Sambodhi 2005 Vol 28

Author(s): Jitendra B Shah, K M Patel
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 52

46
M. A. DHAKY
SAMBODHI
of Viracandra sūri (his gaccha not specified), in the autocommentary of his Jīvānuśāsana (S. 1162/A. D. 1105-6)”?, qualifies Satyapura as “being the town ornamented by the temple of Mahāvīra which has the glory of smashing the pride of the temporal power of the Mleccharāja" : "Satyapuraṁ mleccharāja-balabhadradarppa-bhañjana-labdha-māhātmya-Śrī Mahāvīra-sadana manditaṁ....."18. A still earlier writer, who in fact is a contemporary witness to this historical event, is the poet Dhanapāla of the court of Mālava who was respected and admired by the Paramāra pontentates Muñja and Bhoja. His hymn in Apabhramba, the Satyapuramandana or Satyapuriya-Mahāvīra-utsäha has two stanzas (3 & 13) of historical significance19: the first attests to the non-sacking of Satyapura and the second to the aesthetic excellence of its sacred image. (See here the annexed text.) Says the poet : “Sirimāladeśa (Bhillamāla territory), Anahilavāda (Pāțan),' Caddāvalli (Candravati), Soratha, Deülavāda (Delvādā, near Unā), and Someśvara (Somanātha in Prabhāsa) the delight of the peoples' heart, were all sacked (by the Garjanka); but the image of) Saccuri-Vira, son of Siddhārtha could not be sacked.” “Visited and noticed the images in the tīrthas of the sanctuaries in Korinta (Koranta, Korațā), Sirimāla (śrīmāla), Dhāra (Dhārā of Mālavedeśa), Ahāda (Āghāta in Medapātadeśa), Anahilavād, Vijayakotta (?) Pālitāņuň (Pālitānā, Pālittānaka): and many other places. but (the cult image of) none of them was like the (excllent image of) the Satyapura sanctuary. An important reference to the Satyapura-tīrtha later is by poet Asiga (of western Rajasthan) made in his "Jivadayā rāsa" of V.S. 1257/A.D. 1200-1.20 However, the armies of Allāuddin Khalaji sacked the temple in (V. S.) 1367/A. D. 1311 and took away the image to Delhi as noted by the contemporary authority, Jinaprabha sūri21. The temple and the worship, perhaps, may have been restored after some time but Satyapura is next heard no more as an important place of pilgrimage. Its glory as a haloed tīrtha had disappeared for ever.
Annotations : 1. Vividha Tirthakalpa, “Satyapuratīstha-Kalpa," Singhi Jaina series No. 10, (Ed. Jina Vijaya)
śāntiniketan (Bengal) 1931, pp. 28-30. 2. Ibid., p. 28. 3. Ed. R. M. Shah, Sambodhi 7/1-4, pp. 95-100. 4. Ibid., 5. Ibid., 6. Ibid., 7. Vividha., p. 28.