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Kavyanusasana He built these temples to gods as if he was raising big monuments to his fame ( 123 ).
This great lake of Jayasimha Siddharăja known as Siddhasara or Siddhasāgara or more popularly as Sahasralinga-talāva, with its 1008 Şiva temples and 108 Devī temples and numerous other fanes and with its Kīrtistambha shining like a silvery column, must have made the surroundings of Aşahillapura-pattana magnificent. Satraşālās and Mathas providing for various departments of learning must have made the area something like a University-suburb. The surrounding wood - land beauty, with its touch of nature, must have made it a thing to tickle the imagination. From the few descriptions that have survived, we can say that many contemporary and later poets must have sung the sacred majesty of the beautiful lake. A prasasti, by Şrīpāla, the poet-laureate of Jayasimha's court, was inscribed on the Kīrtistambha -a slab of which has been discovered.
The description in the K. K. gives a graphic picture of the city and the lakes as they appeared after one or two generations. *
Coming to the great personages of the times, it is the Queen - Mother Mayaņalla or Minaldevi as she is known to Gujarat, who first commands our attention, This princess of Karņāțaka who for sheer love went all the way to Gujarata to marry its king Karna has been well described by Hemachandra. The life-long intense attachment of this royal couple which was not
* For a detailed accout see Saraswati Purāņa and the excellent monograph on Siddhasara by Mr. Kanaiyalal B. Dave.
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