Kuvalayamala Part 2

SR No.: 002778
Original Sutra Author: Udyotansuri
Author: A N Upadhye
Publisher: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan
Publication Year: 1970
Total Pages: 368
Language: Sanskrit, English
Classification: Book_Devnagari & Literature
File Size: 12 MB

Page 140

INTRODUCTION
101
only difficulty, I feel, is that Pābiya, in ELIOT's extracts, is often described as
south of the river Bīās', 'on the southern bank of Bīās' etc. Any way Pt. SHARMA's suggestion is quite welcome.
Sivacandra is moving probably from the area of Pavvaīyā towards Bhillamāla' with a view to paying respects to Jina-temples: this shows how Jainism was well rooted and neatly established in the Gurjara-desa corresponding to modern Rajasthan of which the capital was Bhilmäl or Srīmāla about fifty miles to the north-west of Mount Abu. Vateśvara had a temple constructed in the town of Ākāśavapra by name. Shri HEMASAGARASURI suggests in his
Bhillamāla (the ancient Srimāla), written variously as Bhinmāl, Bhilmāl, Bhinnamāla, Bhilmāl etc. (Pi-lo-mo-lo, of the Chinese traveller) finds plenty of references in Jaina works: it must have been a thriving cultural centre for the Jainas. According to the Nisīthacūrņi (10.255) of Jinadāsagani-mahattara (c. 676 A.D.) king Varmalāta had a silver statue of Jina (made or installed) in Bhillamāla. An inscription of A.D. 625 of a king of this name is found; and it is plausible that Suprabhadeva, the grand father of Māgha, was a minister of this king. The famous astronomer Brahmagupta (A.D. 628) is called Bhil (1) a-mā (lā) cārya and was a contemporary of Vyāghramukha of Cāpavamsa or Cāvadā family who ruled possibly at Bhillamāla. Siddharşi refers to Bhillamāla as a prosperous town with a gorgeous Jina-temple. It is in this very town that his grand-preceptor Durgasvāmi passed away and that he completed his Upamitibhava-prapañcā kathā in A.D. 906. Vāmana, son of Jajju, who belonged to the Prāgvāta family hailing from Bhillamāla (had got) constructed a beautiful temple of Jina in 1034 A.D. at Kāyandrā. Vādivetāla sāntyācārya (A.D. 1038) wrote his commentary on the Uttarādhyayana at Anahila-pāțaka (Pattan in Gujarat) in the Jina-temple constructed by Amātya Śānti of Bhillamālakula, possibly a famous family hailing from Bhillamāla. Asada, the author of Vivekamañjari (A.D. 1191), refers to himself as the son of Katukarāja of the Bhillamālakula. Those who migrated from Srimāla or Bhillamäla mentioned this as their family name or vamsa. It is learnt from an inscription of A.D. 1276 that a statue of Mahāvīra was brought to Srimāla or Bhillamāla after the fall of Valabhi (mod. Valā) and since then Śrsmāla became a mahāsthāna. Even a branch of Jaina monks, Bhinnamāla-gaccha, is referred to in an inscription of A.D. 1506. References to the discovery of an image of Pārsvanātha, with miraculous powers, are found in records of the beginning of the 17th century A.D. Epigraphical records show that Jayantasimha (Sam. 1239), Udayasimha (Sam. 1262-74), Cācigadeva (Sam. 1333-4), Samantasimha (Sam. 1339-45) ruled over Bhillamāla (See for the above details L. B. GANDHI: Aitihäsika Lekha-Samgraha, pp. 153 ff., Baroda 1953.) Shri RATIBHAI DESAI, Ahmedabad, has given me some notes in Old-Gujarati. Their language is as much interesting as their contents. They are from the family records (vaiyāvata) of Mahātmā NARASIMHAJI of Radhanpur, and their writing may be assigned to the beginning of the 19th century of Samvat era. Possibly they are copied from older notes. The first note claims to give an episode which occurred in Sam. 503. One Virasūri instructs a Rāțhoda ruler in Jainism. The ruler gets a son by fasting and propitiating a Šāsanadevatā, and subsequently becomes a good Sravaka. A second note refers to Devabhadrasūri's arrival to Srimāla or Bhinnamāla in Sam. 785 where a statue and temple of Adiśvara were consecrated. Later, he came to Jalor and a similar statue and temple were constructed there. Thus Bhinnamāla and Jalor were centres of Jaina cultural activities; the śrāvakas were pretty rich; and the propitiation of Sāsanadevatās was sufficiently popular in this part.
2 Muni JINAVIJAYAJI and others proposed that it might correspond to Vadanagar, the old Anandapur. Akāśavapra means a city which has the sky for its walls, i.e., unfortified town. Anandapur got a wall around it only in 1157 A.D. during the reign of Kumārapāla,