Talk:Jainism in North Karnataka

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Jaina monuments in North Karnataka, the Kadambas of Banavasi who were known to be patrons of Jainism as evidenced by their inscriptions. The earliest references to a grant by a Kadamba king to a Jaina saint is found in the Halasi copper plate of kakusthavarman. It mentions that the granted village Khatagrama belonged to arhanta. However, a reference to a Jain temple (Chaityalaya) is found in the Devagiri copper plate of Mrigesavarman. The inscription states that Mrigesavarman gave a grant for the sammarjana, upalepana, archana and bhagnasamskara of the Chaityalaya located at Brihatparalur. Further he also donated for the enclosure of the Chaityalaya one nivartana of land. This clearly shows that the above Chaityalaya was big enough to have an enclosure also. In the Devagiri inscription of Vijaya Siva Mrigesavarman a reference is made to arhat sale where an image of Jinendra was kept. Mrigesavarman's Halasi inscription of 8th regnal year states that the king built a Jinalaya in memory of his father in Palasika and granted lands to saints of Yapaniya, nirgrantha and kurchaka sangha. Ravivarma's eleventh regnal year inscription found at Halasi refers to a grant for the abhisheka of Jinendra. Obviously this refers to a, Jaina temple. Another inscription of the same king refers to the worship of Jinendra for which four nivartanas of land was granted .

The famous Gudnapur inscription of Ravivarman is more explicit on this point. According to this inscription King Ravivarma built a temple, kamajinalaya for Manmatha, very' near the palace (rajavesma) and arranged for its worship by granting lands. At the same time he also gave grants to Kamajinalaya at Hakinipalli and Padmavati temple at Kalliligrama. Dr. B.R. Gopal who has edited this inscription has suggested that this Kamajinalaya is a temple for Bahubali, as Bahubali is described as Manmatha. If this is so, the tradition of erecting gommata sculptures goes back to the period of Kadambas and to sixth century A.D. itself. However, Dr. A. Sundara has discovered a sculpture of Rati and Manmatha at the same place. Whether this was the sculpture worshipped in the Kamajinalya cannot be ascertained. What is more important is the tradition of building Jaina temples for Manmatha and even Padmavati.

Badami Chalukya period

After the rule of the Kadambas of Banavasi most parts of north Karnataka came under the rule of the early or Badami Chalukyas kings. Their contribution to architecture and sculpture is not only well known but unprecedented. Most kings of this powerful dynasty patronised Jainism also though they were the follower of Vedic Hinduism. This is attested to by many inscriptions including that of the Aihole inscription of Pulakesi II, composed by the famous poet Ravikirti. The Jaina architectural beginnings made earlier by the Kadambas of Banavasi, crystallized into better structures in stone during the early Chalukya period. As they used stone as the medium of their architecture, they have come down to us in good numbers.

The Chalukyas of Badami ate known for their rock cut temples as well as structural temples. At Badami there are four rock cut temples belonging to Saiva, Vaishnava and Jaina faiths. Incidentally this is an eloquent testimony to the religious tolerance of the kings and the people during the period. The fourth cave is the Jaina cave dedicated to Adinatha Tirthankara. Another Jaina cave is in Aihole. It has an open mandapa and a Sabhamandapa. In the garbhgriha is the sculpture of Mahavira in Padmasana. On the sides are yaksha and yakshi standing. In the open mandapa are found high relief sculptures of Parsvanatha and Bahubali. However, this cave is not as refined and elegant as that of Badami.

The temples built by the Chalukayas of Badami, they are Meguti Jinalaya at Aihole built by Kumkuma Mahadevi at Lakshmesvar; during the period of Kirtivarman II. Kaliyamma built a temple at Annigeri; the Jinalaya at Hallur; the Jinalaya built by Dharmagamunda at Adur in Hangal taluk. The Meguti Jinendralaya was built in 634 A. D. by Ravikirti.

The Sankha Jinalaya at lakshmeshwar is dedicated to Neminatha. Sendraka Durgasakti, a feudatory of Pulakesi II is said to have given gifts to this temple. It is possible that it may be earlier or at least contemporary to the Meguti temple. Many other inscriptions show that this was an important Jaina temple during the period. an inscription of Vinayaditya dated 686 A.D. refers to a grant to Jaina acharya of Devagana and mulasangha. Another epigraph of the time of Vijayaditya dated 729 A. D. mentions a grant to Niravadya Pandita who was to house pupil of Sri PUjyapada. Still another inscription of the time of Vikramaditya II dated 734 A. D. mentions gifts to Sveta Jinalaya.

The Jain temple at Hallur has garbhagriha, antarala, and rectangular Sabhamandap. The garbhagriha has an upper storey and is similar to Meguti temple. The Sabhamandapa is bigger than garbhagriha and antarala and has a separate mukhamandapa which is in ruins. Thus it shows a more developed architectural feature. The outer walls of the Sabhamandapa has low relief sculptures of Jaina Tirthankaras. Thus the Chalukyas of Badami contributed in ample measure to the development of Jaina temple architecture and laid firm foundations for further development during the Rashtrakuta period.

Rashtrakuta period

Altekar, characterises the Rastrakuta period as the golden age of Jainsim in Karnataka. This is amply demonstrated by a large number of Jaina epigraphs and also generous grants to Jaina temples. Amoghavarsha I used to consider himself purified by the very remembrance of his guru Jinasenacharya.15 He is also described as a follower of Syadvada.16 He had appointed the famous Jaina saint Gunabhadra as the teacher for his son Krishna. Krishna gave liberal donations to the Jaina temple at Mulgund. Indra IV was a devoted Jaina and he died committing Sallekhana. Many of the Rashtrakuta feudatories like Rattas of Saundatti were staunch supporters of Jainism, From all these evidences Altekar estimates that at least one third of the total population of the Deccan during the period were Jains.

The Jaina monuments of the Rashrakuta period are found at Pattadakal, Malkhed, Lakshmeshwar, Koppal, Bankur. The jaina temple at Pattadakal it is believed that this temple was built either during the time of Amoghavarsha I (814-874 A.D.) or Krishna I (c. 770 A.D.).

The Jaina basadi at Konnur in Dharwad district was built during the period of Amoghavarsha I, by Bankesa in 860 A.D. The Jaina temple at Naregal in Ron taluk of Dharwad district was built during the period of Krishna III, by Padmabbarasi, the queen of Ganga Permadi Bhutayya in 950 A.D. (Now it is referred to as Narayana temple), It is the biggest Rashtrakuta temple in Karnataka. This is also a unique feature of this basadi. This became common in the 11th century A.D.

The Settavva temple at Aihole is another storeyed basadi. It is more elaborate in execution. It is also a trikuta. Besides it has three ardhamandapas and a common navaranga.

The Neminatha basadi at Malkhed, the capital of the Rashtrakutas belongs to 9th century A. D. The basadi at Bankur in Gulburga district seems to belong to the end of the Rashrakuta period.

In 875 A. D. Krishna II built a Jinendra bhavana at Savadatti. In 902 A. D. Pergada Bittayya built a basadi at Bandanike. During the period of Krishna II was built the Mahasrimanta basadi at Pennugunda. In 925 A. D. Nagayya built a temple at Asundi when Chandraprabha bhattaraka of Dhora Jinalaya was the administrator. In 932 A. D., Chandavve built a basadi at Nandavara. In 964 A. D., a Ratta chief built Jayadhire Jinalaya at Kupana (modern Koppala). In 958 A. D. Jakki Sundari built a Jinalaya at Kakambal.

The Rashtrakuta period was a golden age from the point of view to Jaina architecture.

Kalyani Chalukyas period

With the decline of the Rashtrakutas, most parts of north Karnataka came under the rule of the Kalyani Chalukyas. Though they are known to be Saivas, they built Jaina temples. Many kings of this dynasty also granted gifts to Jaina establishments and individual saints. The development of Kalamukhas on the one side and the Virasaivism of Basavanna on the other were making great progress in north Karnataka and naturally this did not give enough scope for Jainism to blossom as it did in the earlier Rashtrakuta period. Nevertheless, it flourished through the royal patronage and contributed its share in the development of architecture. Taila, the founder of Chalukya dynasty of Kalyana is well known as the patron of the great Jaina poet Ranna. King Satyasraya had a Rajaguru Vimalachandrapanditadeva under whose feet the king is said to have learnt the tenets of Jaina dharma. Attimabbe, known as danachintamani is a well known personality of this period. She is said to have made one thousand copies of Ponna's Santi pur ana and distributed as Sastradana. She built a Jaina temple at Lakkundi to which the king provided a golden Kalasa.28 Somesvara's minister Santinatha persuaded Lakhma to build the Mallikamoda Santinatha basadi at Baligrama. All these show the existence of Jainism during the period as well as royal patronage.

The Chalukyas of Kalyana were great temple builders all over Karnataka and they brought out new development in various components of temple. This was adopted to the Jaina temples built by them. Chalukyas at Lakkundi and other places. The most important Jaina temples of this period are Brahma Jinalaya at Lakkundi, Charantimatha at Aihole and Sankha Jinalya at Lakshmesvar. The Brahma Jinalaya built by Attimabbe represents a second phase of Chalukyan art for it not only represents a progress in architectural work but also uses finer grained schist instead of the usual granite. The latter has influenced its masonry, size and sculpture. The tample is highly imposing with dimensions of 93 ft (28 m). and 35 ft (11 m). It has a sikhara 42 ft (13 m). in height, which rise, s somewhat steeply in three storeys looking like a Chaturasra sikhara, with a sukhanasi. The Charanti matha group at Aihole was built before 1119 A.D. on which date king Vikarmaditya VI through his subordinate Kesavayya Setti made arrangements for certain repairs, additions and endowments.

Of the two Jaina temples at Lakshmesvar the more famous is Sankha Jinalaya which consists of a garbhagriha, a large ardhamandapa, larger mahamandapa and a rangamandapa. The rangamandapa has three entrances to south, north and west. The other Jaina temples of the Kalyani Chalukyas period include Parsvanatha basadi at Udri, Bandalike, Parsvanatha basadi at Koppala, a ruined basadi at Halasi, Naminatha basadi at Terdal, a ruined basadi within the fort at Belgaum, Parsvanatha basadi at Ammangi in Belgaum district, a ruined basadi at Malkhed and another basadi at Sedam in Gulburga district. Most of these are in ruins and are simpler in dimensions and designs as compared to the classical basadis found at Lakkundi and other two places.

Seuna period

The Sevunas of Devagiri ruled over most parts of north Karnataka and parts of Maharashtra after the decline of the Chalukyas of Kalyana. Tradition connects the Sevunas with Jainism. As evidenced by Nasikakalpa, Dridhaprahara one of the early king of this dynasty grew under the care of Chandraprabhasvamin and in recognition of this he named his capitgl Chandradityapura, after this Jaina saint. Sevunadeva III was a devout Jaina. His Anjaneri inscription opens with an invocation to Pancha Parameshthis namely arhats, siddhas, acharyas, upadhyayas and sadhus. Singhana II made a large number of grants to Jinalaya at Purikanagara for the worship of Parsvanatha and to the temple of Ananata Tirthankara. King Ramachandta made the grant of a village Hunisehalli for a Jinalaya. His Sarvadhikari is said to have built a basadi at the instance of his guru Jinabhattaraka. Apart from these epigraphical references, it is not possible to identify any of the Jaina temples built during the period.

Vijayanagara period

It is generally believed that Jainism began declining in Karnataka after the Hoysalas. With the establishment of the Vijayanagara empire, the accent was more on the Hinduism and obviously Jainism suffered a setback. Even numerically references to grants made to Jaina establishments become small in number epigraphically which also confirms the view that Jainism was losing ground. This is amply demonstrated by the inscription of Bukka at Hampi, which tries to bring about a compromise between the Jainas and the Srivaishnavas. One of the representative Jaina temple at Hampi is the Ganagitti gudi built by Jinabhakta Irugappa Dandanayaka who was a minister under Harihara II, in 1385 A.D. The temple was dedicated to Kunthu tirthankara.

However, South Kanara and North Kanara became important centres of Jaina architecture during this period. Varanga, karkala, Mudabidre, Barakuru and other places became centres of Jaina art due to the patronage extended by Alupa kings of Tulunadu. This has been discussed in another paper, and hence we pass on to North Kanara district. The most important monument of the period in this district is the Chaturmukha basadi located at Gerusoppe. Though its builder is not known definitely, it is generally belieyed that queen Chennabhairadevi was responsible for the construction of this basadi. The entire basadi is built of greyish schist, popularly known as soapstone. It has a garbhagriha, in which four tirthankaras are kept who are facing the four directions. The garbhagriha has entrances on four sides and is a good example of Sarvatobhadra class. The tower has disappeared. There are many sculptures of tirthankaras, yakshas and yakshis which are of fine workmanship. The other temples in Gerusoppe are Neminatha basadi, Vardhamana basadi and two Parsvanatha basadis. But they are small and do not compare well with the Chaturmukha basadi. However, the sculptures of these basad is are interesting.

The Chandranatha temple at Bhatkal is another structure of this period. Actually it is known as Jettappa Nayakana Chandranathesvara basadi. The Ratnatraya basadi at Bilgi is almost similar to the basadi at Bhatkal. But it is nirandhara. The sculpture of Chandranatha is very elegant and show the Vijayanagara workmanship. However, the temple itself is not of high order. After the seventeenth century, the construction of Jaina temples did not become artistic creations but served the religion. Thus the long tradition of Jaina monuments which perhaps started by the early centuries of the Christian era ended by the eighteenth century A.D. in north Karnataka.

The above survey shows that Jaina architectural style developed side by side with other religions but imbibed certain qualities. Perhaps the architects and sculptors were common to all religions. Thus North Karnataka contributed richly to the development of Jaina architecture in Karnataka.

Needs to be added as more was there than was on here Chaosdruid (talk) 00:36, 13 November 2010 (UTC)

References

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