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APRIL, 1882.)
SANSKRIT GRANTS AND INSCRIPTIONS.
verse addressed to the loving pair and their son. No. II again represents Nânâka as fairly settled in high life, reaching it by his ability and acquirements. King Visaladeva has sta- tioned him at Somanátha Pattana with a grant commissioning him to perform Sraddha for him. To him Sánta-rasa or quietism is now the most acceptable state. His time is devoted to ablutions and sacred or charitable duties. The second inscription bears the date V. Sam. 1328, ten years subsequent to the date assigned to the death of King Visaladeva.
From the two Prasastis we gather a fair biography of the poet. The Vaghelâ dynasty of Dhavalakkak (Dholka), founded by Dhavala, a son of Kumarapala's mother's sister, and father and grandfather of Arnorâja and Lavaņaprasada respectively, was distinguished for its patronage of literature and poetry. At the court of Viradhavala and Lavaņaprasada, or rather that of their ministers Vastupala and Tejah på la, there was ever a constellation of poets of all castes and creeds. Among them was Raja Purohita Sômeśvara, the author of the Kirtti-Kaumudi. The Jaina ministers themselves too, as the chroniclers and this their protégé the Purohita would represent, were poets. Viradhavala dies; the violent Virama is artfully removed by the minister; Visaladeva succeeds his father at Dholka ac. cording to Rajasekhara in V. S. 1298. The revolution is effected almost calmly. But an insignificant party-fray ruined the minister, and led to his fall. The Någara Mantri Nagada or Någadeva succeeds him. Harshagani, the author of Vastupálacharita, describes it bitterly in the following terms :
श्रीवीरधवलस्यासीद्यावान्सामाज्यविस्तर: तावानेवाभवत्तस्य क्रमान्मंत्रिप्रभावतः || २ || केवल भूभुजा लब्धप्रसरेण महीतले तेन श्रीवस्तुपालोपि दृष्टो लघुतयाहहा ।। ७६ ॥ सिंहनामाभवत्तस्य भूभृतो मातुलः पुनः अधिकारी तदादेशात्समर्थः पार्थिवोऽपणीः || ७०॥ प्रेरितो भूपतिस्तेन पापेन पिशुनात्मना मुद्रारत्नमुपादाय तेजःपालकरांबुजान् || ०८|| नागरस्य गरस्येव लोकसंहारकारिणः
TNT YAT (?) art ar9 सत्वोलासात्करे तस्य शुशुभे पुलकांकिते मुद्रिका कल्पवल्लीवारूढा वच्चूलपादयोः ।। ८०॥
Translation The extent of the Sâmrajya kingdom of
him (i. ė. Visaladeva) was made) by degrees as great as that of Sri-Viradhavala, through the power of the minister (v. 75). Alas! He (the king) merely saw or considered even Vastupåla as insignificant or of no moment, after the king had (firmly) established himself in the land (v. 76). Again, there was a maternal uncle of the king by name Simha in office. At his instance the king was able to take the lead (v. 77). That slandering wretch moved the king, who taking the signetring from the lotus-like hand of Tejahpåla, (v. 78) placed it, conferring a high favour, in the hand of Nagada Mantri, the Nagara, (who was) like poison, the destroyer of the people (v. 79). The ring shone in his hand like Kalpavalli, (the desire-fulfilling heavenly creeper,) growing at the feet of Vachhúla; it shone on his hand with its hair all on end on account of the growing up and budding forth of Sattva or Power (v. 80).
Rajasekhara, another, more temperate, and an earlier Jaina writer, in his Chaturavisati, tells us that the maternal uncle, reviled as above by Harshagari, passed with his retinue under the balcony of a Jaina Apaśraya or monastery, on his way to the court, when, perhaps unconsciously, & Jaina inmate of the monastery-a monk threw down the sweepings on the roadside which fell upon the Rajput chief and soiled his robe. Whereupon the chief was greatly incensed and uttered some angry words, at which a follower of his went to the monastery, and punished the offender who flew to Vastupala. The minister in a fit of passion ordered one of his men to cut off the hand of Simha's man with which he beat his priest. The whole clan of the Jethuês came down upon him. The minister too made all preparations to withstand the attack, bent upon the destruction of such a minister. Som svara stands as a mediator and Vastupala is allowed with his brother honourably to retire and he resigns his office which Mantri Nagada is invested with.
An anonymous work, discovered by Prof. A. V. Kåthvate of the Gujarat College, describes Lavanaprasåda ae the minister of Bhimadova II. and Viradhavala as his Yuvaraja : and this fact, I believe, is borne out by the published grants of the king, endowing the religious institutions founded by Å nå-u, Solanki Raņa
