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CHAPTER 7
Inscriptions
With the exception of the Sambhavanātha, all other Jaina temples in Kumbhāriyā possess inscriptions in sufficiently large number, though none is of the ‘prasasti'class reporting on its foundation date, the founder and his familial details, and the pontiff who officiated the consecration rites of the main sanctuary, nor is there any of the donative type of major significance. Yet several of them are informative, significant on one hand for some aspects of history of the buildings and on the other for some interesting details they provide on the friars, monks, and pontiffs and their gacchas/sub-orders as well as on the contemporary rulers, high officials, and lay-followers, the latter two of the Svetāmbara affiliation, and thus provide first hand evidence for reconstructing the socio-religious history of the site. They also help determine the probable chronological sequence of the buildings, a firm aid to what can be read through stylistic analysis of their architecture and sculpture. They, moreover, clarify to which particular Jina the temple originally was dedicated. As for those inscriptions which cast clear light on dedication and provide help in dating, they have been referred to while dwelling on the description of the temples. The rest of the interesting/significant aspects will be discussed in this chapter. In all, and indeed as many as 147 epigraphs have been selected from about 161 recorded by Muni Viśālavijaya." And three more have been included from those recently spotted and published by Lakshmanbhai Bhojak. Most of the inscriptions are engraved on the pedestals of the images, a few also occur on the pattas, the pillars, and the walls.
Gacchas, pontiffs, friars, and monks
The inscriptions in several instances mention the 'gacchas' or sub-orders of monks and friars. In some cases they reveal the prominent association of a specific gaccha with a particular temple. One of the three surviving earliest inscriptions which, to all seeming, were related to the original Adinātha temple, mentions ‘Nannācārya-gana' (A.D. 1031) (Insc. 1), the other two record ‘Nannācārya-gaccha'
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