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CLVIII
Kavýanusasana It appears from the D. K. that Karna became a devotee of Hari or Vishņu. When he is persuading Jayasimna to accept the throne, he says “ Before the female - serpent old age bites this bird of my soul, it is time for me to meditate on that God whose hands are as long as the king of serpents (Sesharāja ) who lies on his serpent-couch, whose insignia is the bird that kills the serpents (Garuļa ), who wears a garment of the colour (yellow) of the king of birds (Garuda ), and who has made the difficult path to heaven easily accessible (v. 95 - 96). Again when referring to his death, Hemachandra calls him “ Brahamavādī and Harismārī.” We saw that Karna propitiated Lakshmi for a son. We may, however, note that in his copper-plates, he is referred to as worshipping Siva. So also in the Karnasundarī. This means that he might have become a Vaishṇava in the latter part of his reign after the birth of Jayasimha.
From the P, C., we learn that while proceeding to fight Asā, he received signs of good luck from the goddess Bhairavadevī and so Karņa built a temple in honour of that goddess Kochharaba (probably connected with Kocharab-a suburb of Ahmedabad) - and another in honour of the goddess Jayantidevi at the place where he defeated the Bhilla chieftain. He also built in Karṇāvati a temple known as Karneşvaradevatāyatana and also a lake called Karnasågara which may be the original of the present-day Kānkaria Talao which was also known as Hor-ekutub. In Şrī Pattana he built a temple known as Şri Karņa - Meru Prāsāda (p. 55). Near Modherá also, he built a lake and a temple known after him.
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