________________
THE EVIDENCE OF TRADITION.
inspired by such high and difficult disciplines of yoga required for its successful cultivation a certain obscurity and considerable quiet. This determined the choice of the Jaina munis to carry wherever they went what Tagore would describe as "the message of the forest" charateristic of the freest period of Indian intellectual achievement. No wonder, then, that, in South India, the Jainas were in many cases the humanisers bf forest glades and charming riversides, either long neglected by human life or quite untouched by it. That they had an eye for such picturesque spots in nature is obvious from the place-Katavapra-selected by Bhadrabahu, the Rejuvinator of the South Indian Jainism, for his niryānam. The Sravana Belgola description detailing the event, perhaps the earliest inscription of Karnāta Jainas, has the following description of the Katavapra Hill:
•
·
'7
"ఆతః ఆచార్య ప్రభాచంద్రానాం అవనితలలలా మభూ తే థాస్మి కటవ ప్రనామకోపలక్ష్మి తే వివిధతరువరకుసుమదళావళి వికచ నళబలవిపుల సజల జలదనివహ నీలోత్పల తలే వరాహద్వీపివ్వా ఘ్రరక్షతర క్షు వ్యాలమృగకు లో పచితో పత్యేక కందర దరిమహాగుహా నాభోగవతి సముత్తుంగళ్ళం గే శిఖరిణి"
Translation (Lewis Rice):
"When they had reached a mountain with lofty peaks, whose name was Katavapra,- -an ornament to the earth, the ground around which was variegated with the brilliant hues of the clusters of gay flowers fallen from the beautiful trees; the rocks on which were as
·
