The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v2.c13.s5.54

v2.c13.s5.54

Of the reigns of the next two rulers who end the line, Bhadradeva II and Arikesarī III, no political events are mentioned in the Parbhaṇī plates, which record a grant by Arikesarī III to the Jaina temple built in Vēmulavāḍa by his father Baddega, and known by the name Śubhadhāma-jinālaya, for repairs and the maintenance of worship. In the grant Arikesarī III is described as the feudatory of Akālavarṣa Kṛṣṇarājadeva (III). But the name of the donee makes the grant a document of the highest value; it is that of the celebrated Jaina polyhistor Somadevasūri, the author of the *Yaśodhara-carita* and of the *Syādvādopaniṣad* and other works, highly respected by many princes in the land who did honour to themselves by honouring him. We know from his oft-quoted colophon to the *Yaśastilaka-campū* that he composed that work in the Śaka year 881 (A.D. 959), i.e. seven years before the date of the Parbhaṇī plates, when Kṛṣṇa III was still residing in his camp at Mēlpāḍi, after his campaigns in the south, and his feudatory Badyaga, the eldest son of Arikesarī II, was ruling at a place called Gaṅgadhārā characterized as overflowing with wealth. Somadeva's spiritual ancestry is explained thus in the Parbhaṇī plates. In the Gauḍa-saṅgha there was a famous scholar by name Yaśodeva; he was a *muni* (sage) who by his *tapas* (austerities) had established contact with the Śāsanadevatas. His pupil was Nemideva, an expert in Jaina doctrine and 'an axe to the pride' of the disputants of rival faiths. Nemideva had many pupils of great excellence, of whom the most famous was Śrī Somadeva, the abode of learning, the seat of fame, whose beauty was matched by his high character. In the colophon to his *Nitivākyāmṛta*, probably written after the date of the Parbhaṇi plates, Somadeva calls himself, among other things, the beloved pupil (*priyaśiṣya*) of Śrī Nemidevabhagavān. His affinity with the Gauḍa-saṅgha has been traced in his references to Dharmāvaloka,¹ a ruler of Rāṣṭrakūṭa extraction in Bodh Gayā, in the tenth century A.D. Pampa and Somadeva, both Jains, two of the greatest names in medieval Indian literature, also shed their lustre on the court of the Chālukyas of Vēmulavāḍa.