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Introduction
CXVII
in the Solanki period. Luckily a number of copperplate-grants and some stone-inscriptions have been discovered which help us in piecing together the history of the period.
The literary material of the period is in greater abundance. In addition to the books mentioned for the Chāvada period which also supply us with material for the Solanki period, we have the Samsksta and the Prākļta Dvyāşrayas of Hemachandra himself. The other name of the S. D. is Chaulukyavamsotikīrtana that is An Account of Chaulukya family and that of the P. D. is Kumāra pāla charitam, that is the Life of Kumārpāla. Next to the contemporary inscriptions, these two epics of twenty cantos and eight cantos each respectively are our most reliable sources for the history of the period not only political but social also. The two commentaries on the two works, one that of Abhayatilakagani and the other that of Pūrņakalasagani elucidate many historical points. The Kārtikaumudī of SomeŞvara Bhatta, the friend of the minister Vastupāla gives in the first two cantos, descriptions of AộahilavādaPattana and of the lake Sahasralinga and a short account of the Solankis or Chaulukyas. The Prabhyākacharita (V. S. 1334 = A. D. 1278 ) of Prabhāchandra in addition to the life of Hemachandra refers to some events of the Solanki period when narrating the lives of contemporary great men of the Jain sect. The other contemporary works will be noted at their proper places. For the chronology of the period our main sources are the P. C. and the V. S. The dates of the inscriptions and those of colophons supplement this chronology.
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