Chronology of Gujarat

SR No.: 006799
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: M R Majumdar
Publisher: Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda
Publication Year: 1960
Total Pages: 494
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 10 MB

Page 349

RASTRAKUTA-PRATIHARA PERIOD
227
C. 774 Āma, the Pratihāra king of Kanauj got installed a lepya image of Lord
Mahāvīra, 23 hands in height, in the fort of Gwalior in the temple, at the hands
of Bappabhațți Sūri in about V. S. 830 ( A.D. 774).-(JPI-pt., p. 526). C. 775 Haribhadra Sūri, pupil of Jinabhata and known also as 'Virahānka', was the
writer of the Jaina school, which became alive to the use of Sanskrit as the cultural language of the nation; for, the Prākrits had passed beyond the stage of a spoken language. Haribhadra describes himself as the son of Mahattarā Yākini, who, an ordinary nun had become instrumental in his conversion to Jainism according to tradition. He lived in the latter half of the 8th Century A.D. and wrote many commentaries of the Āgamas in Sanskrit, following Siddhasena Divākara who had turned to Sanskrit for the propagation of his faith and philosophy. These texts before him were generally explained by means of Prākrit commentaries like Niryukti, Cūrni and Bhāsya. Haribhadra's example was followed by others; and the tendency culminated in the great Hemacandra Sūri of Gujarat, who lived at the courts of the Caulukya
kings Siddharāja and Kumārapāla in the 12th Century A.D. C. 776 A poor Mārwādi from Pāli, called Kāku Ranka, came to Valabhi to try his
fortune there. Within a short period he prospered ; and it is narrated in bardic tradition, that once dissatisfied with the king, he invited the Mlecchas to destroy the city and assisted them with money. This is believed to have happened in C. 776 A.D.-(Merutunga, Prabandha cintamani ; Sachhau, Alberuni's India, I,
P. 192). C. 776 Silāditya VI ( 762 A.D.-C. 776 A.D.), the last Maitraka king had all the
imperial titles of the family (P.M.P.) as known from the Aliņā plates of Valabhi Samvat 447 (766 A.D.). Thus, though the Valabhi kingdom had suffered a contraction, the Maitrakas had not yet bowed to the Rāştrakūtas. Saurāṣtra was again invaded by the Tājjikas (Arabs) in 159 A.H. (776 A.D.) (Elliot, Vol. II, p. 245), this time with great force, so that the township of of Bārada easily fell to them. The Mleccha armies under Hammir invaded and destroyed Valabhi, and, in consequence, the Hindu and the Jaina statuary had to be removed to Srimāla.-( Jinaprabhasūri, Vividhatirthakalpa).
The exact date of the sack of Valabhi is still undetermined. In the Jaina authorities it is variously stated to have taken place, in Vikrama Samvat 375 ( 319 A.D.)-( Jinavijayaji, Purātanaprabandha Saṁgraha ); in Vik. S. 475 (419 A.D.)-(Merutunga, Prabandha Cintamani); in Vik. S. 573 ( 517 A.D.)(Rajasekharasūri, Prabandha Kośa); and in Vik. S. 845 ( 789 A.D.)-(Jinaprabhasüri, Vividhatirthakalpa).
The last date ( 789 A.D.) seems to come closer to the truth. But even this is unacceptable, as the Valabhi kingdom was not in existence in 783 A.D. when Jinasena wrote his Jaina Harivamśa in Vardhamānapura, (Wadhwān) which