Temple of Satrunjaya

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

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ing country. Still no permanent occupation of the country took place, and two years after, Bhima Deva assisted in besieging Kutb-ud-din in Ajmer. Obliged to raise the siege, he was pursued by the Muhammadan general, his city taken and a strong garrison left in it. Bhima Deva, the last of the Solanki race died in A.D. 1214.
The Vaghela dynasty 70 succeeded, founded by Vira Dhavala, in whose time Tejapala, the brother of Vastupala, erected his temple at Mount Abu about A.D. 1231. They were Porwala Vanias of Anahilapattana, and the first was entrusted by Vira Dhavala with the management of his affairs. The shrines at Satrunjaya now began to rise in numbers, but we know but little of the court history of Visala Deva, the son of Vira Dhavala, and his successors Arjuna Deva, Lavana Deva, Saranga Deva and Karna Deva surnamed Ghelo or "the insane"—the last Hindu prince.
In A.D. 1297 the Sultan Ala-ud-din Khilji-still known throughout Gujarat as Khuni, "the bloody", -sent his brother Alif Khan to effect the reconquest of the country. He possessed himself of Anahilapattana, and Karna Deva became a fugitive in Baglana. Many an idol shrine both Hindu and Jaina was then desecrated and destroyed; to save their gods from Islam's fury, many hid them underground, and numbers of them have since been dug up, but the only temples that escaped were those which the conquerors converted into mosques.
Very soon after, however, we find the Jainas busy repairing and rebuilding their holy places. But under the Mahammadan rule we hear but little of them except what we learn from their own inscriptions. In the reign of the great Akbar (A.D. 1556-1605) whose spirit of tolerance and eclecticism led him to form the idea of embracing all the Indian creeds in his new Ilahi Din or "Religion of God”,--the Jainas obtained a warrant71 prohibiting the slaughter of animals, etc. wherever their
70 The Vaghela dynasty is thus given at the end of Merutunga's Theravali : A.D. 1243 S. 1300 Sri Visala-deva, brother of Vira Dhavala
1261 1318 Arjuna-deva. 1274 1331 Saranga-deva. 12791335 Laghu Karna 1303 1360 Madhava, a Nagara Brahmin who brought the Yavanas or
Muhammadans. - Dr. Bhau Daji, Jour. Bomb. Br. R. Asiat. Soc., Vol. IX. p. 155; and conf.
Forbes, Ras Mala, Vol. I. p. 276; and Princep, Useful Tables, p. 256. 71 "In a remarkable sanad or document bearing the bonafide seal of Akbar, which
has recently come to light, the name under which Paresnath was known in that emperor's age appears to have been Samet Sikhar. This whole hill together with
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