Invocatory Sanskrit Verses in Jaina Inscriptions Karnātaka

1 1. Introduction Jainism, one of the oldest and richest religions in the world, has preserved its basic and original doctrinal characteristics Jainism rose to unrivalled brilliance in the field of letters, arts, architecture, culture and in the domain of politics This religion has an uninterrupted history of three thousand years and even to- day

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नागराजैया कर्नाटक के लगभग दो हजार जैन शिलालेखों के मंगल-पद्य जाँचते हैं; श्रवणबेलगोल में ही पाँच सौ से अधिक अभिलेख हैं। प्राकृत के बजाय संस्कृत चुनी गई, किन्तु लिपि कन्नड़ रही; छन्दों में श्लोक प्रमुख है। पद्य जिन और आचार्यों की स्तुति करते हैं, अन्य सम्प्रदायों की निन्दा नहीं करते। Nagarajaiah examines the invocatory verses opening Karnataka's roughly 2,000 Jaina inscriptions, over 570 at Śravaṇabelagoḷa alone. Sanskrit is preferred to Prakrit but written in Kannada script; śloka dominates, with sragdharā and śārdūlavikrīḍita; the verses praise Jinas and pontiffs, quote Akalaṅka, and never abuse rival sects.

Written by the archive’s cataloguers, not by the author.