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## Harivansha Purana 4: Veer Jayavaraha
This was the king of the Sauras' realm in the west. We understand the Sauras' realm to be Saurashtra, which is south of Kathiawar. The author is referring to the land of the Sauras, the Saura-rashtra or Saurashtra, and the region to its west.
It is not clear which dynasty this king belonged to. We speculate that he might have been a Chalukya king, and the use of 'Varaha' with his name might be similar to how 'Mahavaaraha' is used with Kirtivarma (II). Before the Rashtrakutas, the Chalukyas were the sovereign kings, and they also ruled over Kathiawar. The Rashtrakutas took this sovereignty from them around 675 CE. Therefore, it is highly likely that during the time of the Harivansha's composition, a branch of the Chalukya dynasty might have ruled Saurashtra, and this king might have been referred to as Jayavaraha. Perhaps his full name was Jayasimha, and Varaha was an epithet.
A donation inscription from the village of Haddala (Kathiawar) from 836 CE, during the reign of the Pratihara king Mahipala, reveals that Dharanivaraha, a member of the Chavda dynasty and a tributary king of the Pratiharas, ruled over Barda. This suggests another possibility that the aforementioned Jayavaraha might have been an ancestor of Dharanivaraha, 4-6 generations earlier. [7] The Time of Composition of Harivansha
In the 52nd verse of the final chapter, Jinaseenacharya has mentioned the time of composition of Harivansha as 705 CE, which corresponds to 840 CE. Jinaseen has mentioned the time of composition of his work only in the Saka Samvat, while Harishena, while mentioning the time of composition of Kathakoosha, has mentioned both Saka Samvat and Vikrama Samvat. In North India, Gujarat, Malwa, etc., Vikrama Samvat was prevalent, while Saka Samvat was prevalent in the south. Jinaseen had only passed a couple of generations since his arrival from the south, so he mentioned only Saka Samvat in his work. However, Harishena had spent many generations in Kathiawar, so he considered it appropriate to mention Vikrama Samvat along with it, according to the local practice.
[8] Scholars Preceding Jinaseen
Out of gratitude, Jinaseen has praised his predecessors, Samantabhadra, Siddhasena, Devanandi, Vajrasuri, Mahaseen, Ravishena, Jatasimhanando, Shanta (Shantapeen) Visheshvadi, Kumarasena Garu, Veerasenagaru, Jinaseen Swami, and the author of Vardhaman Purana, by mentioning their names. Therefore, here is some brief information about them:
Samantabhadra
Samantabhadra was a Kshatriya prince. His birth name was Shantivarma, but later he became known in the world as 'Samantabhadra'. It is not known what his guru's name was or what his guru parampara was. He is credited with being a debater, orator, poet, and panegyrist. He was a profound scholar of philosophy and possessed exceptional brilliance. In an introductory verse, he is described as an astrologer, physician, magician, tantric, and also an Agyasiddha Siddhasarvasvat. His lion's roar made all the debaters tremble. He traveled to many countries and defeated debaters, showing them the right path. His available works are very important, concise, profound, and evocative of deep meaning. Their names are as follows:
1. Harivansha Purana. Chapter 1. Verse 26-41.