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CLXII
Kavyanusasana Modi has ably given in his article on Karna (pp. 20-21), it appears that this incident referred to in a poem written three-hundred years later cannot be believed as against the almost contemporary account of Hemachandra.
14 Siddharāja Jayasimha is the most remembered of the kings of Gujarata. He still lives in folk – literature and folk-drama. + Like Vikrama and Bhoja he has become almost a legendary figure. In fact, it appears to be the ambition of Jayasimha to become like Vikramāditya of Ujjayini in all aspects of life. Jayasimha's behaviour with such a conscious aim in view explains the lasting impression that he made on the imagination of the people of his own as well as of later generations. Otherwise it would be inexplicable to understand why the Dvyásraya Kāvya which gives a normal historical account of the preceding kings of Anahillapura from Mūlarāja to Karņa, as also of the succeeding king Kumārapāla, gives a super-normal account of the contemporary king Jayasimha. This can be explained on the assumption that the uncommon personality of Jayasimha was assuming a legendary character in his own times. In fact, Jayasimha is better known as Siddharāja * or Siddhīraja (as he is called in the
+ The Veşa of Sadharo Jesang.--that is, how Siddharāja Tayasinha is known to folk-literatnre - still forms an important item in the traditional stock of folk-playlets performed by Bhavaiyas - a caste of hereditary actors.
* Siddharăja may be understood either as the king of Siddhas or as the king who is a Siddha - a master of Siddhis. For another and historically more probable implication of the word see furthe on.
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