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CCXXXVI
Kavyanusasanda
their being capitals, some importance-either mercantile or military. We may quote the instance of Ahmedabad or we may refer to the earlier history of Pātaliputra. So in the case of Aşahillapura, this tradition about the existence of Lakkhārāma points to the same thing. +
The inscription of the Vāhinīpati Keşava who was made a Danda - nāyaka at Dadhipadra or Dohada of V. S. 1196 - A. D. 1140 contains the earliest dated description of Aşahillapāțaka as far as I have been able to discover. It is as follows:
'अणहिल्लपाटकनगरं सुरमन्दिररुद्धतरणिहयमार्गम् ।
यस्यास्ति राजधानी राज्ञोऽयोध्येव रामस्य ॥ ३ ॥ The city of Anahillapātaka in which the path-way of the horses of the sun is obstructed by the temples of gods is the capital of the king just as Ayodhya was the capital of Rāma.' This description of the city, though short, is, quite characteristic of the place. In the V. S. 1196 - A. D. 1140 in the reign of Jayasimha Siddharāja Anahilla pāțaka must have been veritably a city of temples. We have referred, on the authority of the P. C. at their proper places, to the monuments built here by several kings. These temples of gods, as we can gather from the Kumāravihāraşataka of Rămachandra a pupil of Heniachandra were not only places of devotion, but of artistic culture also.
The lay-out of this city of temples, was, probably, in the shape of a Swastika - as it appears from
+This pame Lakkhārāma whose Samskļta form would be Lakshårāma has a Buddbist ring about it. Buddhism must have been flourishing in the early part of the fifth century A. D. or even earlier in Gujarat. The description of Yuang Chang indicates that Buddhism in Molapo or Gujarat was not a new thing in his time, but something that was coming down from ages.
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