________________
CLXX
Kavyanusasana
work - the Vāgbhatālamkāra - calls Barbaraka a
naktanchara' meaning a'rākshasa'. + From this we may infer that in the view of Hemachandra, these people, whose leader Barbaraka was, were of some nonAryan tribes who did not care for the gods of the Aryans. Otherwise they would not desecrate the temple of Rudra on the Sarasvati.
Whoever may have been this Barbaraka, his subjugation and enslavement at the hands of Jayasimha gave the conqueror a mythical character in the eyes of his people. This Barbaraka was regarded by later generations as a Bhūta or an evil spirit and according to the Kumārapālaprabandha of Jinamandana * Jayasimha was called Siddha, because he subjugated this Babarā Bhūta as he is called in the Gujarati. * The protection that was ensured to his people by the defeat of this + Sloka 125. 9a tat: aisia yg asrat fara: 1
[ATTAZITEIT. gft. x; 974. ] The commentary of Simhadevagani on the V. L. quotes another verse which also seems to be contemporary.
579 FTT qaqafeTT fasigaar 789 FFÉE II ( Ibid p. 17). * सिद्धो बर्बरकश्चास्य सिद्भराजस्ततोऽभवत् ।
X Regarding Barbaraka, see B. G. Vol. I, foot-note p. 174. In the Mahābhārata, in one list of Anaryan tribes, Barbaras are mentioned between Kisātas and Siddhas. May it not be that Jayasimha was called Siddharāja because he subjugated these Anaryans who were also called Siddhas ? In south Kathiawad, there is a province called Babariāwāda. Probably they were pirates and were very wealthy. See also The History of Saurashtra by Bhagvanlal Sampatram pp. 63 - 65. The identification of Barbaras with Rabāris is an interesting hypothesis.
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