Political History of Northern India

SR No.: 001744
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Gulabchandra Chaudhary
Publisher: Sohanlal Jain Dharm Pracharak Samiti Amrutsar
Publication Year: 1954
Total Pages: 482
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, History, & Culture
File Size: 10 MB

Page 337

THE DYNASTIES OF SAURASTRA
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capital of Gurjara king and Karşāvati on the Sābarmatī. Vīradhavala gave the credit to his minister Vastupāla.
In the opinion of Pt. Gourisankar H. Ojha, for the most part, the above description is exaggerated.2 But the fact that Jayatala came into conflict with Turks is proved by his two Jain inscriptions from Cirwa and Ghāghasā and by the Mt. Ābu inscription of Samarasimha. They record that Jaitrasiinha defeated the Turks and saved Gujarāta from their attacks.3
The Hammira-mada-mardana speaks of one Milacchīkāra with whose army the soldiers of Viradhavala fought, Pt. Ojha has suggested that the name is the corruption of Amir-i-Sikara, a title conferred by Qutb'ud-Din on Iltutmish whose time falls in V.E. 1266-1293 (1210-1236 A.D.).5
There is no direct reference to the time when the struggle occurred. But it seems that it must have been fought before V.E. 1286 (1229 A.D.), the date of the composition of the Hammira-mada-mardana and after V.E. 1279 (1222 A.D.), when Nāgadraha, the capital of Jayatala, was still undevastated by the enemy.
The Prabandha-kośa states that Vastupāla defeated the army of Sultan Mozz'ud-Din.? I have elsewhere shown the possibility of this war. The name of Mozz'ud-Din, however, does not seem probable in that period for his existence is proved between 1173-1206 A.D. when Vastupāla was not the minister of Vīradhavala.9
The Ministers Vastupāla and Tejahpāla: We have seen that these two brothers were appointed as ministers in V.E. 1276 by Vīradhavala. With their able guidance Vīradhavala fought several wars mentioned above.
The Jains have several inscriptions and literary compositions on the two ministers. According to them Vastupāla and his brother were born of a
1 Ibid., Act V. 2 HI., Pt. I, p. 466. 3 Ibid., p. 460. • GOS., X, Act IV, p. 35. 5 HI., p. 467. 6 GMRI., P. 381. ? SJGM., VI, p. 117. 8 See supra p. 164.
GMRI., P. 467. Certain scholars assume that the struggle with Muslims recorded by the Prabandha-kośa is most probably the same as mentioned in the Hammira-mada-mardana (Vastupälano Vidyāmandala ane Bijo Lekha (Guj.), pub. by the Jain Office, Bhavanagar).