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POLITICAL HISTORY OF N. INDIA FROM JAIN SOURCES
religions. According to a Jain work of V.E. 1191 he had declared no injury to animals on the day of ekādaśi etc.?
His popularity : Jayasimha, as a ruler, loved his subjects very much. He went in disguise every day on his tours to know the complaints of his people and was very fond of mixing up with them. Several anecdotes are recorded by the Jain Prabandhas.2 He was a man of high character and was never allured by anybody's wealth. He was generous too. Once he gave 16 lakhs to a rich man having 84 lakhs so that he might be able to hoist the flag of the rich man of a crore. His long reign was marked by an era named Simha started by him. His Atru inscription is dated in the year 14 of this era. The Dvyaśraya-kavya also refers to this era.
Though enjoying a vast empire and long reign and all other kinds of favourable circumstances, Jayasimha was constantly tormented by the sorrow that he had no son. Several attempts of entreating the gods failed to give him a son. It is narrated in the chronicles that God Mahadeva himself told him that “his brother Tribhuvanapāla's son Kumārapāla should sit on his throne.” The last days of Jayasimha are described in the Duya śraya-kāvya that Jayasimha, remembering the words of the god Somanātha that Kumārapāla was to succeed him after his death, tried selfrealisation.. “Contemplating Paramesťhins (supreme gods) he went to the city of Indra."? According to the Purātana-prabandha-sangraha after the death of Jayasimha his sandals reigned for eighteen days.? This shows that it took some time before the new king was elected.
Kumārapāla (1144-1174 A.D.)
His parentage: All authorities are unanimous in stating Kumāra pāla's accession after Jayasimha, but he did not inherit it in the usual manner. Kumarapala was Jayasimha's near relative but we do not know why Jayasimha was averse to the succession of Kumārapāla. According to the Duyaśraya-kavya Bhīma had a son named Kşemaraja who was older than 1 Dharmopadeśamālā of Vijayasimha :
यस्योपदेशादखिला च देशे सिद्धाधिपः श्रीजयसिंहदेवः।
एकादशीमुख्यदिनेष्वमारिमकारयच्छासनदानपूर्वाम् । 2 SJGM., I, pp. 71-73. 3 Ibid., p. 71. 4 GOS., Moharāja-parājaya, Act 3, Kubera's Palace. 5 R. C. Modi, Madhyakālina Gujarātani Sāmājika Sthiiti, pp. 76-77 & DV., Canto XV, Vs. 123-124: FATTO 3 far hathattam Tag etc
? SJGM., II, p. 45: 3TPGT trufaa fega: CT SUCITETIT T 15 94 TIA TEATIF ATO UGT: --Ku. Pra.
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