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Introduction
XCIX We may here briefly refer to the religious history of Srīmāla. From the S. Purana we gather that it was a place of Saiva and Vaishnava worship. But from the same source we learn that Jaina religion became predominant in the Kali Yuga.* From Yuan-Chang we learn that Buddhism also prevailed there in his time.
Now we come to a short account of the political history of Bhinnamāla. After Varmalāta (A. D. 626), Vyāghramukha the king of the Chäpa dynasty was reigning in the year 628 A. D. When Yuan - Chang came about 641 A. D. there was a Kshatriya king who was 20 years of age. He might have been a son of Vyāghramukha. In the copper - plate grant of the Chälukya Samanta Pulakesin of the Kalachuri Samvat 490 ( 740 A. D.) there is a reference to Chāotakas being attacked by the Mussalmans. If they were the chápas of Bhinnamāla, we can say that Bhinnamāla must have been attacked between the years 732 and 740 A. D. +
After the Chāotakas we find Pratihäras reigning in Bhinnamála. It is not known when the Chāpas were displaced by the Pratihāras. Pandit Gaurisankar Oza puts this event between 740 and 809 A. D.
The first Pratilāra king that we know of is Nagabhatta or Nāgūvaloka. If he is the same Nāgabhatta wlio is mentioned in the copper - plate grant of the Chauhan king Bhartrvrddha II of the V. S. 813 ( =757 A. D.) discovered in the village of Hansot in the Broach District, in which Bhartsvěddha is called
* See A. 73. Stari a races afroafer fast got llen
+ For an alternative view see the next section on Chavadas,
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