________________
Introduction
CXXXVII
is not mentioned in the Dvyāṣraya or the P. C. may be narrated here. It is the sack of Somanatha which has been described at length by modern historians (see C. H. I. Vol. III pp. 23-26). It was believed that this event is nowhere mentioned or even suggested in Hindu accounts. This is, however, not correct. The event is referred to in an Apabhramsa poem of Dhanapala and the V. T. K. of Jinaprabha. Muni Ṣrī Jinvijayaji-that great savant and researcher of the history of Gujarat-edited and published for the first time in his J. S. S. (Vol. III pp. 241-43) that poem in the Apabhramṣa language and in the Utsaha metre of the poet Dhanapala-the author of the Tilakamanjarī. Dhanapala was a court - poet of the famous king Bhoja of Dhara a contemporary of Bhima I. In this poem reference is made to the looting by the Turks, of Srimala country, Aṇahilavada, Chandravati, Soratha, Devalavaḍa and 'Someșvara pleasing to the mind of the people'. Thus this is an almost contemporaneous account. The V. T. K. refers in the Satyapūrakalpa to the looting of Gurjara country by Gajjanavi, that is the lord of Gajani in the V. S. 1081 = A. D. 1025 (p. 29). Both these references apply to the expedition of Mahamud Gajani.
It is, however, strange to find that no mention of the sacking of Somanatha is found in the Ta'rikh - i- Lamini of Al-'Utbi who was a sort of Private Secretary to Mohmud. He wrote a good account of Mohumd's biography, and is definitely known to have lived four years after this event. Rasinuddin and Hamidulla who came after more than two hundred years and have written accounts of Mohmud also make no 18
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
