Book Title: Political History of Northern India
Author(s): Gulabchandra Chaudhary
Publisher: Sohanlal Jain Dharm Pracharak Samiti Amrutsar

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Page 312
________________ 282 POLITICAL HISTORY OF N. INDIA FROM JAIN SOURCES We, however, have no information from the epigraphs of Kumarapala that he actually prohibited killing of animals, but from the two inscription of his feudatories, we have some information. The undated inscription of Girijādevī, the queen of Pūņapakşadeva, the feudatory of Kumārapäla of Naddūla, prohibits only killing on the 11th, 14th and 15th of every month. In a similar inscription of 1153 A.D. found at Kirádū, Alhanadeva, the viceroy of Kumārapāla prohibits killing of life on 8th, 11th and 14th of every month on a penalty of five drammas in ordinary cases and one dramma in the case of a servant of the king. Despite his devotion to Jainism, Kumārapāla did not completely forget the old cult of his family. In Dvyāśraya-kävya Hemacandra himself speaks of the restoration of the temple of Sivakedaranātha, and of Somanätha following the proclamation of the law of protection and also of the building of a Kumārapāleśvara in AŅhilavād, built at a still later time after the construction of the Kumāravihāras (Jain temples) in Anhilavād and in Devapaţtaņa. 3 The reasons behind the erection of Kumärapāleśvara are very peculiar. Mahadeva, says Hemacandra, appeared himself to Kumārapāla in a dream, announced to him that he was satisfied with his services and expressed his desires to reside in Aṇhilavād. From these facts one can conclude that Kumāra pāla despite all his devotion to Hemacandra and despite his adoption to the Jain faith, never totally denied help to the Saivites. He might have forced them to give up their bloody sacrifices but he permitted the temple priests and the ascetics to their allowances from the royal treasury. There must, have been times when he again drew nearer to Saiva faith and worshipped Śiva as well as Jina. Such wavering and such mixing of faiths is not unusual in India and such things have happened in old times to other kings also, who had attached themselves to heterodox sects, as, for example, Harşavardhana, the well-known king of Kanoj.5 The court of Kumārapāla was adorned not only by the Jain ministers like Udayana Bāhada and Jain monk Hemacandra and so on, but also equally well by Saiva minister Kapardin and Saiva teacher Devabodhi. The latter is supposed to have been a spiritual adviser to Kumārapāla even after his conversion. From the old habits of the king it appears that he could not 1 HIG., Pt. III, No. 155 A, p. 178. 2 Ibid., Pt. II, No. 148, pp. 48-49. 3 See supra p. 279. 4 DV., Canto XX, V. II: wat fa aa aah, fotel a ye ziyaret etc. 5 SJGM., XI, Life of Hemacandra, p. 46. Jain Education International For Private & Personal Use Only www.jainelibrary.org

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