Book Title: Medieval Jainism
Author(s): Bhasker Anand Saletore
Publisher: Karnataka Publishing House

Previous | Next

Page 154
________________ JAINA MEN OF ACTION 139 south directed against the Kongudeśa which evidently had failed to pay the annual tribute. The same epigraph gives us further interesting details in regard to the expedition, and the reason which made the king entrust this lad with the great duty of completely subduing the Kongudeśa. "Among the titled Mārāyas (i.e., Mahārāyas or lords) who is there in the world like you ? Bring quickly the tribute from Kongu !" On the king thus ordering, the boy-general in half a pakșa put to flight Cengiri, burnt his city, plundered his territory, took an astonishing amount of tribute and brought it with a troop of lusty elephants. But the conquest of Cengiri, which must have reverted to its independent state after the expedition led against it by General Ganga Rāja mentioned in a previous page, was only the prelude to the conquest of the Kongudeśa. The more experienced generals were doubtful about the boy-commander's ability. They said half in jest and half in admiration, “This boy will take Kongu—will he not ? He will bring in the troop of elephants with his golden smile—will he not ?” Their anxiety and fear was but natural. A confederacy of the Cola, Cera, Pandya and Pallava kings had been formed, and the Hoysala king had sent his boy-commander against them! But young Vişņu was equal to the great task. In half a month he completed an expedition of victory directed against the south. The hostile kings who had assembled on the seashore were routed, their troop of elephants brought to his ruler, Kongu subdued, and Rāyarājapura burnt. And in the region of the south, adorned by the Sahya mountains, General Bittimayya erected pillars of victory to commemorate the victories he had won for his royal master. This "right hand man” to king Vişnuvardhana was, however, a devout Jaina. When his youth had matured, having gained experience of all public affairs, and having made many

Loading...

Page Navigation
1 ... 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383 384 385 386 387 388 389 390 391 392 393 394 395 396 397 398 399 400 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 410 411 412 413 414 415 416 417 418 419 420 421 422 423 424 425 426 427 428 429 430 431 432 433 434 435 436 437 438 439 440 441 442 443 444 445 446 447 448