|
The Indian Analyst
|
|
South Indian Inscriptions |
RELIGION colossal statue of Sāntinātha is still standing at Bahuribandh. Several other images of the Jaina Tirthankaras have been found in the Jabalpur District. There were Jaina temples at Sōhāgpur also. At the palace of The Thākur of the place are collected a number of Jaina sculptures, among which there are some Śāsanadēvatās.1 All this leaves no room for doubt that Jainism also had a considerable following in the Chēdi country. Many of the grants made in this period were in the form of endowments to temples erected by kings, their ministers and Rajagurus. Some grants were made to Brahmanas for the attainment of religious merit. There is, however, no specific mention of the object as in the earlier grants viz., that they were made for the maintenance of the five great sacrifices. Some agarahara villages were granted for the settlement of the Brahmanas. These settlements were called the Brahma-stambas.2 Karna invited some learned and pious Brahmans to settle at a newly founded town called Karnavati, which, from its description, appears to have been situated on the bank of the Ganga. Karanbel was another town founded by the same king near Tripuri. Of the ten grants made to Brāhmanas by the Kalachuri of Chēdi and Sarayūpāra or their feudatories, two were made on the occasion of the śrāddha of the donor’s father,3 three on the occasion of a sankrānti4 one on a lunar eclipse,5 and two on the tithis of Kārtikka-Pūrnimā and Mārgaśirsha-krishna-saptami.6 The occasion and purpose of one are not known. One grant was made on the occasion of a yugādi.7 Curious as it may appear, no grant made by the Kalachuris toa Brāhmana on the occasion of a solar eclipse in this period has yet been found in the Chēdi and Sarayūpāra countries.
Dakshina Kosala-The religious condition in Dakshina Kosala did not materially differ from that in Chedi and Sarayupara. The Kalachuris who ruled there believed that they had obtained their kingdom by the grace of the god Vankesvara 8 This was probably a Prakrit name of Siva. There was an old temple of Vankesvara at Tummana, the old capital of the Kalchuris. The object of worship was an image, not a linga; for, the Amoda plates that the king Prithvideva I washed the resplendent feet of the good before he made a grant to a Brahmana on the occasion of the construction of the chatushkika (hall) of the temple.9 After the capital as shifted to Ratnapura, several temples were built there by the kings and their ministers. Jajalladeva I founded the town of Jajallapura (Modern Janjgir in the Bilaspur District), and built there a temple of Siva and a monastery fort ascetics.10 He also repaired the old temple of Siva at Pali by constructing additional and ministers as well as private persons at several places such as Mallala, Sonthivapura, Varelapura, Narayanapura, Kumarakota, Patharia, Sheorinarayan, Vadada and Poratha.12
Śaivism was thus the predominant cult in Dakshina Kōsala, but Vaishnavasim also
was prevalent, though it played a subordinate role. At Janjgir there is a beautiful sculp-
1H.T.M.,P.100.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
