CHAPTER 6 THE RELIGIONS OF ANCIENT SOUTH INDIA : INDIA, HINDUTVA AND HISTORY
CHAPTER 6: THE RELIGIONS OF ANCIENT SOUTH INDIA
Gomatesvara
(Jain, Ganga Bronze), Chhatrapati Shivaji Museum, Mumbai
Early Buddhist Sites
Buddhist stupas, chaityas (temples) and viharas
(monasteries) dating to the times of Ashoka and the Satvahanas have been found
all over the Deccan, in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra, Telangana and Tamil
Nadu. It is well-known that Ashoka espoused Buddhism. The Satvahanas who rose
after the Mauryans to rule in many parts of the Deccan from the 2nd
century BC to the 3rd century AD were also major patrons of Buddhism
(123).
Their successors, the Andhra Ishkavakus in southern Andhra,
and the Vakatakas in Maharashtra, northern Andhra and Telangana, were also
great patrons of Buddhism. As a consequence, Buddhist structures came up in all
these places over a period spanning the 3rd century BC to the 6th
century AD (124). Readers may also refer to Chapter 2 for pictures of Buddhist
sculptures and ruins from the Satvahana, Andhra Ishkavaku and Vakataka age.
It is believed that the famous city of Kanchipuram (or
“Kanchi”) in northern Tamil Nadu was a major Buddhist centre by the 2nd
century BC. As mentioned before, Ashokan rule might have extended here,
followed by the Satvahanas. Kanchi had a colony named “Buddhakanchi”. Buddhist structures
dated to the 2nd century BC and earlier have been found around the
Kamakshi temple of Kanchipuram (201).
Under water excavations with Marine Archaeologists have
revealed that before the Buddhist centre at Kanchipuram, there was one at the
port of Pumpuhar, also known as “Kaveritpattinam”, in Mayiladuthurai next to
Tanjore in southern Tamil Nadu. This Buddhist centre was submerged by the sea at
some point (198). The Tamil epic, Manimekalai, from the end of the Sangam Age,
mentioned a “Bauddha Sanga” in Kaveripattinam (200).
Pallavaneswaram in Pumpuhar has a Buddhist temple and monastery dated to the 3rd century AD (198).
The Satvahanas rose from Maharashtra, and theirs are among the earliest inscriptions and viharas in the caves of Nasik in that region. The inscriptions record donations, grants and the building of temples and monasteries for Buddhists by Satvahana kings, their queens and mothers, and their allies and subordinates, such as the Kshatrapas and Mahakshatrapas, as well as by lay doners (123A). The viharas are highly decorated with sculptures and consist of large central halls with columned porticos leading off to individual cells for the monks.
The earliest style of excavation at Ajanta is in the form of “apsidal”, i.e., “U”-shaped halls with a stupa at the curved end. These are Buddhist chaityas or temples dated to the 2nd and 1st century BC (126A). The Andhra Ishkavakus also built Buddhist viharas and chaityas in Ajanta between 200 BC and 200 AD (126B).
Towards the mid-5th century, rock-cut Buddhist works also began to appear at Ellora which is also in Maharashtra, a few hundred kilometres from Ajanta. Buddhist works at Ellora continued till the mid-7th century AD (197). There are also Buddhist works in nearby Aurangabad. These are excavated in two phases: from 100 AD to 300 AD; and 400 AD to 800 AD. Other Buddhist caves have been found in Mahakali and Kanheri, north of Mumbai, excavated from 200 BC onwards: in Junnar, in Puna, starting from 150 BC; and in Konkan, in Goa (Kuna, Karad, Mahad), from 100 AD.
As described in earlier chapters, the Satvahanas built a grand capital in
Andhra that was variously called “Amaravati”, “Dhanyakataka” and “Dharanikota”. This capital, as well as numerous other sites
in Andhra in the lower areas of the Krishna and Godavari rivers, have richly
carved, often gigantic, Buddhist stupas, viharas and chaityas built between the
3rd\2nd century BC and the 3rd/4th century
AD (124).
Buddhist
Apsidal Chaitya with Carved Stupa, Ellora. Photo: Vyacheslav Argenberg viaWikimedia Commons.Ashoka pillars dated to the 3rd century BC have been found in Guntapalli in Andhra, as well as Buddhist caves dated from 200 BC to 400 AD (124D). A circular rock-cut chaitya of 200 BC, as well as ruins of brick chaityas, two viharas and a number of stupas have also been found in Guntapalli. An early stupa dated to the 2nd century BC is to be found in Bhattiprolu. Buddhist structures are to be found all over coastal Andhra. Archaeologists believe that Ashokan rule extended into the Amaravati area as well.
The Sankaran hills in Andhra’s Vizagapatnam has a vast rock-cut monastery and monolithic stupas – one going up to 65 feet – built by the Satvahanas (124). Nagarjunkonda, which also became the capital of the Andhra Ishkavakus, is another major Buddhist site (124E).
Findings in Sannati include a stupa dated to the 2nd century AD, and a number of stones and carved panels, with depictions of the life of the Buddha and Bodhi trees. The carved panels include a nativity scene of the Buddha and a depiction of him as Prince Siddhartha in a garden. In Kanagahalli in Sannathi, inscriptions were found indicating the presence of a stupa called the “Adhalaka Mahachaitalaya” dated to between the 3rd century BC and the 3rd century AD.
Other findings at Kanagahalli included Buddhist temples, and statues of the Buddha, numerous stupas, carved pillars, railings and capitals. Sculptures and Satvahana coins were also found here. There are references to “Raya Ashoka” in some inscriptions, as also limestone slabs with carvings representing him. There are also references to the Satvahana kings and representations of them in numerous carvings.
Findings in Hampi (formerly the Vijayanagar capital) in
Karnataka include Buddhist pillars and sculptures (209, 212A).
Phanigiri and Kondapur in Telangana have Buddhist ruins dating between the 1st
century BC and the 3rd century AD. Peddapalli, also in Telangana,
has an even earlier Buddhist stupa dated to the 3rd century BC (125).
The Buddhist stupa complex in Sanchi, Madhya Pradesh
(in Central India, abutting the Deccan) has structures dated to the 3rd
century BC (127).
All these findings testify to the very early presence
of Buddhism in the Deccan, even in the deepest south of Tamil country.
Early Jain Sites
There are also very early Jain structures to be found
in South India. The earliest Jain cave sites in Tamil Nadu date to as far back
as the 3rd century BC in Madurai and Pudukkottai. Archaeologists
have located twenty-eight Jain cave sites in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, most of
which have inscriptions from the 2nd to 1st century BC. As
in the case of the ancient Buddhist works described above, these Jain
structures were commissioned by royals as well as laypersons (128A).
Meenakshipuram in Madurai has inscriptions dating to
the 2nd century BC, recording the gift of a Pandya ruler to a Jain
muni. Not far from this area, there is a complex with Jain caves dated to the 3rd to 2nd
century BC in Thiruparankundram near Madurai. The Jain structures here include
five “rock beds”, i.e., slabs cut out of the rock that served as beds for monks
committing “sallekhana” or the ritual renunciation of life by the giving-up of
nourishment (127A, 214).
Sittanavasal/Chitthanavasal,
Pudukkottai, Jain Rock Beds with inscriptions.Ruins of a Jain cave retreat and inscriptions mentioning the Pandya kings have also been found in the Mankulam (Mangulam) Hills of Madurai that have been dated to the 3rd , 2nd and 1st centuries BC (127B). The tradition is that Madurai, the capital of the Pandyas, was a major Jain centre. There is also evidence of a massive Jain sangam (gathering) having been held here in the 5th century AD (128).
Seventeen rock beds for austerities by Jain ascetics
with inscriptions dating to the 3rd to 2nd centuries BC
have been found in Sittanavasal in Pudukkottai. Pudukkottai is located south of
Tanjore in Tamil Nadu. These rock beds are to be found in a cave called
“Ezhadipattam”. This is part of a large series of cave-sites in Pudukkottai
district containing numerous other Jain sculptures, temples, murals and rock
carvings built over the succeeding centuries. The structures include a Jain
temple of the 2nd century AD called Arivar Kovil. It has murals in
the style of those at Ajanta but with Jain subjects dated to between the 5th
and 7th centuries AD (129).
Jain idols were found in an ancient complex called Arikkamedu in Pondicherry. One of the historical mounds there is named the “Jaina mound” after this finding. This complex dates to the 2nd century BC. Jain inscriptions were also found here dated to the 3rd century AD (129A).
Jain inscriptions of the Cheras dated to the 1st-2nd
century AD have been found in Pugalur in Trichy (Tamil country, next to
Tanjore) (129B). Jain rock beds and inscriptions dated to the 2nd - 3rd
century AD recording donations and the names of monks who undertook sallekhana
are also to be found in Arachalur in Erode.
The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) found a
charming Jain so-called “musical rock inscription” in Arachalur. It is also
called the “Tamil Vatteluthu” inscription; Vatteluthu is considered a
transition script between Brahmi and Tamil. It is engraved on the floor of a
cavern with a number of Jain rock beds. The name of the composer, Mani Devan
Sattan, is also engraved. Any dancer will be able to recognise that the words
correspond to “tals/talams” or rhythm beats that are used in dance such as
(129C):
“Tha, thai, thaa, thai tha
Thai, thaa, they thaa, thai
Thaa, they, thai, they, thaa
Thai, thaa, they thaa, thai
Tha, thai, thaa, thai, tha”
and
“Kai, tha, thai, tha, kai
Tha, thai, __, tha thai
Thai, that, thai, tha thai
Tha, thai, __, thai tha
(Kai tha, thai, tha, kai)”
A cave temple complex in Chitharal in Kanyakumari
(Tamil Nadu) has Jain rock beds and inscriptions dated to the between the 1st
century BC and the 6th century AD (215). It also has Jain
thirthankaras and female deities carved on one rock face.
From an inscription of the 2nd century BC in Kharavela, it would appear that Jainism had spread to Kalinga (Odisha) by this time (133, 134). There are Jain caves in the Udayagiri and Khandagiri Hills of Puri in Odisha. Some of their inscriptions have been dated to the 1st century BC (134A).
The
foregoing is a description of the earliest findings of Buddhist and Jain
structures in South India. Buddhist and Jain cave sites, monasteries, rock
beds, shrines and temples continued to be built in different places here until
the 7th century in the case of the former and into medieval times in
the case of the latter.
Religion in South Indian Literature
The “Maduraikkanji”, a Sangam poem attributed to a court poet of the Pandyas, describes a beautiful Nirgrantha (Jain) temple in Madurai (130). The Sangam poems are generally dated to the 3rd century BC to the 3rd century AD. The Tamil epic, “Silappadikaram” describes a Jain temple at Pumpuhar (Kaveripattinam, the Chola port) as well as Jain shrines in Uraiyur, the Chola capital; Vanji, the Chera capital; and Madurai, the Pandya capital, in Tamil Nadu (131, 132). This would imply the practice of Jainism in all the kingdoms of the deep South in the time of the Silappadikaram, which is generally dated to the late Sangam Age. Silappadikaram was written by a Jain – a Chera prince-renunciate.
Sangam poems have references to Jainism, Buddhism and
various Hindu gods and legends. They also refer to nature-worship, magical
beliefs, and the worship of megalithic stones or “hero stones”, i.e. slabs with
carvings depicting warriors killed in battle, either by themselves or installed
in three-sided chamber temples. These were made of three slabs of stone arranged
in a box with one side open, and a fourth slab functioning as a roof or cover (137).
Archaeologists have discovered numerous “megalithic sites” around Tamil Nadu and other places in the Southern Peninsula with massive stone and rock arrangements that appear to have had ritual significance associated with burial (138). Some of these sites can be matched with references to specific hero stones mentioned in the Sangam poems. The practice of worshipping hero stones continues till today in the South and other places in India (139). As mentioned in Chapter 5, there are also references in the Sangam poems to a non-Vedic belief in divine forces called “ananku” and “velanadal” that involved worship with ritual music and dancing (140).
Royal Patronage of Buddhism and Jainism
Archaeologist KV Soundara Rajan writes, “the centuries
immediately preceding and succeeding the Christian era saw a dominant and
almost deep-rooted patronage of the Buddhistic faith by royalty as well as the
rich laiety…. (142A)”. He says that this ended with the resurgence of the
“Brahminical faith” with the Guptas (3rd-5th century AD)
in North India and the early Chalukyas and Pallavas (6th century AD)
in South India.
In between the Buddhist phase and so-called
Brahminical or Hindu phase, we see Jainism in vogue among royal dynasties in
Karnataka, Andhra and Tamil country.
The appeal to the royal classes of the ideals of ahimsa
(non-violence) and communal welfare, which are emphasised in Jainism and
Buddhism, may, paradoxically, have had some connection with the perpetual
warfare, patricides and instability in their times.
As described in previous chapters, Bimbisara is said
to have been killed by his son Ajatasatru. He is said to have repented and
sought out the Buddha for forgiveness. There are legends of five successive
patricides following the death of Ajatasatru. Ashoka’s horror and repentance at
the destruction wrought by his armies in the Battle of Kalinga which led to his
famous espousal of Buddhism, is well known.
Jain and Buddhist ideas may have emerged from a search within the warring and blood-soaked royal classes of India for different way. In this context, it is noteworthy that both Mahavir and Gautam Buddha, who founded Jainism and Buddhism, were born as princes.
Though their intervention belonged to ascetic and scholarly traditions that had long preceded their arrival on the scene, the influence of
these two prince-renunciates on the ruling classes appears to have been
immediate and widespread. For nearly one thousand
years, between the 5th century BC and the 6th century AD,
Jainism and Buddhism caught the imagination of royal dynasties all over India.
Buddhist and Jain texts each claim Bimbisara and his
son Ajatasatru, who were kings of Magadh in 500 BC, as their own. Shishunaga of
Magadh was also Buddhist. Some historians believe that the Nandas of Magadh
were Jain (142, 143).
The Arrival of Jainism & Buddhism in
the South
Chandragupta Maurya is said to have been converted to
Jainism by a monk called Bhadrabahu. Jain tradition holds that Bhadrabahu
foretold a famine in Magadh, and so Chandragupta Maurya, along with twelve thousand
Jains, relocated to Karnataka for a period of 12 years; and in this way,
Jainism came to South India (144).
Chandragupta Maurya might have brought several areas
in Karnataka under his control either directly or in alliance with a local power
called “Koshar” (145). Sastri says that the Mauryans might have acquired their
South Indian possessions from the Nandas, whom Chandragupta Maurya had defeated
to found the Mauryan dynasty.
Sangam poems speak of an alliance of the Koshars with the
“Mooriyar”, which may be a reference to the Mauryas. As Jainism had been
established in Kalinga (Odisha) by the time of the Nandas, it is also believed
that Jainism came to the deep South via Odisha and coastal- Andhra in the late
centuries BC (145, 146). These are the different ways in which Buddhism and
Jainism may have travelled to South India.
In some versions of the legend of Chandragupta Maurya,
he is said to have renounced the world to become an ascetic, leaving his son
Simhasena on the throne of Magadh. Bhadrabahu is said to have stopped at the
Chandragiri Hill in Shravana Belagola in Karnataka, instructing various
disciples to take the message of Jainism to the kingdoms of the Cholas and
Pandyas, that is, Tamil country, farther south. Both Bhadrabahu and, twelve
years later, Chandragupta are said to have died, possibly through sallekhana,
at Shravana Belagola.
At this time nudity - as the renunciation of shame - was
one of the austerities that all Jain monks practiced. However, this tradition
was discarded by the Jains who remained in North India. It is said that the
division of Jains into the Shvetambara and Digambara sects arose out of this
history (147). The Shvetambara monks wear white robes, whereas the Digambara
retain the practice of being “clad by the sky”, i.e., without clothes. Jainism
remains divided into the Shvetambara and Digambara sects till today, with
episodes of conflict.
The Jain & Buddhist Age in the Deccan
Chandragupta Maurya was succeeded by Bindusara who is
also claimed by Buddhists and Jains as their own. Bindusara was succeeded by
Ashoka (268-232 BC). So it is fairly certain that by the time of Ashoka, the
Mauryan presence, and Jainism and Buddhism with them, had extended into
Karnataka and Andhra (148).
The extended survival of Buddhism in South India and
elsewhere in India after Ashoka, is in great part owing to the influence of
Buddhist conquerors who came from across the Indus river and the Hindu Kush
into the region we know today as India. These were the Bactrians, Shakas,
Parthians and Kushans from Balkh (ancient Bactria in northern Afghan country),
Gandhara (in today’s northwest Pakistan) and Persia (Iran) whom we read about
in the opening chapters of this work (150A).
They formed kingdoms or suzerainties in the
Indo-Gangetic plain, Maharashtra and Central India from time to time between
the 2nd century BC and the 5th century AD, keeping the
patronage and traditions of Buddhism alive in all these places.
All these peoples originated in the horse-riding
tribes of the Eurasian Steppes in Mongolia and northern China. They first
settled in Persia, Bactria and Gandhara, absorbing the culture and religion of
these places, which had been influenced by the Greeks, Seleucids (Greco-Roman
empire that succeeded the fall of Alexander the Great), Mauryans and wandering
Buddhist ascetics since the 5th century BC, as described in preceding
chapters.
After the decline of the Mauryan empire, these peoples
were able to establish rule in India from time to time, entering through the
Hindu Kush. Some of them espoused Jainism and Hinduism here, but most of them,
such as the Shakas and Kushans, continued as Buddhist. As the Shakas were
defeated in North India by the Guptas and other powers, they began pushing farther
southwards. This brought them into conflict with the Satvahanas, a power that
had risen around 230 BC in Maharashtra and spread to Andhra. The Shakas spread
over Rajasthan, Gujarat and conquered the Satvahanas in Maharashtra for a
while.
As described in previous chapters they established
tributaries in Maharashtra and Central India (Ujjain) called the Kshatrapas and
Mahakshatrapas. Many of these Khsatrapas were Buddhist as well. The Satvahana
Gotmiputra Satakarni defeated all these powers in Maharashtra and Central India
(Ujjain) (124A).
Following their defeat by Gotmiputra Satakarni, many of these declining Buddhist powers in the north and west of India married into the new rising Deccan powers such as the Satvahanas (124, 124A). Gotmiputra Satakarni gave his son in marriage to a Mahakshatrapa princess who commissioned Buddhist works in Nasik (124B).
From the literature and records of doctrinal debates from ancient times, it would appear that Buddhism continued to exist in South India well into the first millennium AD. But Buddhism was, perhaps, not as widespread as Jainism, which may even have eclipsed Hinduism here till about the 7th century AD.
Some historians denominate ancient dynasties as
“Hindu” based on their titles or inscriptions having reference to donations or
the grant of lands to Brahmins, or the performance of Ashvamedha and other
yagyas. However, I have not taken this as decisive, as the rajas were eclectic
in their beliefs, and also liberal in that they gave donations and grants to
all the major creeds in their lands.
Sometimes rajas participated in yagyas to claim
kshatriya status to fend off any challenge on this count. There is also some
evidence that Brahmins continued to be used by Jains for ritual purposes. We
have to look at the wider context, such as the background of prominent
advisors, the court literature and art, and so on in assessing whether a raja or
the milieu of his time is to be considered as primarily belonging to this or that
creed.
An early royal reference to Jainism is in an
inscription of the Ganga Simhavarma, who reigned in southern Karnataka circa
436 to 461 AD. The inscription mentions a Jain sangha called the “mulasangha”. It
says that the mulasangha was divided into four “upasanghas” – Nandi, Sena, Deva
and Simha (124C). In the centuries to follow, we see these suffixes in the
names of leading Jain South Indian royals, as well as acharyas. The suffix
“nath”, which appears in the names of many Jain saints, such as Parsvanath,
Neminath and so on, also hints at possible Jain connections, wherever it is to
be found.
The early Pallavas are said to have been Jain. There
are records of gifts of villages and donations from Pallava kings for the
construction of Jain temples. A Jain monk called Vishakacharya was associated
with the Pallava court in the time of Simhavishnu (circa 550-580 AD) (150).
Inscriptions have been found indicating that the mother of Pallava Simhavishnu built a Jain temple at Kanchipuram in Tamil Nadu. This would date the temple to the 5th or 6th century AD. The temple was called “Jina Kanchi” or “Vardhamanishvara Dharmatirtha” or “Tirupparuttikunram”. Its head priest in the late 6th century AD was one Vajranandi (131, 131A).
The historian TN Ramachandran identified two Jain temples
in an ancient Jain settlement at Kanchi as the Tirupparuttikunram temples. The
settlement was known as Jina Kanchi. One of the temples is to the Jain tirthankara
Chandraprabha, while the other (larger) one is to Vardhamana or Mahavira, also
known locally as Trailokyanatha.
Ramachandran believed that the Chandraprabha temple
was of around the Pallava era and the Vardhamana temple of the early 12th
century. However, he refers to local legends giving the temples, or rather the
idols within them, an earlier provenance. It would appear that the temples
began in the time of Pallava Simhavishnu, with elaboration, reconstruction and
even shifting of the main idols occurring for centuries thereafter, including
under the Cholas and Vijayanagar rajas (131B).
It is noteworthy that even so important a Hindu temple
town as Kanchipuram in Tamil Nadu had such deep and ancient links to Jainism,
with its Jain temples having received the patronage of several successive dynasties
of Tamil rajas.
A Pallava princess by the name of Kundachchi, built
a Jain temple in 776-777 AD called “Lokaditya” or “Lokatilaka” in the northern
part of Manne in Karnataka country (151).
Mahendravarman Pallava is said to have been Jain
before having been converted to Shaivism in the 7th century AD, according
to legend by the monk Appar, who is himself said to have been a convert from
Jainism.
Until the 7th century AD, when they too converted
to Shaivism, there were Jains among the Pandya kings (151A).
The Kalabhras, who ruled Tamil country from the mid-4th
to mid-7th century AD, may have been Jain or Buddhist. Buddhist and
Jain texts refer to an “Accuta Vikkanta” of the Kalabhra clan (152). Two
well-known Buddhist writers called Buddhadatta and Buddhaghosha served in his
court. Accuta Vikkanta may have been one of the last Buddhist kings to rule in
Tamil country.
A Ganga king, Ganga Madhava III (circa 500-530 AD),
is said to have patronised Buddhism. He gave grants to Buddhist viharas and
sanghas in the presence of Jain “chaturvidya” exponents. From these
inscriptions we also learn that Melkote (Mandya) in Karnataka had a Buddhist
vihara and sangha in the time of Madhava III (153).
As mentioned before, it is believed that a Gupta princess, Prabhavati
Gupta, who married into the Vakatakas around the 5th century AD,
introduced Vaishnavism here. Prabhavati Gupta ruled as regent of Vakatakas in
the early 5th century AD for nearly two decades while her sons were
underage. The Vakatakas also gave land grants to Brahmins. However, they
continued to be great patrons of Buddhism. As stated above, twenty-three of the twenty-eight Buddhist caves at Ajanta were
excavated in the Vakataka period. The work in Ajanta continued into the 6th
century AD (156, 157, 158).
Virashaivism was a new Shaivite cult that rose in the 12th
century. It was patronised by the Kalachuris and developed into the Lingayat
movement founded by Basava. Lingayats rebelled against the ritualism and the high
importance attached to temples in the Hindu tradition of the time. They are
also said to have been fierce opponents of Jainism. It is a major religion of
Karnataka till today (157A).
The Interesting Case of the Gangas
The Gangas, who ruled around Mysore in southern
Karnataka from about the 4th to the 12th century AD, and
in Kalinga (Odisha) from the 5th to 14th century AD, were
Jain, though they also patronised Hinduism (159). Ganga kings had a consistent tradition
of keeping Jain advisors or gurus. The founder of the Ganga dynasty, Madhava,
is said to have come to power with the counsel of a Jain acharya called
Simhananda – mirroring the story of Chandragupta Maurya and Chanakya (160).
Royal
Seal of the Gangas (Copper), ASI 1992, Plate 1.
Ganga Madhava’s successor, Avanita, had a Jain guru called Vijayakirti. Durvinita, the Ganga poet-king, was the disciple of a famous Jain grammarian and guru, Pujyapada. Madhava Ganga II’s Jain preceptor was Viradeva (161).
Early Ganga kings appear to have been eclectic in
their religious beliefs. They are associated with Jain acharyas, but at the
same time their names – Madhava, Harivarma and Krishnavarma appear to be
associated with the Hindu gods, Vishnu and Krishna (161A). There are Jain
inscriptions associating a Ganga king called Vishnugopa (circa 485-500) with a
“false creed”, which might be a reference to Hinduism (162).
There are inscriptions referring to Jain temples going
as far back as the late 4th century AD. A very early temple was a
wooden chaitalaya in Mandali in Shimoga (Karnataka) built by Ganga Madhava I,
who reigned between 380AD to 400 AD. There is also reference to a Jain temple
in Kolar (southern Karnataka) built in the time of Ganga Madhava III, i.e.,
500-530 AD (165A).
Inscriptions also mention Ganga Simhavarman and his
concubine Nandavva as having built a Jain temple and settlement in Coimbatore
in today’s Tamil Nadu. This would date the Jain temple to the mid 400-ADs (165B).
Inscriptions from the times of Chalukya Pulakesin refer to a feudatory who had
built a Jain temple in Alaktanagara in 480AD (165C).
The Gangas also had a tradition of megalith stone
worship that goes back to pre-historic times in South India. They built chamber
temples described above. Sometimes these structures would contain a “hero
stone” depicting battles or fallen warriors. Stone memorials were even raised
for beloved pets such as dogs and parrots by the Gangas and Kadambas (163).
The latter were a ruling dynasty of north Karnataka and Goa.
From the 8th century onwards, the Gangas show a clear preference for Jainism over Hinduism. So, while Jainism declined in Tamil country in the 7th century, it continued to thrive in the regions of Karnataka that were held by the Gangas and Kadambas.
Ganga Sripurusha of the 8th century AD undertook
pilgrimages to Jain tirthas and built and endowed Jain temples even while at
war with the Pallavas and Rashtrakutas (166A). His successor, Sivamara II, espoused
Jainism and had many Jain acharyas at his court (166C).
A Jain temple known locally as “Sule Gudi” or “Sule
Devalaya” whose ruins lie neglected in Manne, Karnataka was built around this
time. It has murals similar to those of the Ellora caves (166B).
In the 9th century AD, the Gangas were able to extend their rule into Tamil country, taking the district of Arcot in northern Tamil Nadu. The name “Arcot” is said to have been derived from “Arugar” that in turn might have come from “Arihant” which is the term for the “enlightened soul” among Jains. The Gangas built several heavily carved Jain cave complexes in North and South Arcot in the 9th century (165).
Vallimalai
Jain Cave Temple Entrance, North Arcot, Tamil Nadu. Photo: Hariharan via WikimediaCommons.
Vallimalai
Jain Rock Carvings, North Arcot, Tamil Nadu. Photo: Hariharan via WikimediaCommons.
The Gangas revived Jainism in Kalinga in the 5th
century when they expanded there. The legendary Jagannath and Konark Temples in
Odisha were built by the Ganga king, Indravarman or Indrasen. We will read more
about the Jagannath temple and its eclectic traditions of association with many
religions in later chapters.
Shravana Belagola near Hassan in southern Karnataka was
a major ancient centre of Jainism under the Gangas, and remains so till today.
Its name, “Shravana”, may come from the word “shramana”, which was used in
ancient times to refer to Jain and Buddhist ascetics.
Shravana Belagola has two hills – Chandragiri and
Vindhyagiri. They have numerous temples, idols and inscriptions recording
donations from Jain kings, queens, high officials and commoners since the 5th
century AD. They also have mention of sallekhanas (ritual renunciation of life
by starvation) by Jains.
The most famous idol in Shravana Belagola is the
massive Bahubali, also known as “Gomatesvara”, built in the 11th
century by Chamundaraya, a minister of the last of the Ganga kings, Marasimha
and Racamalla IV (166).
The Kadamba dynasty, which ruled in Goa and northern Karnataka from the mid-4th century AD to the mid-6th century AD, was also Jain, with some patronage of Hinduism. One of their early capitals was Palasika or Halasi, which was a major Jain centre.
Kadamba Mrigesvarma of 455-480 AD built a Jain temple
at Halasi. Kadamba Ravivarman, who reigned in 488-511 AD, built a Jain temple
called Kama Jinalaya in Banavasi, one of the Kadamba capitals in Karnataka (168).
Kadamba Harivarma and Ravivarma endowed the revenues
of villages for 8-day festivals of the Jain tirthankaras (saints). Ravivarma
issued an ordinance for the annual performance of the 8-day festival of
Jinendra. The Jains continue to celebrate their 8-day festival of Paryushan
till today. This is their most important annual festival (168).
In some early inscriptions, the Kadambas claim to be
descended from “Mauryavarma” connected with the northern kingdom of Magadh. It
is believed that they may have migrated to northern Karnataka from Magadh via
Odisha and coastal Andhra (167).
Many of the early Chalukyas who defeated the Kadambas
in Karnataka were Jain (169). One of the earliest Chalukya inscriptions is found
in the Jain Meguti Temple of Aihole in northern Karnataka. It is a “prashasti”
or laudatory inscription of the Chalukya King Pulakesin
II. It is composed by the famous Jain poet, Ravikirti, who is also said to have
built the Meguti Temple. He repeatedly uses the Jain invocation of “Jai
Jinendra” in this prashasti (170, 173A).
There appears to have been a Shankha Jinendra temple
in Dharwad of the Devagana sect of the Mulasangha. Numerous Chalukyan
inscriptions refer to endowments of villages and other grants made to a Jain
temple, associated danashala (“almshouse”) and basadi (“settlement”) in Dharwad.
They are variously referred to as “Shankha Jinendra”, “Dhavala Jinalaya” and
“Shankatirtha Basadi” in Puligere or Lakshmeshwar in Dharwad.
Vinayaditya Chalukya, who is said to have had a
Digambara Jain guru named Niravadyapandita, gave grants for the maintenance of
a danashala or alms house attached to a Shankha Jinendra temple in Dharwad in
683 AD (171, 172).
Vinayaditya’s son, Vijayaditya Chalukya, gave a
village to Niravadyapandita for the maintenance of this Jain temple in 730 AD.
His son, Vikramaditya Chalukya II (AD 733-747) repaired and gave further grants
to what appears to have been the same temple in Dharwad in the name of a Jain
acharya called Vijayapandita (171, 172).
A warrior clan called the “Sendrakas” ruled as
feudatories of the Kadambas and Chalukyas. They too followed Jainism. A
Sendraka official donated land for the worship of Lord Shankha Jinendra during
the reign of Chalukya Pulakesin II in Dharwad. An epigraph of Chalukya
Kirtivarman II commemorates the building of a Jain temple by a chieftain called
Kaliyamma in Dharwad (173).
The early Eastern Chalukyas were also Jain. There are
records of grants by them and their queens to Jain basadis and temples (177D).
Vishnuvardhana III and Vijayaditya (also known as “Amma II”) of the Eastern
Chalukyas made grants to Jain acharyas in Andhra country (177E).
The Kakatiya chiefs of Andhra country were originally
Jain, who later converted to Hinduism. An early Kakatiya chief, Prola II, while
in alliance with the Eastern Chalukyas, built Jain basadis. There is a Jain
Padmakshi temple in their capital of Anumakonda or Hanumakonda. Nagunur in
Telangana also came under Kakatiya rule, and was a major Jain centre (177A).
The Jain rajas had a tradition of giving up their
lives upon defeat in battle. After their defeat in Karnataka by the Taila
Chalukyas, the Western Ganga kings, Marasimha, and his nephew, Indra, who
succeeded him, undertook the Jain ritual of sallekhana. A number of their
queens and sisters also committed sallekhana in old age. The last Kakatiya Raja
Pratap Rudra is said to have committed ritual suicide by drowning upon his
final defeat by the Delhi Sultanate, showing close cultural if not formal
religious ties with Jainism (177L).
Several of the Rashtrakuta kings were Jain. Amogavarsha
Rashtrakuta (late 8th century AD), who built this dynasty’s new
capital of Manyakheta in Karnataka after defeating the Chalukyas of Badami, is
mentioned extensively in Jain texts. He had a Jain guru named Jinasena.
The Digambara Jains have a tradition that Amogavarsha
Rashtrakuta wrote a Jain text called “Prasnottara Ratna Malika”. He is said to
have often retired from court to spend time in the company of Jain monks (175).
Inscriptions from his reign refer to a Jain temple in Konnur (Kolanur) in Dharwad.
A number of Jain temples were built in the reign of Amogavarsha’s
son, Rashtrakuta Krishna, who also built the Hindu Kailashnath temple at Ellora.
A 10th century AD epigraph of Rashtrakuta Nityavarsha records his
grant for the making of a stone seat for the ritual bathing of the Jain idol of
Shantinatha (175A). He also had a Jain minister by the name of Vadighangala Bhatta.
Rashtrakuta Govinda gave grants to a Jain temple built
by the Gangas in Manne, Karnataka (their later capital). He also gave the grant
of a village to a Jain muni for removing an evil spirit (or rather, healing) a
prince, most likely this son, Vimaladitya (174). Vimaladitya’s mother was a
Ganga, and the grant was made at the request of the prince’s maternal uncle,
Ganga Cakiraja (177G).
The Taila Chalukyas who defeated the Rashtrakutas also
appear to have had connections with the Jain faith. Taila Chalukya Someshwara I
(or Ahavamalla), who founded the Taila Chalukya capital of Kalyana, is believed
to have had Jain leanings. Inscriptions record various grants by him to Jain
monks and establishments in Bellary. He gave up his life by ritual suicide when
struck by illness in old age (178).
An inscription of 1072 AD records the queen of Talia
Chalukya Somesvara II granting a village for Anesejjaya Basadi, which had been
built by Kumkum Mahadevi, the Jain sister of Raja Chalukya Vijayaditya (181A).
A few years earlier, a Jain general of Chalukya
Somesvara II remodelled a Jain temple from wood to stone with the help of a
local raja, Lakshmana (182A).
Chalukya Taila II gave grants of land to five Jain
matts (177H). One Santivarma, an official of Chalukya Taila II, built a Jain
temple in Saundatti in 980 AD (177M). This region in Karnataka (of Belgaum,
lower north) was a major centre of Jainism. It was ruled by the Jain Rattas as
feudatories of various Rashtrakuta and Chalukya kings. The Ratta chief
Prithvirama also built a Jain temple in Saundatti (177M). They had a Jain rajaguru
called Munichandra (177I).
Other Jain clans of rajas that ruled in Karnataka
country as feudatories of various overlords were the Silaharas of Konkan and the
Santaras of western and coastal Karnataka (177J). The Rattas and Silaharas were
tributaries of Taila Chalukya (177K).
The early Hoysalas of southern Karnataka who rose to
power in the 11th-12th centuries were also Jain. There
are legends that their ancestor, a chief called Sala from around Belur in
Hassan, had a Jain guru called Yati. Sala’s successor, Vinayaditya, is said to
have been the disciple of a Jain teacher called Santidevamuni or Vardhamadeva.
He built a Jain basadi in Karnataka’s Shravana Belagola (177).
Hoysala Vishnuvardhana is said to have been converted from
Jainism to Vaishnavism in the 11th-12th century by the
legendary founder of Sri Vaishnavism, Ramanujacharya. Vishnuvardhana’s Jain
name was Vitthala Deva or Bittideva. He was also known as Ballala.
Despite Hoysala Vishnuvardhana’s claimed conversion,
Jain works continued to be commissioned by him and others at all levels of
society in Karnataka. His queen, Santaladevi, continued to practice Jainism. In
the early 12th century AD, she built a Jain Savatigandhavarna temple
and donated a village to her Jain acharya (176). Her guru was one Prabachandra
(179A).
The mother of the Ganga Raja, Poccikabe, also built a
number of Jain temples around Shravana Belagola at this time (176).
Inscriptions of the mid-12th century, record the installation of
Jain idols of Mallinath, Neminath, Parsvanath and Cenna Parsvanath in Belur,
a Hoysala stronghold of the time (176).
Vishnuvardhana himself built a Jain temple called the
Vishnuvardhana Jinalaya in 1136 in his capital of Dvarasamudra or Halibedu (179B).
There is reference in inscriptions to a Jain Abhinava Shantideva temple in
Dvarasamudra. One of the Hoysala kings of the 12th century is said to have
had a Jain guru of the name Vajranandi Siddhantadeva (180A).
A number of Hoysala generals and tributaries also
built Jain temples and monasteries, and gave them endowments (180B). There are
also references in inscriptions to Jain temples in Shimoga in central Karnataka
(180C). Several grants were conferred to Jain establishments and charities
during the reign of Hoysala Ballala II in the last quarter of the 12th
century (180D). So while the Hoysalas built beautiful Hindu temples, they
continued to build Jain temples through to the 12th century AD.
A Ganga prince, Boppadeva, built a temple to the Jain
tirthankara, Parsvanath, in Halibedu in memory of his father, who was probably a tributary of the Hoysalas (180E).
As the construction of this temple coincided with a major victory of Hoysala Vishnuvardhana
and the birth of a son to him, the temple was named “Vijaya Parsvanath” (180E).
This temple received grants for repairs during the
reign of Vishnuvardhana’s successor, Narasimhadeva, who might have been the
baby prince born at the time of its construction (180F). Narasimhadeva also
gave land in Hassan in Karnataka for the building of a “Trikuta Jinalaya”
temple and endowments for the worship of Gomatesvara in Shravana Belagola (180E,
180F).
A few kilometres from Shravana Belagola is an ancient
Jain centre called Kadambahalli in Mandya with a large number of Jain temples. Archaeologists
believe that the royal emblem of the Hoysalas of the lion with one front paw
raised and head bent sideways was taken from the pillars of the Shantinath and
Neminath temples in Trikuta Basadi here (180G).
Hoysala Vishnuvardhana and, a hundred years later, Hoysala
Veera Ballala, directly commissioned a number of works in Tippuru. An idol of
Parsvanath was installed in a pond here at the time of Veera Ballala. The
Vijayanagar rajas also commissioned works at Tippuru (180G).
The prestige of Jainism and its local practice
continued into the reign of the Vijayanagar rajas in the 14th
century. Virupaksha and Bukkaraya II made donations and land grants to Jain establishments
(179). The Vijayanagaris also had Jain members – a prince in the time of
Harihara II (14th century AD) converted to Jainism. Devaraya II (15th
century AD) built a temple to the Jain tirthankara Parsvanath (180).
Haider Ali, the de facto Muslim ruler of Mysore in the
18th century AD, also granted villages to Jain temples (180).
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