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Sallekhana in Practice
The inscriptions in Sravanabelgola form a very important source material for the history of Jainism in the South; they give many details of temples, grants, Jain Sanghas, Munis, Bhattārakas and other matters.
There are a few inscriptions which refer to construction of Jaina temples or grants made for their maintenance in the Mysore District. In the Chamarajanagar Taluka, there is a village called Maleyūr where the small hill seems to have been hallowed by the visits of many Jaina saints. According to Dr. Saletore, Maleyūr in the Chamarajnagar Taluka “was another stronghold of Jainism. Here on the hill called Kanakagiri were famous basadis of gods Vijayanātha and Candraprabha. In A. D. 1355, a Telugu by name Adidasa caused an image of Vijayadeva made. He was the disciple of Hemacandra who belonged to the Hanasoge baļi and of Lalitakīrti Bhattāraka...” ( Medieval Jainism, p. 328 ). No. 146 (1513 A. D.) is in praise of Bhattākaļańka-munipa of Pustaka Gaccha and Desigana. Vrşabhadeva, the chief disciple of the chief of the ascetics Municandrārya wrote the memorial and the same was engraved by Vidyānandopadhyāya. Similarly Adideva, the disciple of Municandra-deva, carved out his Guru's footprints ( No. 148 - 1518 A. D.). Lakşmaņa Muni: śvara obtained initiation in Pārsvanātha Jina Temple in Hemādri. The foot-prints were carved out by Vijayappaiya (No. 149 - 1674 A. D.).
Though there are numerous inscriptions in the Shimoga District, very few are relevant to our purpose. Many of them are very elaborate but there are only a few which refer to Sallekhana. There are however two points which are important from the points of Jaina history: (1) The history of the powerful princes who were Jainas and who were called Santārās ruled over this part for three centuries. They came to power in the 7th century during the time of Vinayāditya, a King of Western Cālukyas. Jianadatta Rāya was the founder of the line in the South in the 9th century as noted by Dr. Saletore and he is connected with the story of goddess
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