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MEDIÆVAL JAINISM sate her honour in the Jaina world by possessing two out of the three famous colossi of Gomața.1
Reverting to Karnāțaka proper we find that Mēļige was of some consequence to the Jainas in the first quarter of the seventeenth century A.D. Mēļige was in the Kõdurpāļ in the Āvanyadeśa over which the Vijayanagara viceroy Bommaņa Heggade ruled in A.D. 1610, in the reign of the Emperor Venkatapati Deva. In this city of Mēļige was the royal śreşthi Vardhamāna whose son Bommaņa śreşthi erected the Ananta Jina temple, probably at the instance of his guru Višalakirti Bhatýäraka, whose guru was Devendra Bhattāraka of the Balātkāra gana.2
An interesting fact in the history of Jainism in the seventeenth century A.D. is that connected with the famous Hindu centre of Bēlūr. This city which has become celebrated in the history of Indian architecture as the home of some of the most beautiful Hindu temples in the country, seems to have been dear also to the Jainas. When exactly it was turned into a centre of the anekāntamata is not known. But there is every reason to believe that from the beginning of the fourteenth till the middle of the seventeenth century A.D., Bēlūr protected the interests of the Jina dharma. It boasted of the Pārsvanātha, Adinātheśvara, and śāntinātheśvara
1. Tuluva to-day possesses about 180 basadis out of which Mūdubidre and Kārkaļa claim 18 each, Banțavāļa 3, Hāduhalli (Sangitapura) 9, Gērasoppe 4, Veņūru 8, Mülki-Hosangadi 8, and other places 101, excluding the 11 recently constructed basadis. 18 basadis have fallen completely in ruins. These are the basadis at Nerambadi Hole, Mogaru, Desil, Sirādi, Yeņugallu, Kannarpāļi, Pañja, Cekkangadi, Bandāļi, Kombāru, Nandāvara, Uccila, Ullala, and Mülki-Hosangadi, Nemirāja Heggade, op. cit., p. 3.
2. E. C. VIII. TI. 166, p. 196, 197,
