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POLITICAL HISTORY OF N. INDIA FROM JAIN SOURCES
Bhīma like his forefathers was a Saivite but his liberal policy in religion helped the Jain scholars to show their talent in various fields of literature. We learn from the Prabhāvaka-carita that Surācārya and Säntisūri distinguished themselves in intellectual contests and they often went to other kingdoms to engage in such contests in behalf of their country. Surācārya was a cousin of the king Bhīma, being the son of his maternal uncle Sangrāmasiinha, a prince of Marudesa. Sāntisūri was a great literary man. He composed a commentary on the Uttarādhayana-sūtra with whose help Vädi Devasūri defeated the Digambara dialectician Kumudacandra in the time of Jayasimha. It appears Säntisūri was responsible for starting a school of logic amongst the Jains. Abhayadevasūri, the author of that big commentary on the Sanmati-tarka of Siddhasena Divākara known as Vadamahārnava, was the teacher of Sāntisūri. It is stated that 32 students studied Pramana śāstra under Säntisūri. According to the same authority another scholar Buddhisāgara of that period wrote a work on Samskrit grammar which is named after him. Jineśvara composed a work on logic.4
Another important figure of the age is poet Dharma who is often referred to as the Kaula Kavi Dharma. He is also reputed to have defeated several scholars in intellectual combats in other countries.5
We also know some important persons of Bhīma's reign. The prabandha literature refers to Someśvara as his purohita and Dämara or Damodara as his minister of peace and war. Many of the stories in the Prabandhacintamani turn round the uncommon wit and intelligence of this Dāmara. From the Vimala temple inscription we know that Vimala was the danlapati of Bhīma.? This Vimala was one of the two sons of Vīra, a minister of Durlabharāja about whom we know from the colophon of the Neminaha-cariu.
Bhīma continued the policy of his predecessor regarding the building of temples. According to the Prabandha-cintāmãi he built three temples named Bhimeśvaraprāsāda, Bhattārikā Bbīruāņi prāsāda and Băla Mīlarāja's
1 SJGM., XIII, p. 152-60 : H TTRagi
Ibid., pp. 178-79. 3 Ibid., pp. 133-37: arigatsufan Rahi 4 Ibid., p. 162 ff. : 3744aafiagi 5 Ibid., p. 147, V. 256. 6 SJGM., 1:
1: 1 ? Arbud Prabandha Jain Lekha Sangraha, II, p. 3: 19 HHa arra a 7 विमलो महामतिः। कृतोऽर्बुदं दण्डपतिः।
& Sanatkumāra-caritaTM: A section from Haribhadra's Nemināha-cariu ed. by H. Jacobi, Introduction, vi ff.
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