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R. N. Mehta
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The power of Rāstrakūtas was responsible for stability and patrouage to learning. Their copper-plates refer to Śiva, Vişnu, Buddha and Jaing. Rulers like Amoghavarşa I and Indra IV were attracted to Jainism. These are interesting aspects of the socio-political situation that are noted in Harivamsa purāņa of Jinesena. The work was completed in saka 705 when Śrivallabha, the son of Indra was ruling in the south.
In this situation the period suggested by the analysis of chronological aspects seems to be favourable for literary activities. The references of the first Adhyayana of the Vipakasūtra require some consideration.
It has been already noted that the first Adhyayana deals with the life of Ekkai who was a savant of a ruler Dhanavayi. Ekkai was ruling over 500 villages of Vijayavardhana Kheda. It is seen that no Rāştrakūta ruler is known as Dhanavayi. However Dhanavayi is the Prakrit form of Dhanapati which could give a sense of Śrivallabha. Such use of synonyms is a well known literary device.
This is an epithet of Govinda as could be seen from the Torakhade grant where the Rāştrakūta ruler Govindaraa is noted as "Śrivallabha Narendra" in saka 735=812 A.D. The sanjan plates of Amoghavarşa of Saka 793=871 A,D. also note him as "Śrivallabha Narendradeva". From these epithets of these rulers it is clear that the name Dhanavayi of the ruler is possibly the use of an epithet of the Rāştrakūţa rulers.
The practice of giving numbers to the areas is also very common in this period, as could be noted in Siharākhi Dvādasa, Ankottaka Caturasiti etc.
The notice of Rathakūda for 13 times in the Vipäka Sütra also indicates the intention of the editor of the text. Thus even though Rathakuda is a general term for local officers, it is highly probable that it was used in the story during the Rästrakuța period. Conclusions :
Thus the references in thic. Arga texts, the conditions of the commentaries and the prevailing conditions of Indian socio-political situation leads one to the following conclusions :3. The notice in the Sthanariga indicates the existence of Vipaka
text of ten Adhyayanas only. If the story of Mrgāputra as
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