Image: 7th-century Bhadrabahu Sanskrit inscription, Purvahale Kannada script, Shravanabelgola Karnataka

Description: The Shravana Belgola is an important Digambara Jain pilgrimage site in Karnataka, India. The site has three major clusters of historical monuments and inscriptions: Vindhyagiri, Chandragiri and Basadis (Basti, settlement). The above inscription is in Sanskrit, one of three pre-1000CE inscriptions found at Shravanabelgola in that language (others are in Kannada language). The inscription mentions Bhadrabahu and Prabhacandra. B Lewis Rice (1889, Archaeological Survey of Mysore) proposed that Prabhacandra is same as Chandragupta Maurya, a proposal that is found in official tourist literature and Digambara documents in the modern times. Scholars such as J F Fleet (May 1892, Indian Antiquary, pp. 156–162) and numerous others state that this is wrong, as there were several Bhadrabahu as well as Prabhacandra in Jain history, and this inscription related to a later era Jain monks, centuries after Chadragupta Maurya had died. Svetambara Jains also disagree with Digambara version of Bhadrabahu-Chandragupta story, stating the first Bhadrabahu never migrated south and died in Nepalese Himalayas. This is a 7th-century inscription, whose 2D-art photo was printed in 1889 by B Lewis Rice, and the above is a photo of that 1889 version. Wikimedia's 2D-Art licensing guidelines therefore apply. Any rights I have as a photographer, I herewith donate to wikimedia with CC4.0 license.
Title: 7th-century Bhadrabahu Sanskrit inscription, Purvahale Kannada script, Shravanabelgola Karnataka
Credit: Own work
Author: Ms Sarah Welch
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