Life of Hemchandracharya

Author(s): Manilal Patel
Publisher: Singhi Jain Shastra Shiksha Pith Mumbai

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CHAPTER IV
The Accounts regarding the First Acquaintance of Kumarapala and Hemacandra
However much the opinions may differ as to Hemacandra's success as a missionary at Jayasimha's court, it is certain that it was his religious zeal and eloquence that was responsible for the conversion of the next Caulukya king. Jayasimha died in the Vikrama-year 1199, his desire of getting a son remaining unfulfilled. After a short inter-regnum, his grandnephew Kumarapala ascended the throne of Gujarat, being helped by his brother-in-law, General Kṛṣṇa or Kanhada by name, and being clected by the prominent persons of the empire. Kumarapala's great-grandfather was Kşemaraja, the eldest son of Bhima I, who, according to one report, had renounced the throne willingly. But according to another report, he was overlooked in succession to the throne because his mother, named Cakuladevi, was a courtesan whom Bhima had received in his harem. Kṣcmaraja's son Devaprasada had been an intimate friend of king Karṇa, Bhima's son, and had received from the latter the village Dadhisthali, the present-day Dethli, not far from Aphilvad, as a royal grant. At Karna's death, he burnt himself after having entrusted Jayasimha to his son Tribhuvanapala. Tribhuvanapāla remained true to the lord of his family, just like his father. In battle, he used to stand before the king so as to protect him with his own body. He must have died long before the end of Jayasimha's rule, as he is not mentioned in the accounts of the last years of this king. As Jayasimha remained childless down to his old age, Kumārapāla naturally stepped into the foreground as the presumptive heir to the throne. In order to convince Jayasimha that his grand-nephew would ascend the throne of Anhilvad after his death, no revelations of Mahadeva or Ambika, and no prophecies of the court-astrologers, about which the Dvyasraya and the Prabandhas speak, were needed. But this idea was not at all agreeable to Jayasimha. He bitterly hated Kumarapala and attempted to kill him. According to Merutunga's statement, the reason for his repugnance was Kumārapāla's descent from the courtesan Cakuladevi. According to Jinamandana's account, he hoped that, if Kumarapala were cleared out of the way, Siva might even yet grant him a son.
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