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118
YASASTILAKA AND INDIAN CULTURE
etc.); and the two terms are sometimes mentioned together, e. g., in the aforesaid grant of Indra III (verse 24). It was, of course, an abuse of power to rob the grantees of their legitimate rights, and similar instances are also recorded in the Rajatarangini. For example, during the reign of Avantivarman (855-883 A. D.) a powerful feudal baron was beheaded under the orders of the minister Sura for the crime of robbing the temple of Bhutesa of villages (5. 52 ff.). Some of the later kings of Kashmir were themselves notorious for such usurpations, notably Samkaravarman (883-902 A. D.), Kalasa (1063-89 A. D.), and Harṣa (1089-1101 A. D.). Kalhana deplores the fact that Gauraka, the aged and virtuous minister of Harşa, accepted the post of Arthanayaka (Prefect of Wealth) for the confiscation of the villages and the entire property of all the temples of the gods (7. 1103-4).
The next charge against the minister is that he melts down the images of the gods and replaces them by those of lesser value; he also sells an image, and with the proceeds institutes a religious festival.' The motives of the minister are evidently not only cupidity but a show of piety Be that as it may, the practice of melting down images by greedy monarchs is wellknown in history and found not only in India but also elsewhere; it was a form of sacrilege akin to the plunder of temples practised by many kings for the treasury. The Rajatarangini has a good deal to say about such prac.. tices being resorted to by the kings of Kashmir. Samkaravarman plundered sixty-four temples of the gods (5. 169). Kalasa removed the copper image of the Sun called Tamrasvamin, and carried away also the brass statues from the Vihāras (7.696). The climax came during the reign of Harșa, who, after plundering the treasures of the temples granted by former kings, turned his attention to the images, and appointed an officer called the Prefect for the uprooting of the gods (devotpāṭana-nayaka), with the result that images of gods made of gold, silver and other metals rolled in filth in the streets, like faggots of wood (7. 1089 ff.). Another king of Kashmir Kşemagupta (950-958 A. D.), a contemporary of Somadeva, used the brass from a statue of Buddha in building the shrine of Kṣema-Gauriśvara, a show of piety comparable to that of Yasodhara's minister (6. 172–3). Turning elsewhere, we find that towards the end of the twelfth century a prince of Gujarat, Prahladanadeva, the author of Parthaparakrama Vyayoga and founder of Palanpur, melted a brass statue of Jina for making a bull for the Acaleśvara temple; and there is a legend that he was stricken with leprosy as a result of the sin, but cured himself by building a monastery
1 Ibid. 3, 227, 235 quoted in Chap. II (q. v.)
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