Srngaramanjari Katha

SR No.: 002914
Original Sutra Author: Bhojdev
Author: Kalpalata K Munshi
Publisher: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan
Publication Year: 1959
Total Pages: 312
Language: Sanskrit, Hindi
Classification: Book_Devnagari & Literature
File Size: 21 MB

Page 99

76
ŚṚNGĀRAMAÑJARĪKATHĀ
take that as identical with our Pūrṇapathaka. Manyakheta was the capital of the Raṣṭrakūtas whose feudatory was Siyaka, Bhoja's grandfather. He had, however, thrown off the suzerainty of Manyakheța. After the Raṣṭrakūtas, Taillapa, the Calukya, who ultimately defeated Bhoja's uncle Muñja, was ruling from Manyakheta; therefore the echo of Manyakheta being the seat of a sovereign ruler is heard in the text.
Simhala-dvipa is the southernmost extremity of India that is mentioned, and Udyana is the northern-most. Udyana is identified with Uḍdayāna situated on the Swat river.
The most important city mentioned is, of course, Dhārā, the capital of the Paramāras. It was during the rule of Vairasimha or Siyaka II that Dhārā became the capital of the Paramāras. In the Navasahasanka-carita of Padmagupta, a poet at the court of Bhoja's uncle Muñja and his father Sindhurāja, Dhārā is called the 'other Capital' (apara kularājadhānī).11 And historians record that Bhoja rebuilt the city in the middle of the 11th century and transferred the capital there from Ujjayini. 12 It is taken to be the most distinguished city during Bhoja's time, and the description of the city that we get, though conventional, speaks of the wealth and prosperity of the city.
Two islands outside India are mentioned, namely, Suvarṇadvipa and Ratnadvipa. Suvarnadipa is in South East Asia and can be roughly identified with Sumatra. Ratnadvipa is one of the islands near Java. There is the usual reference about these places that merchants from India went to these places and returned laden with riches.
Among the mountains the well-known Himacala, Kailasa, Meru, Anjanagiri. Mandara, Rohaṇacala, Amaragiri, Mekala, the Suktimantaparvata and the Sriparvata are mentioned. Mekala is the same as Amarakaṇṭaka from which the Narmada takes its rise. Sri
parvata is in the South. 13 Rohanacala is the Adam's peak in Ceylon, also called Sumana-Kuța. Suktimantaparvata is a portion of the Vindhya range.
9. In the History of the Paramāras Ganguly gives a list of names of Mandalas of the Paramāras of Malwa from available records. Among them Pūrṇapathaka is mentioned (p. 236).
10. Udaipur Prasasti of the Kings of Malwa, EI, I, 233 ff.
जातस्तस्माद्वै रिसिहोन्यनाम्ना लोको ब्रूते वज्रटस्वामिनं यम् । शत्रुवर्ग धारयासेर्निहत्य श्रीमद्वारा सूचिता येन राज्ञा ॥
जेतुः पुरी साऽप्यपरास्ति यस्य । धारेति नाम्ना कुलराजधानी ॥
11. 1. 90. 12. Ganguly, op. cit., p. 27.
13.
In a Prakrit inscription from a Buddhist site at Nagarjunikonda we read सिरिपर्वते विजयपुरियपूर्व्वदिसाभागे विहारे etc. The editor of the inscription observes that the tradition in Tibet that Nagarjuna spent the concluding part of his life