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POLITICAL HISTORY OF N. INDIA FROM JAIN SOURCES
informs us that Mahipāla died some time before that date, we may assign him a period from c. V.E. 1142 (A.D. 1085) to V.E. 1161, a period of 19 years. His second name Bhuvanaikamalla, like one borne by the princes of the Cālukya dynasty of Kalyāni, further confirms our assumption that the Kacchapaghāțas must have had some contact with the rulers of Kalyāņi.
We, thus, have two inscriptions concerning his reign, both composed by the Jain author Yaśodeva. Many verses in the Sāsabahū inscription contain a fulsome praise of king Mahipāla, a practice so common among Indian poets. The main object of the inscription is to record the completion of the half-finished temple of Hari by Mahīpāla soon after his coronation which he had promised to complete. Verses 71-102 mostly give the detailed list of the charitable institutions connected with the temple, the portions of his revenue devoted by him to the erection of the temple buildings, the idols that he gave to the shrines, the ornaments he presented to them, the arrangements he made and the implements he furnished for their worship.
Yaśodeva, the author of the inscription: The author says about himself that he is a Digambarärka (a sun among the Digambaras), who enjoys the friendship of the sage (sūri) Manikantha in which Pratapalankeśvaravāc shares and who is poet in all languages. The inscription mentions that its letters were written by this poet who was well versed in all languages, and the praśasti was composed by Manikantha by order of the king. I do not understand what is meant by these two statements. It is strange that the writer of the letters is a poet in all languages while the composer Manikantha seems to have been an ordinary poet, for, nothing is said of him in the inscription. In my opinion it seems more probable that Manikantha, while enjoying the patronage of king Mahipāla and carrying out his order to compose a praśasti, may have given the ideas to the poet and the poet, on behalf of his friend Manikantha, may have composed it, or we may also assume that Manikantha himself attempted to compose it hurriedly at first and gave it to Yaśodeva for correction and improvement. Thus the real composer of the praśasti appears to be Yaśodeva.
The second inscription almost settles the date of the death of Mahīpāla. Stanza 23 records that this inscription was composed by Nirgranthanātha Yaśodeva. It has been found in the fortress of Gwalior and mentions the Kacchapaghāța princes from Bhuvanapāla (who is the fifth of
1 IA., XV, pp. 201-202. 2 प्रतापलंकेश्वर वाद्वितीयां विभ्रत्सुहत्ता मणिकण्ठसूरेः। अशेषभाषासुकविर्लिलेख वर्णान्यशोदेवदिगम्बरार्कः। 3 नृपाज्ञया रचिता मणिकण्ठेन प्रशस्तिरियमुज्ज्वला।
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