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JAINA CELEBRITIES IN THE VIJAYANAGARA EMPIRE 367 of the four well known gifts of food, shelter, medicine, and learning.
But it should not be understood by this that Jainism contributed nothing for the material welfare of the country. In addition to the kingdoms it had founded or helped to stabilize, it had substantially added to the commercial development of the land. We may remember here the fact that the famous trading classes of Karnāțaka, the Vira Banajigas, before and even after their conversion into the Vira śaiva faith, were responsible for the prosperous condition of the many cities of the Vijayanagara Empire. And during the early period of Vijayanagara expansion, it was the Jaina generals like Irugappa who had helped the Hindu cause in southern India. An equally substantial part of the work of the Jainas was that concerning arts, literature, and media cine in the respective fields of which they have left evidence of their sincere desire to promote Knowledge and the welfare of humanity.
We have had an occasion of briefly alluding to the contribution of the Jainas to the aichitecture of the pre-Vijayanagara period. Some of the marked features which distinguish the southern from the northern school of architectural design are those relating to the basadis, the tombs, and the pillars. The Jainas of the south, who belonged mostly to the Digambara sect, added one speciality in the matter of building basadis (Skt. vasati, a temple which contained an image of one of the twenty-four Tīrthankaras), and images, which has become famous in the history of Indian architecture. They constructed huge monolithic statues of Bāhubali, as already mentioned by us, at śravaņa Belgoļa, Kārkaļa, and Vēņūru. These statutes possess certain peculiarities. Entirely naked, they face the north, with a remarkably severe face with twigs or creeping plants (called mādhavī, known in Kannada as kāļa
