Jain Journal 2004 10

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 15

64
JAIN JOURNAL: VOL-XXXIX. NO. 2 OCT. 2004
Abul Fazal, "are religious, affable, cheerful lovers of justice, given to retirement, able in business, admirers of truth, grateful and of unbounded fidelity; and their soldiers know not what it is to fly from the field of battles”.?
We can go on quoting from book after book on this truthful character of the then Indians as recorded by the foreign travellers, till the advent of the Englishmen in Indian history. But the fact that Hemacandra recorded this incident in his Kumārapālacarita is the most important one.
The personal life of a king as can be gleaned from the personal life of the king Kumārapäla delineated in the Kumarapālacarit Hemacandra is fascinating. Though the duties of a king are cnunciated by Manu, Yajnavalkya, and even by Lakşmīdhara in the Rājadharma section (xi) of his Krtyakalpataru, the duties of a king as recorded in the Kumārapālacarita are practical. It is stated there that after getting up in the morning, the king must pay respect to his favourite deities (Ku. 1.72-73). The king will also perform other periodical religious rites (II. 9) including his daily morning prayer. The Srauta Brahmins usually performed the morning prayer along with the king (11.55). The king then used to come to the Mātrgļha (Ku I. 84) to worship mātựs. After performing daily exercises (Ku. 1.90), the king used to attend the people in the morning (Ku. 1. 70) in his council-hall (II. 58) sitting down upon his Simhāsana (III. 77). As regards the education of the king, it is mentioned that the king must be educated in the Vedas and the religious scriptures as well as in all the fine arts (VI. 4, 6). The council-hall of the king was adorned by the august presence of poets and writers (XI. 66). Though Hemacandra did not mention how the literary court of a king should be exhibited, we can supply this information from the Kāvvammaisā of Rajasekhara who was a senior contemporay with Hemacandra. Rājasekhara , a poet of the tenth century, says in his Kavyamimāmsā (pp 54-55 of Gaekwad's edition) the position of poets and artists in the literary hall of a king in the following manner :
“The king-poet should have a special chamber for testing literary compositions. The chamber should have sixteen pillars, four doors, and eight turrets. The pleasure-house should be attached to this chamber. In the middle of the chamber there should be an altar one hand high
7. Ibid p 57.