He is said to have been a great poet and a logician; he caused the
Jaina religion, which had for a long time been
at a stan-still, to attain the prosperity and
fame of the time of the Ganga kings an
achievement which was quite impossible for any one else.
11. Prabhachandra
:
He was honoured by king
Bhoja of Dhara. He was the
authour of a celebrated work on logic. It is
also stated that Santala
Devi, the chief queen of Hoyasala
monarch Vishnuvardhana, was the lay disciple
of Prabhachandra.
12. Damanandi
:
He is described as the vanquisher of the great disputant
Vishnubhatta.
13. Jinachandra
: He was as though a Pujyapada in the
Jainendra grammar, a
Bhattakalanka
in logic and a Bharavi in literature.
14. Trimushtideva
: He was so called because he was content with three fistfuls of food.
15. Vasavachandra
: It is stated that he attained celebrity as �Bala-Saraswati�
in the Chaulkya capital.
16. Yashahkirti
: He was honored by the king of Simhala,
i.e., Ceylon or Shri Lanka.
17. Gollacharya
: Before becoming an ascetic Gollacharya
was the ruler of the Golla country and
belonged to the family of King Mutana-Chandila.
18. Traikalyagogi
: He is said to have made a Brahama-rakshasa
his pupil and converted the oil of �honge�
tree (pongamia glabra)
into pure ghee. They very thought of him drove away evil spirits.
19. Meghachandra
� traividya : He is described as an equal
of Jinasena and Virasena
in philosophy, as Akalankadeva himself in the
six schools of logic, and Pujyapada himself in
grammar.
20. Sruta-kirti
: He is astonished the learned by composing the �Raghava-Pandaviyam�
in such a way that it could be read both forwards and backwards.
21. Sruta-muni
: He is described as a Pujyapada in
Grammar, as an Akalanka in logic and as
Kunda-kunda in the knowledge of the self.
22. Ajita-sena
: He bore the title �Vadibha-Simha� and
was the presceptor of the great
commander-in-chief Chamunda-Raya and of his
son, Jinadevana. It is said that he directed
Chamunda-Raya to give the name of
Belagola to the village where the image of
Bahubali was erected. He was also known as
Ajitasena-Bhattarka.
These great
Jaina saints were associated, in one way or the other, with the
sacred place of Sarvana-Belagola. Obviously,
this kind of continued association raised the importance of this holy
place to that of a spiritual center. In addition, the
Jaina saints who resided at
Sarvana-Belagola paid considerable attention
to scholarship and learning. In the difficult subjects like Grammar,
Poetry, Prosody, Siddhanta, Medicine and
Logic, these saints of Sarvana-Belagola strove
to achieve distinction, and they devoted their quiet lives in the pursuit
of learning. The best representative of such celebrated saints
Siddhanta-Chakravati
Nemichandra. He composed at Sarvana-Belagola
his reputed philosophical treatises entitled (1)
Dravya-sangraha (2) Gommatasara-Java-kanda
(3) Gommatasara-Karma �Kanda, (4)
Labdhisara, (5)
Kshapanasara and (6) Trilokasara. He
also wrote a work named Pratishthapatha, which
consists directions for the establishment and consecration of images. In
his work he always makes obeisance to his preceptors, viz.,
Abhaya-nandi, Indra-nandi,
Vira-nandi, and Kanaka-nandi.
Due to these classic and standard philosophical treatises,
Nemichandra was popularly known as �Siddhanta-Chakravarti,
i.e. �the Paramount Lord of Philosophy� . But
Nemichandra is still better known as the preceptor of
Chmunda-Raya, the chief minister and military
General of the Ganga Kingdom. In fact
Chamunda-Raya was his most
favourite disciple, and we find that
Nemichand composed his one philosophical
treatise according to the desire of Chmunda-Raya,
who wished to learn the exposition of substances as enumerated in the
canonical works of the Jainas and that he
named it �Gommatasara� as it was composed for
the reading of Chmunda-Raya, who was also
known as Gommata-Raya. This intimate
relationship between Nemichandra and
Chmunda-Raya is best expressed in were in an
inscription dated about 1530 A.D., engraved in the enclosure of
Padmavati temple in Nagar
Taluka of Shimoga
District as follows :
״ֻ������ָ� -��ϴ��� . . . . . . . .
���� ���״֭֓��: �
ֳ��ן� ����ۭ�֍�-��־�Գ����:
��ִ�㝛���֕�٬֟�-��֤��֩: �
i.e. �(The author of ) Trilokasara and other works��.. Nemichandra the
Saiddhantika Sarvabhauma ( the Paraount Lord of those versed in the
Siddhantas ) shines in this world, his lotus-feet worshipped by
Chamunda-Raya�. Though a fragment of this verse if effaced, the meaning is
quite clear. The �Saiddhantika Sarvabhauma� is a synonym of the epithet �Siddhanta-Chakravarti�,
generally applied to Nemichadra. Further, at the instance of Acharya
Nemichadra, Chamunda-Raya installed the colossal image of Bahuabali on the
Vindhyagiri hill and performed is consecration ceremony on the 13th of
March 981 A.D. under his personal guidance. Again, according to tradition,
Chamunda-Raya, after eracting the colossal image, appointed his guru
Nemichandra as the head of the Matha i.e., monastery, at Sarvana-Belagola.
Moreover, out of the two figures sculptured below the inscription on the
pillar, known as Tyagada Brahmadeva Pillar, on the Vindhyagiri hill, the
one flanked by Chauri-bearers is said to represent Chmunda-Raya and other
his guru Nemichandra . Obviously, this close association of an eminent
saint like Nemichadra with Sarvana-Belagola greatly enhanced the prestige
of the place as a spiritual and educational center.
