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GELXXXII
Kavyanusasana writer - Somaprabhāsūri, viz. 'in all doubtful questions he became worthy of consultation'*. We saw from the S. D. K. - which strictly maintains a Brahmanical and Saivite atmosphere throughout the poem in contrast to the Jaina atmosphere of the P. D. K.- that Jayasimha built a Jaina temple of the last Tirthamkara in Siddhapura after he had rebuilt Rudra Mahālaya, and that he put certain Brāhmaṇas to look after ita fact confirmed by Somaprabha's K-Pratibodha also. In the last years of his life, Jayasimha must have felt some inclination towards Jainism as is evidenced by the Arab Geographer Al Idrasi who says that the king used to worship the Buddha image. This, however, does not mean that he wavered in his devotion to Şiva. In ancient India, kings were, by policy, tolerant of the different creeds of their subjects. In the case of Jayasimha, however, in his last years at least, we may imagine, it was not merely a matter of policy.
This inclination towards Jainism must have been largely the result of Jayasimha's contact with Hemachandra whose extraordinary learning and intelligence as well as strictly ascetic life of the Suvihita type as distinguished from the easygoing and luxurious life of the Chaityavāsi abbots, must have greatly impressed the mind of the king. There were, also, other Jaina monks in whose contact Jayasimha had been. We saw that Vīrāchārya was Jayasimha's friend from childhood. So also another Hemachandra - known as Maladhāri Hemacliandra - had some influence with Jayasimha. This Hemachandra got the permission of Siddharāja to fly flags and put golden eggs on the Sikharas of
* See p. CCLXVII.
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