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 141

102
KUVALAYAMĀLĀ
Gujarati Translation that it stands for Ambarakotta or Umarakot. It looks quite apt ambara and kotta being rendered as ākāsa and vapra. Now a town of this name is shown in the maps in Sind; there is one Ambargadh in Rajasthan; and a place Amarakota has Jaina associations even in later days. The exact identity needs, however, further confirmation, just as Mahādvāra requires identification.'
Uddyotana calls himself Dāksinyacihna (280.18, 282.16), perhaps his penname, as many others have called themselves Vimalāňka, Abhimānāńka, Parākramāńka, Sāhasāňka, Virahānka etc. It has nothing to do with his alleged connection with the South, as explained above, but refers to his quality of dākṣinya.
Uddyotana composed this Kuvalayamālā while he was staying at Jābālipura, modern Jalor, which is situated about 75 miles south of Jodhpur city on the left bank of a river called Sukrī. It is now a Railway station of the Northern Railway on the Bhildi-Raniwar-Samdari line at a distance of thirtythree Kms. from Bhinmal or Bhillamāla. As Uddyotana describes it, Jābālipura included the hill as well as the township at the foot of it: that alone explains better the adjectives tumga, alamgha, aştāpadam va and srāvakākulam. Perhaps the hillfort was the best part of that place; and it is on the hill that Vīrabhadra must have got constructed a temple dedicated to Rsabha.
Published in Sri-Ananda-Hema Granthamālā, No. 10, p. 457, foot-note 2, Bombay 1965. In this context Dr. DASHARATH SHARMA writes to me thus (his letter of 17-6-68): “Ambara. kotta (mod. Amarkot). Here amara-ambara=ākāśa. The identification was proposed by Muni KALYANAVIJAYA. Amarkot belonged at one time to Jodhpur State and is now in Western Pakistan. Akbar was born here. The exact position is 25.21' N. and 69.46' E. It was a medieval Rajput fort. Today there are a few Jaina families. Some old images are said to have been discovered there. Dr. N. J. SHAHA, Ahmedabad, reminds me, in this connection, of Amber, the ancient but now decayed capital of Jaipur at a distance of 7 kms. to the north-east of Jaipur. Some Jaina temples also are there. It has a fortified hill and a fine lake. Ptolemy also refers to Amber. “The picturesque situation of Amber at the mouth of a rocky mountain gorge in which nestles a pretty lake, has attracted the admiration of all travellers including Jacquement and Heber. Founded by primeval Minas, it was flourishing in A.D. 967 (See The Imprerial Gazetteer of India, Vol. I, by W. W. HUNTER, pp. 228-9, also A Handbook to India, Pakistan, Burma and Ceylon by L. F. R. WILLIAMS, pp. 181-2, 472.). Shri A. P. SHAHA, Ahmedabad, draws my attention to Amargadh in Rajasthan as the possible modern equivalent of Ākāšavapra. It is not far away from Srimāla; and it has Jaina associations. Without or in the absence of more positive clues one can only conjecture that Ākāšavapra may be either Amarkot in Sindh, Amber near Jaipur or Amargadh in Rajasthan.
2 In Samvat 1561, a statue of Sumatinātha is consecrated at Amarakoța (m) nagare. See Jaina Inscriptions, Jaisalmer, by P. C. NAHAR, Part III, No. 2487, Calcutta 1929.
3 Dr. SHARMA writes to me (his letter of 17-6-68): Mahādvāra cannot be identified satisfactorily. Most probably it stood near some hill and commanded the road leading to some hill-town, i.e., Haradvāra and Kotadvāra.'