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૧૧૬
નિર્ઝા ઐતિહાસિક લેખ-સમુચ્ચય-૨
Vidyadevis, in the main ceiling of the Mandapa, alike in style to that of the Sarasvati image or of the Laksmi in the corresponding dome of the Portico on the other side of the Rangamandapa, as also the many-armed goddesses in the corridor-ceiling of this shrine, belong to the same style and age, which must be of Kumarapala. The inference is further supported by a study of figure sculptures on the outer walls of the Jaina shrines at Jalor fort and Taranga, built by Kumarapala which show the same style in figure sculpture."
"Pṛthvipāla, the minister of Kumarapala, was a descendent of Nedha, the brother of Vimala Säha. An inscription on the wall of cell 14, Vimala vasahi (see Abu, Vol.II, inscription no. 72) states that Pṛthvipäla, the son of Ananda, did the tirthoddhara (extensive repairs and conservation) of this shrine in V. S. 1206 (c. 1150 A. D.). It is, therefore, natural to expect sculptures of the age of Kumarapala in the shrine erected by Vimala, the Dandanayaka of Bhima I. Fortunately, reliable contemporary literary evidence, supporting our inferences, is preserved in the Prasastis of three unpublished works of Haribhadra Sūri whose writing activity was patronised by Prthvipala. According to the Candraprabha-caritra-prasastis of Haribhadrasûri (Ms. at Pätana), Prthvipala erected a big lovely Mandapa (in this shrine) with figures of his ancestors riding on elephants. The relevant passage is as under:
ता अब्बुयगिरिसिरि नेढ - विमलजिणमंदिरे करावेडं । मंडयमइब्वजणयं मज्झे पुणो तस्स । विलसिरकरेणुयाणं संवसपुरिसुत्तमाण मुत्तीओ। विहितं च संघभति बहुपुत्थय वत्थदाणेण ॥
Obviously, this refers to the erection of the Hastiśālā in front of the Vimala Vasahi. Now, in his Mallinatha-caritra-Prasasti, the same author replaces yasit yo तस्स for मज्झे पुणो तस्स in the above verse. This reading would show that Prthvipala erected a very beautiful Mandapa in the shrine and a Hastiśālā in front of it. Another work, Neminatha-cariu, also composed by this author, but in the Apabhramsa, contains a Prasasti at the end, eulogising the family of Pṛthvipäla and giving us the same type of historical data as the other two Prasastis in Prakrit. A manuscript of this work is preserved in the Jaina collections at Jesalmer. Here the author says :
तेज अब्बुयगिरिहिं सिरिविमलनिम्माविय जिणभवणि असमख्यु मंडवु कराविवि तसु पुरठ करेणुराय सत्त मुत्ति पुव्वयहं व्ाविवि ।
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