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Shri Mahavir Jain Aradhana Kendra
www.kobatirth.org
Acharya Shri Kailassagarsuri Gyanmandir
BUDDHISM IN KASHMIR
31
king was a devotee of Vişnu, a fact disclosed to his minister Sūra only at the time of his death (IV. 124-5).
Šamkaravarman and Partha Avantivarman's son Sankaravarman was a siva worshipper. He was miserly and exacted too many taxes from the people. He was uncharitable to learned men and used to speak Apabhramśa and not Sanskrit. His queen Sugandhā who ruled for two years was a devotee of Vișnu but had to spend her last days in a Buddhist monastery called Nispālakavihāra (V. 262). Another king of this line called Pārtha was dethroned through ministerial intrigues and took shelter in the Jayendra-vihāra (see p. 28) where the inmates of the monastery supplied him and his queens with food (V. 428). It was about this time that the Brahmanas regained their ascendancy and were able to place on the throne a king of their own choice, viz., Yaśaskara, who was not of royal descent .
Yasaskara (939-948) and Ksemagupta (950-8) Yasaskara's rule was marked by an effective administration of justice and equal treatment to the high and low without any discrimination of caste and creed.
Kșemagupta, one of his successors. burnt down the Jayendra-vihāra (ante p. 28) and took the brass of the images of Buddha, and utilised the stones of the Vihāra for erecting a Siva temple. He appropriated also the 32 villages which belonged to the vihāra (VI. 172-3, 175).
Samgrāmarāja (1003-1028) and his Successors By the marriage of Kșemagupta to Diddā, the Sāhi's granddaughter, the Sāhi princes since the reign of Lalitāditya Muktāpida became more and more influential in the Kashmir court.
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