Jain Inscriptions Of Gwalior
Dr- H.V. Dwivedi has prepared an exhaustive index of the inscriptions of Gwalior State. They include as many as 850, collected from ancient places like Sivpuri, Bhelsa, Ujjain, Mandsaur, Morena, Gwalior Fort, Narwar, Pawaya, Kutwar, etc.
Earlier to Dr. Dwivedi, Dr. D.R. Bhandarkar had edited a list of several inscriptions from northern India in- Epigraphia Indica published by Government of India (in Vol. Nos. 19-23). They included some of those from Gwalior. Later, the Department of Archaeology, Gwalior State had published many inscriptions in their Annual Reports (G.A.) which covered all those from Gwalior Fort.
Besides these, Kielhorn had prepared an index of inscriptions during the British period. To these, may be added, a number of inscriptions, published by Cunningham in the Annual Reports of the Archaeological Survey of India.
Dr. Dwivedi had utilised the material of the above inscriptions from all published sources and prepared a comprehensive list mostly pertaining to Madhya Pradesh and numbered them from 1 -850.
The inscription in each case contains, the following details of date, the place from which the inscription was obtained, whether complete or broken, the number of lines, the language, the king that occurred in the inscription, the purport and the source in which it was published, are shown.
It is from the above list, a separate list of Jain inscriptions from Gwalior Fort alone is prepared. They mainly refer Tomar dynasty of kings, so as to enable the reader mainly to refer to name of the king and the purport of the inscription. See the list incorporated at the end.
From the index prepared, it is clear that the fort had yieldded 21 inscriptions of Tomar kings. Although there are as many as 5, initial kings as per the list given in the Persian account, the one that contributed to the Jain movements was primarily Dungar singh. Evidently, he was the most illustrious Jain devotees in the Tomar kings.
Of the 21 inscriptions listed here, only 7 of them belong to period of Dungar Sen and ‘he rest belong to his son Kirti Singh. From the purport of the inscriptions, it could be easily derstood, that it is not the exclusive right of the kings to install Jam images, but the priests, ^attarakas and even the devotees, had installed them m different regions of Gopachal.
The Jainas belonging to the kashthasangha of Gopachal, were originally migrants from Mathura, who trace their traditions from the mulasangha headed by the famous Acharya Kunda Kunda. He was no less a person than Mahavira himself. Probably some priests, might have migrated to Gwalior from Jasalmir in Rajasthan. This is clear from the adjective Jaisalanvaye, used for them, in the inscriptions.
Of the Bhattaraka priests of the kashthasangha, those resided at Gwalior trace their descent from Kamal Singh Sanghvi, who can be shown as the creator of the Jaina caves. His geneology gives five or six priests of his line that were active in the region as per the inscription of Tomar kings. They include Sahu Bhopa, Khemsingh, Sanghapati, Kamal Singh Chandrasen, etc.
Other inportant people mentioned were Prabhacandra, Padmanandi Subhacandra, Nemikirti, Jayacandra, Kamalakirti Subhacandra Deva, Malayakirti, Ksemakirti, Gunakirti, Yasahkirti, Gunabhadra etc. The original inscuiption reads thus : Sri kashthasangha Bhattaraka sri Gunakirti deva yasah kirte devah. Kamala kirticha Sri Gunakirti devah Besides, the most well known priest that influenced Tomar royalty was Raidhu, whose name was immortalised in the inscriptions of Gwalior Fort.
Raidhu and The Gwalior Kashthasanghas
During the time of Dungar Singh, the great Jain teacher that influenced him towards Jainism was Raidhu. Raidhu alias Simhasena, was the son of Harisimha and his grand father was Devaraja. His mother was Vijaysri. Savitri and Raidhu were devoted couple and had a son Udayasingh.
Raidhu was composing Aristanemi Chariyu when his son was born. He was a priest qnd was supposed to
have been constructed as per the instructions laid down by Raidhu, who possibly acted as the high priest at that time.
He makes ample reference to his predecessors and their works. He specifies his patrons like Srikhem Sahu and Bhullana Sahu.
Raidhu had a high praise for Gwalior (Gopachala nagara) and the Tomar King Dungar Singh was his great patron. He had another patron by name Rudra Pratapa Chauhana.
From his works, it could be gathered, that he lived between 1400-1473 A.D. and possibly claimed, that he was bestowed with long life.
The Jaina monastic establishment of Gopachal had contributed to the grown of knowledge wHh literature and Visual ads. The Bhattaraka Acaryas had created a philosophic awakening among people, and hlranna darshana even while pursuing their own professions. r a
Besides their work at Gopachal, the Bhattarak preceptors had impressed on the people as to how to lead a simple life as a Jain. They were able to check the impact of tantricism with simple sramanic procedures in achieving their ends.
Haribhadra Suri, condemned the deterioration of the principles of the sangha in certain sections of the society in his work on Sambodha Prakasana.
The origin of the Bhattaraka pitha at Gopachala is traced to Madhavasena. His disciples and followers carried out the message of Jainism to distant places. In several inscriptions, reference was made to the work carried out by Kashthasangha mathuranvaya balatkarana gachha and saraswati gachha.
I n the inscriptions of Gopachal, we come across the names of the Acharyas Devasena Yasahkirti and Jayakirti,. The name of one Hemraj was mentioned as the chief of Jaina sangha.
The Tomar Rajas had made some Jaina Acharyas as their ministers One Gunabhadra was the chief advisor during the time of Kirti Singh o omar dynasty. Prominant members of the sangha were Kusharaj and his wife.