________________
74
There is every reason to believe that Sanskrit learning received great impetus in the Gahad wala period, though unfortunately little evidence has survived to trace the literary history of that period. There is no doubt that Bhatta Lakshmidhara, who held various important offices of the state in Govindachandra's time, was a great scholar. It is evident from the Krtya Kalpataru that he was a profound scholar of the Puranas, the Vedas, the smrtis and other ritualistic literature: Sri Harsha, the famous author of the Naishadha, also flourished in this period. Damodara, the author of the Ukti- Vyakti prakarana, clearly shows that Eastern Hindi, the language of the people of eastern U. P. was also receiving due recognition even from Sanskrit Pandits, and that the language was not in its formative stages but fully developed, and that probably it had its own literature which is unfortunately lost.
Pandita Damodara.
Nothing is known about Pandita Damodara, the author of the Ukti-Vyakti Prakarana, except that he was a contemporary of Govindachandra. Peculiarly enough there are three inscriptions of Govindachandra's time which speak of one Pandita Damodara Sarman who was held in such high estimation by Govindachandra and his two sons that he received the gift of villages at least thrice. From the Ukti-Vyakti Prakarana as well it is evident that its author was a man of great learning and accomplishment. It is probable, therefore, that Pandita Damodara Sarman of the inscriptions and Pandita Damodara, the author of the Ukti-Vyakti Prakarana were one and the same persons.
MATERIAL OF SOCIAL AND HISTORICAL INTEREST
L
ل به
The earliest of these copper plates belong to the reign of Govinda chandra (Ep. Ind. VIII, 155-156). With his consent, the Mahārājaputra Asphota-chandra-deva, endowed with all royal prerogatives and anointed as Yuvaraja (heir apparent) records that, on Friday, the third tithi, the Akshaya-tritiya and Yugadi, of the bright half of Vaisakh of the year 1190 (Friday, 30th March, 1134 A. D), bathing in the Ganges at Banaras, he granted the village of Kanauta, in the Nandini Pattala, to Pandita Damodara Sarman, the son of Pandita Madanapala, grandson of Lokapala and great grandson of Gunapalaa Brahmana of the Kasyapa-gotra, whose three pravaras were Kasyapa, Avatsara and Naidhruva, who was the student of the Vajasaneyi sākhā (of the Yajurveda) and a sun worshipper (sura), and who knew the five siddhantas of the Jyotisśastra.
9
The second copper plate, bearing a date equivalent to Wednesday, 25th Dec., 1146 A. D. records that with the consent of Govind
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
