________________
31
as a prince of unstinted liberality." He made a number of grants for Jain temples in Punnad and other places.
His son Durvinita, however, was a very remarkable sovereign among the Gangas and was likewise a good Jaina. It is said that the celebrated Jain grammarian Pujyapada was his spiritual guru. He : ruled so efficiently that his reign "marked a transition from a grey and lifeless period to one that teemed with the exhuberance of life. The political conditions were considerably altered and rigid orthodoxy gave way to a liberal cosmopolitanism."
Durvinita crushed a civil rebellion raised by his younger brother, who wanted to seize the throne. In this, he was helped by the Chalukya king Vijayaditya, who then marched at the head of his victorious army to encounter king Trilochana, his Pallava opponent. Unfortunately Vijayaditya did not prove a match to the great Pallava king and lost his life on the battlefield. This enraged his son-in-law, Durvinita, who carried ruthless wars against the Pallavas and captured most of their territories. Durvinita was not only a great soldier and conqueror, but he was also a great scholar and patron of learning and piety. He extended his kindness to all classes of his subjects and was equal to Krishna, the ornament of the Vrishni
