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Introduction
CCLXXXVII
Here we might consider the question of Kumāra. · pāla's conversion to Jainism. In what sense, we may ask, Kumārapāla was converted to Jainism ? There is sufficient proof for one answer, viz: -he was trying to follow the Jaina ethical mode of life. That he regarded Hemachandra as his spiritual guru and offered worship at the Jaina temples might also be taken as real. But if by conversion is meant that Kuinārapāla abjured the faith of his fore-fathers and gave up the worship of Şiva and other Puranic deities, it is contradicted by other historical facts. First of all, we find, in the last canto of the S. D.K., Kumārapāla distinctly mentioning his devotion to Siva; and secondly in the inscription of Bhāva-Bșhaspati of the year V. S. 1229-A. D. 1173, the last year of Kumārapāla's reign, he is called ' Māheşvaranạpāgraṇī, the foremost of Māheşvara kings' (v. 47). From these facts, it becomes clear that though Kumārapāla's mode of life was changed, that though the old way of worshipping with animal-sacrifice was also completely given up, he did not cease to be a worshipper of Şiva - the god of his fore-fathers.
This might appear anomalous to people accustomed to strict sectarianism; but in those days of religious elasticity it was not uncommon.
We saw what advice Hemachandra gave to Siddharāja-Jayasimha. When Hemachandra, according to the P. C., went to Somanātha-Pattana with Kumārapāla, he was asked by the king to utter prayers to Siva; and Hemachandra did it in verses which are preserved. So also in a more authentic form, we find prayers to Siva in the S. D. K.. As Buddhisāgara pointed out to Someşvara, it was only the emphasis
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