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KUVALAYAMĀLĀ
A.D. c. 801-35. At the close of the 10th century A.D. Muñja of Mālwā appointed Candana as the Governor of Jalor. Then in 1026 A.D. Buddhisāgara refers to Jalor as a prosperous town in his Sanskrit grammar (sa-srīka-Jāvālipure). A number of inscriptions are locally available from which it is learnt that in 1164 A.D. Kumārapāla had the image of Pārsva installed there with due ceremonies. Some more events of the later years are also recorded. During the last part of the 12th century Kīrtipāla and Samarasimha ruled from Jalor: the latter built the extensive ramparts of the fort. About 1310 A.D. Alāuddin Khilji took advantage of the feudal factions among Rājputs; and Jalor and Suvarnagiri came under him with the result that the temples and statues there suffered terrible damage at the hands of the iconoclasts and adversaries. In 1608 Jahangir had the enclosure of the fort rebuilt. It is only at the beginning of the 17th century, when Jalor became a part of the Jodhpur State after the death of Aurangzeb, renovation and reconstruction of the temples started on the Sovangiri under Jayamalaji Muhnot of Jodhpur. This Muhaņota Jayamala was a great warrior and philanthropist. The Mughal emperor gave two districts of Jalor and Sanchor to Mahārāja Gajasimha who appointed Muhaņota Jayamala as the governor. Jayamala carried on the administration successfully. He defeated five hundred Marathas who invaded Sanchor. When a dreadful famine broke out in 1630 A.D., he distributed grains free of charge among the needy and distressed. Besides, he spent his entire property in these charitable activities." He used to stay at Jalor.
1 K. C. JAIN: Jainism in Rajasthan, p. 218, Sholapur 1963.
2 For these details about Jalor, see Jaina-tirtha Suvarnagiri by Muni KALYANAVIJAYA in the Silver Jubilee Number of the Jaina, pp. 42-55, Bhavnagar Sam. 1985, i.e., 1928. Dr. K. C. JAIN gave me a typed note on Jalor from his dissertation on the ancient towns of Rajasthan for which I feel very thankful to him. Shri RATIBHAI DESAI, Ahmedabad, kindly sent me a translation into Hindi of a note on Jalor from the Jaina-tirtha-sarva-samgraha, Vol. I, part ii, pp. 187-92 by A. P. SHAHA, (in Gujarati) and published by Anandaji Kalyanaji, Jhaveriwad, Ahmedabad 1953. Since I read the prasasti of Uddyotana and his reference to Jalor, I was yearning to visit that place which was once hallowed by the presence and movements of Uddyotana. Thanks to Pt. DALASUKHBHAI MALAVANIA and Shri RATIBHAI DESAI our trip was very comfortably arranged, and Pt. BECHARDASAJI and his daughter also accompanied us. After the session of the International Congress of Orientalists we all left Delhi on the night of 10-1-1964. We reached Jawai Bandh Rly. station at about 3 p.m. next day. Some Srāvakas from Jalor had already come there to receive us. We reached Jalor by evening. We paid respects to Muni KALYANAVIJAYA. He knew me through correspondence for the last many years. He stays in Jalor nowadays, and he is very old. He gave me a good deal of information about the locality and its past history. He mentioned to me his Gujarati article, noted above, and obliged me with copies of some local inscriptions. Even though he is very old, he has a good memory for a number of details. Next morning we three (Pt. DALASUKHBHAI, Shri RATIBHAI, and myself) accompanied by some local srāvakas and a guide started climbing the hill fort, Songir, at about 9 a.m.; and we were on the top of it by about 10.30 a.m. We saw all the temples, the palace, rampart etc.: the town below gives a picturesque view and so many anecdotes are narrated about the fort and brave fighters during the Rajput and Mugal periods of history. Some of the temples have an appearance of antiquity, but they are often renovated, We came down late in the noon. In the afternoon we visited some more temples in the town: some are old, some new, and some under construction, dedicated to different Tirthakaras. They all speak for the wealth and religious zeal of the local Sangha. The new Nandiśvara temple on the station road is worth a visit, both by the pious and the artistic. Next morning we started by train for Ahmedabad and on the way passed Bhinmal, the ancient capital of Gujarat. Any way my impressions about Uddyotana and his associations with Jalor were given a more concrete form by actually visiting this place and by moving about in the fort in a temple of which the Kuvalayamālā was composed more than eleven hundred years ago.
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