________________
86
Hampa Nagarajaiah
Nirgrantha
2.1.1. The earliest reference, an indirect one, to the Arhat Pārsva temple in Karnataka
comes from the Banavāsi-Kadamba inscription. Of the 51 inscriptions of early Kadambas, 15 pertain to Jaina and 12 speak of grants bequeathed to the
basadis; and, of the nine monarchs, five followed Jainism [Gopal, CKI : 1985). 2.1.2. During the early decades of the fifth century A. D., there were several basadis
at Palāsika (Halsi), a Jaina centre where the Svetapata, Nirgrantha, Kürcaka, and Yapanīya sects flourished. Besides Halsi, there were arhadāyatanas at BrhatParalūru and Āsandi in the 5th century, either constructed by the Kadamba kings
or had enjoyed the endowments they had made. (Gopal 1985 : LXXII.). 2.2. The Gudnäpur epigraph of the first regnal year of the Kadamba king Ravivarmā
(c. A. D. 458-519) refers to a Kāma-jinālaya built by the king to the left of his palace, and made grants for its maintainance. Kāma-jinālaya-ath-āsya Kāmajinālayasya (püjā] saṁskārārttham-asau mahārāja-śri-Ravivarmmā (Gopal 1985 : 85). The same record further refers to a Kamadevālaya at the village Hākinipalli in the vicinity and a temple of Padmāvati at Kallili village : Hākinipalli Kamadevälayāsya pūjä samskārārtham Kallili-grāmam-Padmavatyalayāsya-pūjā samskärärthem (ibid., p. 87]; for the embellishments of the above temples, the
king donated another village, Mukundi. 2.1. Käma-jinälaya evidently was the first temple of Manmatha alias Bahubali alias
Gommata, an younger son of Jina Rsabha the first Tirthamkara. Gopal, who correctly identified this Kāma-jinālaya with the temple of Bahubali, also compared this phrase with Jinendra-mahima-kāryā occuring in the Halsi plate No. 24 of the same King Ravivarmā, which also speaks of the festival of Jinendra to be held in Kārtīka every year lasting for eight days (ibid., "Intro".,
LX]. 2.1.1. Scholars have dwelt on the nature of this Kāma-jinālaya. Recent findings, in the
same area, of some Jina images, have confirmed that Kāma-jinālaya was in fact a Bāhubali temple. There indeed are three more pieces of evidence in support of this assumption : i. Padmāvatyālaya, a temple for the Jaina Yakși Padmavatī, in the same surroundings, was also a contemporary Jaina structure built by the very BanavāsiKadamba chief. ii. There are references pertaining to Kāma-jinālaya in the Prākta Jaina literature : For example in the "Rayanaśehari Kahā." iii. Also, Ācārya Jinasena of Punnāta-samgha has mentioned a Käma-jinālaya in
his Harivaṁsapurāņa (A. D. 784). 2.2.2. The two Kāma-jinālayas at Gudnāpur and Hākinipalli around Banavāsi are the
earliest and apparently the forerunners in popularising the setting up of the Bāhubali images in Karnataka. Incidentally, the Padmavatyālaya at Kallīli is also
Jain Education Intemational
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
