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of his minister and paid daily visits to the monk who explained to him the necessity of abstaining from flesh and preventing the taking of life,
This need not lead us to believe that Hemachandra and Kumārapala first met after the work of conquest was over.
From certain verges in the Mahaviracharita of Hemasāri, Dr. Buhler comes to the conclusion that Kumārapāla's acquaintance with Hemasiri began, according to the verse 53, in the time when the empire had achieved its greatest expansion and when the warexpeditions and conquests were over" (Buhler-Hemachandra, p. 34). It seems, however, that “the learn. td doctor draws & conclusion from the verses based upon an implication which they do not carry"; for the order of narration of events does not necessarily imply their chronological order, and when we study the verses carefully, we find that no such sequence is intended.
Another argument of Dr. Bubler that the Prabandhas though mention early acquaintance do not describe the relationship of Hemachandra and Kumärapāla immediately after the latter became king, does not bear examination for various reasons. Firstly, we cannot infer anything from the absence of mention, and secondly, Kumārapāla, in the beginning of bis reign was too busy subduing his internal and external enemies and consolidating and extending his Empire
to think of religious meetings with Hemachandra. Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat www.umaragyanbhandar.com
