Gaudavaho

Author(s): Vakpatiraj, Narhari Govind Suru, P L Vaidya, A N Upadhye, H C Bhayani
Publisher: Prakrit Text Society Ahmedabad

Page 104

(Lxxxvii)
people in general and, as a result, hundreds of temples to adore various gods were raised all over mid-India, chiefly those of Siva, Vişnu and the Sun. Similar was the case with the adherents of Buddhism and Jainism, who also had their temples in which big statues of Buddha and Bodhisatvas and of Jain Tirthamkars were installed. Many of them were mostly built out of the munificence of kings in celebration of their victories and liberal endowments were also given by them for their maintenance. Kalhana speaks of the king Lalitāditya4s raising temples in every city and village that he conquered and in Gāthā 508 Vākpatirāja mentions how Yasovarman caused a magnificent temple to be built in Ayodhyā in one day. Side by side there were the Sāktas or worshippers of Sakti or the consort of Siva in her fierce form called Kālī, Karālā, Cāmundā etc. Of the Sāktas, there are two classes : Kaula or Kaulika and Samayin, often associated or identified with the Saivite schools of Kāpālikas, who indulged in the offering of animals and even human sacrifice. Describing the weird scenes at the temple of the goddess VindhyaVāsinī, Vākpatirāja refers to the Kaula women (in Gāthā 319 ) standing in serried rows one over the other, in their eagerness to witness the slaughter of a Mahāpašu i. e, man. These are women who belong to the Kaula sect of the sāktas.
Along with the idolatrous forms of worship of these gods, there still survived the old vedic worship of fire. The Brahmins had kept up the Agnihotra and the Ksatriyas also indulged in elaborate ceremonial sacrifices celebrated on a large scale. The King Yasovarman is
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