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Sramana, Vol 56, No. 1-6/January-June 2005
titles for the victory in pitched wars as well as battles." After the death of Mārasimha II of the Ganga dynasty, Pañcala-deva ascended the throne, succeeded by King Rācamalla or Rājamalla II, and Cāmundarāya still continued to be minister. 12 The historic place Shravana Belagola (white-lake, in Kannada) is a village in the Channarayapatna taluq of the Hassan district of Mysore. It is surrounded by the Candragiri hill in the north and Vindhyagiri hill in the south, having several temples, images and inscriptions of the Digambara Jaina School.
According to Mrs. Sinclair Stevenson, in her work, The Heart of Jainism'3 as well as Epigraphia Carnatika, vol. II, 14 the following tradition has been high lighted: According to the tradition, Candragiri derives its name from the emperor Candragupta who is said to have followed his spiritual teacher, Bhadrabāhu, when the latter moved towards the south with his twelve thousand disciples owing to approach of a terrible famine in the northern India, leaving Pāțlīputra. Bhadrabahu is said to have left his mortal body on the Candragiri in the presence of the emperor Candragupta who has been none else than the celebrated Maurya emperor of the same name according to Digambara Jaina tradition. This fact of political history has been till now a controversial one.
On this historically important Candragiri hill, Cāmundarāya erected a grand and magnificent temple containing the image of the twenty-second Jaina Tīrthařkara [fordfounder), Neminātha (contemporary of Lord Krsna), the upper storey being installed in with the image of twenty-third Tīrthankara, Pārsvanātha (about 250 years before Tīrthankara Vardhamăna Mahāvīra), by his son.
Further, on Vindhyagiri, Cāmundarāya erected a world famous colossal image of Bāhubali, known as Gommateśvara, standing 56 1/2 feet high with a width of 13 feet across the hips, and cut out of a solid block of gneiss, apparently wrought in aitu, facing the north,
the feet stand being carved to represent an open lotus.is Jain Education International For Private & Personal Use Only
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