________________
Shri Mahavir Jain Aradhana Kendra
www.kobatirth.org
114
Acharya Shri Kailassagarsuri Gyanmandir
simply carries forward the city of Lakhan avati itself. LPS does not mean that Ratnapuñja ceased to be the king of L. a kbaṇāvati but it simply states that (once) in spring be went to Srimalapura.
There, while going to the garden for spring-sports, he saw a pregnant woman holding unbroken rice-grains and a cocoanut-fruit upon which sat an owlet [durga] producing notes. The king's astrologer foretold that her son would become the king. Before being buried alive by his police-men she delivered a son who started to be nourished by a she-deer and suddenly there occurred an automatic change in the coinage-dye, the new coins having the impression of the child being protected by the deer. The efforts of the king's men were of no avail when the infant was protected by the royal clephant, the royal horse, the cows and the bull. At last king Ratnapunja adopted him and later on this adopted prince, named Sripunja, became the king. And bis daugliter was Śrīmātā.
In this way there is no break in the story as related in LPS. It appears from the whole account that not only Laksmanasena but also Ratnapunja and Sripun ja may be historical personages, though, of course, we have no other evidence for the same. We are not in a position to pronounce that the story of Śrīmātā also may be regarded historical for evident reasons. It may be noted, Lowever, that even today there is a shrine of Rasiya Valama (lit.: the lover named Rasiya) on mt. A bu ragarded as the abode of the mendicant of that name, which fact can be regarded as hinting at the historicity of the character of Srimātā whom Rasiya loved and wanted to marry and who, on that account, killed him through miraculous powers.
10. GALA-SRIVARDDHAMANASURI-PRABANDHA
This prabandha starts with the statement that a small king called Bṛhaspatira jaka ruled at Vamanasthali (which is popular as) miniature Kasmira. The name of this ruler is not seen anywhere else and one cannot say definitely whether the name of the ruler of the place at that time (i.c. in the first half of the 13th cent. A.D.) was Bṛhaspati. All the same it is certain that during that period the town of Và manasthali was under the sway of small rulers known as Thakkuras. PK narrates how Viradhavala of Dhavalakkak a (mod, Dhojaka) first requested Sangana and Camunda, the ruler-brothers of
For Private And Personal Use Only
