Mysore and Coorg from the Inscriptions c14.4

c14.4

Lists of the Jain hierarchy and the succession of Jain gūrus are contained in the following inscriptions, arranged according to date: SB 1, Nr 35, Sh 64, SB 47, 43, 54, Dg 90, SB 40, 42, 105, Ng 76, Cn 149, Ak 1, TN 105, SB 108, Nr 46. The first is of the (?) fifth century; the remainder are of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, except the last two, which are of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The greatest detail for the early period is supplied in SB 105, which gives the names of the Tīrthankaras, the Ganadharas, the Kēvalis, the Śrutakēvalis, the Daśapūrvadharas, the Ēkādaśāngadharas, and Āchārāngas. It then continues, through Kuṇḍakunda, Umāsvāti or Griddhrapinchha, Balāka-pinchha, Samantabhadra, Śivakōṭi, Dēvanandi or Pūjyapāda, Akalanka, etc., to Arhadbali, who formed four divisions of the Sangha,—the Sēna, Nandi, (Tridivēśa or) Dēva, and Simha sanghas. The others contain some of this information, but not in a connected manner, and each one branches off at a certain point to give a succession relating to the immediate object of the inscription. There is none which is more interesting or which conveys more valuable information than SB 54, interspersed as it is with *chūrṇis* or quotations of the first importance in corroboration of the narrative. Its date is 1128, and its object is to record the death of Mallishēna-Maladhāri, who was a disciple of Ajitasēna, and who gained a great name in his day among the Jains. Nr 46 also contains much historical information relating to the sixteenth century in recounting the successes of the Jain orator Vādi-Vidyānanda.