Svasti

Author(s): Nalini Balbir
Publisher: K S Muddappa Smaraka Trust

Page 62

An Interesting Jaina Inscription from Varānga (Karnataka)
Shrinivas RITTI
Varānga is a small village situated in the Karkala taluk of South Kanara District of Karnataka State. It was a flourishing Jaina religious centre in the medieval days. It was considered as one of the most sacred seats of the Jainas along with Dilli, Malayādri, Vijayanagara and Potta Ponbuchcha (Sri-nija-ghatikāsthāna-Dillī-MalayādriVijayanagara-Varānga-Potta-Pombuchcha-chaturvidha-siddha-simhāsana).' Dr. Desai found this list in a Pattāvali or the genealogical list of the pontificate of the Jaina basadi at Malkhēd in Karnataka. Incidentally, Dr. Desai also equated Malayadri with Malkhēd. Interestingly his conjecture is vindicated by an inscription at Varānga itself which contains an almost similar statement in relation to a Jaina saint at Varānga (Dhilli-Maleyakhēda-Vijayanagara-sajjana dharma-simhāsanādhīśvara).? It may be noted that the latter statement replaces Malayādri with Maleyakhēda which is the same as Malkhēd. In a legendary fashion another inscription from Varānga seems to indicate that the place name Varānga came from a dignitary of that name (Varānganemba mahāpuruşam dharmavam mādi). In fact it was not Varānga alone but the whole of Karnataka that was a congenial ground for the growth and thriving of Jainism throughout the historical period. Right from the days of the early Kadambas of the 4th-6th cent. A.D., down the end of the rule of Vijayanagara up to 17th cent, Jainism received benevolent patronage not only from the ruling class but also from the trading community and the general public. This is vouchsafed by the vast amount of Jaina literature produced in this period, numerous Jaina monuments in the form of basadis and sculptures that dot the whole of Karnataka landscape and the very large number of Jaina inscriptions that are spread over the entire land of Karnataka. Rightly therefore has an inscription averred that Karnataka was the abode of Jainism (Idu Jaināvāsam-ādattu . . . . . chāru-Karnātadēśam). The inscription under discussion is found engraved on a slab set up in the outer Varandah of the famous Nēminātha basadi at Varānga. It pertains to the rule of the Vijayanagara king Krsnadēvarāya and is dated Saka 1437, Bhāva, Māgha śu 5, Friday,
P.B.Desai, Jainism in South India, Sholapur, 1957, p. 195. 2 South Indian Inscriptions, (SII) Vol. XXVII, 2001, No. 252, p. 396, line 62. 3 Ibid., No. 242, p.381, line 47. * For the full text of the inscription see Ibid., No. 164.