu Buļļappa, also hailing from the same Sohrab province, gave similar expression to her orthodox convictions and expired. We shall have to revert to her father the Mahaprabhu Bul?appa, who was placed over the Nāgarakhanda principality, later on while dealing with that province.3
Towards the middle of the sixteenth century we have the noble lady Kāļala Devī, the ruler of the Bāguñjisīme, and the younger sister of the Kārkaļa king Bhairarasa Odeyar. In A.D. 1530 she made special provision for the continuance of the Jina dharma in the territory over which she ruled "in her own right ". Bāguñji itself was a centre of the Bhavyas. The god Pārsva-Tīrthankara of Kallabasti in that principality, was the family god of Kāļala Dēvi. It was on the death of her daughter Ramā Devī that Kāļala Devi made grants (specified in detail) for the daily worship
1. E.C. VIII. Sb. 199, pp. 31-32. 2. Ibid, Sb. 51, p. 9. 3. Ibid, Sb. 331, p. 59.
