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2. Bahubali Prakrit
Vidyapeeth (R.), Shravanabelagola
A) Heritage :
Shravanabelagola nestles between the twin hills of Chandragiri and Vindyagiri. It is not only a holy place for the Jains, but a national treasure populated with shrines and temples of remarkable beauty and stand testimony of ancient and medieval India's splendour in sculpture and architecture. Lord Bahubali's monolithic statute, carved out of a single rock, has been showing his benediction, message of peace and nonviolence over the last thousand years. The great shramana saint Acharya Shrutakevali Bhadrabahu came to the small hill chandragiri at Shravanabelagola in the beginning of third century B.C. The Bhadrabahu cave at the small hill has remained a witness of his literary contribution and penance. Siddhanta Charukeerthy Nemichandracharya, the guru of King Chavundaraya, composed many works in Prakrit Language at Shravanabelagola in the 10th Century A.D. So this holy place was the seat of learning, penance and promoting Prakrit studies since ancient time.
Establishment :
The divine preaching of Bhagawan Mahaveera preserved in Prakrit, which was the language of the people and state language too of kings Ashoka and Kharabela and others in ancient time. Religious literature that deals with subjects like Ahimsa, Aparigraha and Anekantavada and works on epics, narratives, sculpture, vastu, ayurveda, astronomy, mathematics, geography and so on abound in Prakrit language. So it was decided by Pujya Swamiji to establish a national level institute for promotion of Prakrit in the ancient seat of Prakrit in this town Shravanabelagola. The first National level Prakrit conference was organised on 8th to 10th December in 1990 at Bangalore under the guidance of Pujya Swamiji and under the Directorship of Dr. Prem Suman Jain to fulfil the recommendation of this Prakrit conference a National Institute of Prakrit Studies and Research was established in the year 1991 at Shravanabelagola.
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