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The Indian Analyst
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North Indian Inscriptions |
RELIGIOUS CONDITION
proceeds of the donated villages. In the maṭhas attached to the temple of Mahālakshmī in Kolhāpur, provision was made for the residence and maintenance of the Sahavāsī and Karahāṭaka Brāhmaṇas, and for the worship, with five-fold offerings, of the goddess.[1] Several temples had schools attached to them where the sacred texts were taught. The maṭhas attached to the temples had sattras or charitable feeding halls, which gave food and shelter to travellers and destitute persons. One record mentions the provision made for the smearing, with oil, of feet of Vedic students, guests and Brāhmaṇas residing in the temple.[2] Another record mentions the institution of the Pañchamahāmaṭha,[3] the exact nature of which is not clear. Similar references occur in several Kannaḍa records.[4] According to some scholars, prominence was given in these maṭhas to five deities, namely, Brahmā, Vishṇu, Mahēśvara, Buddha and Jina. It is, however, doubtful if there were maṭhas dedicated to Buddha and Jina in Koṅkaṇ in our period.[5]
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Jainism also was flourishing in the dominion of the Śilāhāras. Sōḍḍhala mentions some
Jaina poets and authors who were honoured in the Lāṭa and Koṅkaṇ countries,[6] but we have
no references to any Jaina temples in the inscriptions of the Śilāhāras of both North and
South Koṅkaṇ. Some records of the Kolhāpur Śilāhāras, however, mention grants made to
Jaina temples. At Kolhāpur there was a Jaina saint named Māghanandi-siddhāntadēva, who
officiated as the priest of the temple of Rūpanārāyaṇa. The temple was erected by Nimbarasa,
a Sāmanta of Gaṇḍarāditya, who bore that biruda.[7] It is called Sāvanta-basadi in an inscription at Śravaṇa Beḷgoḷa.[8] Besides, Gaṇḍarāditya is known to have built a temple of Jina,
together with those of Śiva and Buddha, on the bank of the tank Gaṇḍasāgara which he got
excavated at Irukuḍi (modern Rukaḍī) in the Miriñja-dēśa.[9] Māghanandi-siddhāntadēva was
the head of the Pustaka Gachchha of the Deśīya Gaṇa of the Mūla Saṅgha. His disciples officiated
as priests at different temples and received gifts for the worship of the Tīrthaṅkaras and the
repairs of their temples. We know from inscriptions that there was a temple of Pārśvanātha
at the village Havaina-Herilage (modern Here in the Ajre Mahal of the Kolhapur District.)[10]
The temple was built by one Vāsudēva, the Hadapavaḷa (betel-box-bearing attendant) of the
Sāmanta Kāmadēva, who owed allegiance to the Śilāhāra king Vijayāditya. Another temple of
Pārśvanātha was at Maḍalūra (modern Maḍūr in the Bhudargaḍ tālūka of the Kolhāpur
District).[11] At the request of his maternal uncle Sāmanta Lakshmaṇa, King Vijayāditya granted
some land etc. to another disciple of the aforementioned Māghanandi-siddhāntadēva, who
officiated as the priest of the temple. A third temple of Pārśvanātha was at Kavaḍegoḷḷa built
by Nimbadēvarasa, a feudatory of Gaṇḍarāditya.[12] It received several donations of rates and
taxes from the merchant-guild of the Vīra-Baṇañjas of Ayyāvoḷe[13] The priest Śrutakīrti, who
was then in charge of the temple of Rūpanārāyaṇa in Kolhāpur, received them for the benefit
of the temple. Another Jaina temple dedicated to Nēminātha was at Ājurikā (in modern Ajre
[1] No. 58, line 25.
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