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172 Studies in Umāsvāti
2.2 Among the extant Kannada works, allusion to the name
of GP (Grddhra Pinchācārya) as the author of TS, Ādipurā-ņam (canto1/verse12) of the Pampa (AD 941) is the
earliest. 2.2.1. After Pampa many Kannada authors like Cāmundaraya
(AD 968), śāntinātha (1060), Divākaranandi (1060), Karna-paryāya (1145), Nemicandra (1170), Brahmaśiva (1170), Acanna (1195), Janna (1230) and others have
repeated the name of GP as the author of TS. 2.3.1. Only Pārśva Pandita (AD1205), Kumudendu (1275), Sal
va (1485) and Payanavarņi (1669) have mentioned the
nomen US. 2.3.2. Out of the inscriptions, K. 60 (AD 1009), K. 52 (1050)
and Hombuja (1077) have mentiond only TS and not the author; but inscriptions of SB. 156 (AD 1115), 135 (1123), 173 ( 1145), 71 (1163), 73 (1176), 360 ( 1398) and 364 ( 1432) mention the names of both Umāsvāti and GP. Even though SB epigraph No. 360 (AD 1398) makes it very clear that US is the author of TS, somehow it tries to suggest that US who had GP as his second name is an
alias of KK. 2.3.3. The only inscription to mention that US is the author
of TS, without any ambiguity is that of Hombuja (EC. VIII(old) nagara. 46. A.P. 1526]. SB 360 (AD 1398) also clearly mentions that US is the author but it tries to equate
US with KKA. 2.3.4. As already stated in para no. 2.1.1., It is the Svāmi
Virasenācārya, in his Dhavalā-Tīkā (C.E. 816), comm. on Şakhaņdāgama, C. AD 500), who first initiated the nomen of GP. Set to motion by the adept Virasena it soon gathered momentum to roll over the green lawns of the Karnataka Nirgrantha monastery. Thereafter Jaina authors considered it a sacred duty of gratefully remembering the name of GP in the beginning of the work. As
