Book Title: Laghuprabandhsangrah
Author(s): Jayant P Thaker
Publisher: Oriental Research Institute Vadodra

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Page 145
________________ 118 men. (10.4). Khambhata (= Cambay) was a strong-hold of fisherAs many as seven hundred experts were called from there for catching the magic crocodile in the lake Sahasralinga of Pata na (25.21). Kanavṛlti or regular begging for maintenance is also referred to at one place (25.22). Streets used to be named after the profession of the residents (10.4). Such ascetics as the Bharaṭakas (9.13), the Vratins (30.12), the Yatis (31.3) and the Kapalikas (4.14, 15) are also mentioned. There is an interesting reference to the Raula class of ascetics. Anādi Raula, penancing in a cave near Kedares vara, was pleased to hear the Gujarati language, which indicates that he hailed from Gujarat a. His two disciples, the Raulāņis named Siddhi and Buddhi hailing from the Kamarupa country, possessed extra-ordinary powers. These Raulas were the followers of M a tsyendranatha and Goraksana tha, that is to say, they belonged to the Natha-sect (pp. 20-21). Even today in North Gujarata there is a class of Bavas known as Ravalas or Ravaliyas who probably belong to the same class. As regards family-life, there is a reference to quarrels between stepbrothers in royal families (1. 5-7). There were separate apartments in palaces, where the kings used to perform their daily worships (4.16). The daily course of Devapujana was inevitable after bath and before meals and could not be avoided-especially by retired persons-even when an important guest arrived or even if one was urgently called by the king with due respects (21.5). It was an easy-going life and chit-chatting usually followed meals (21.6 ff). At places where many people used to dine together, for instance schools, female cooks were employed (14.12). The taunting relations of sisters-inlaw are also hinted at (23.3-4). The marriage-ceremony is referred to at 13.8-9; 14.22-23; 15.14, 20-21 and 25.10. Polygamy prevailed in the society. There is mention of four sisters being married to one man at a time ( 15.14, 21-22). Women were quite free in their speeches even in the presence of the king and the queen (pp. 22-23). Ladies of high families such as queens used to move in litters covered by tight curtains called Vajra-panjara (9.1; 22.17). There is a reference to an oil-lamp inside this Vajra-panjara, the smell whereof collected into the litter occupied by queen Namala, which is stated to have struct forth on the face of a girl who tried to hold up the curtain to pay Jain Education International For Private & Personal Use Only www.jainelibrary.org

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