Note 18 — BHINMÁL.

History.According to a local legend this temple of the Sun was built by Yayati the son of king Nahush18 of the Chandravansi or Moon stock. Yayati came to Shrimál accompanied by his two queens Sharmistha and Devyani, and began to perform severe austerities at one of the places sacred to Surya the Sun. Surya was so pleased by the fervour of Yayati’s devotion that he appeared before him and asked Yayati to name a boon. Yayati said May I with god-like vision see thee in thy true form. The Sun granted this wish and told Yayati to name a second boon. Yayati said I am weary of ruling and of the pleasures of life. My one wish is that for the good of Shrimálpur you may be present here in your true form. The Sun agreed. An image was set up in the Sun’s true form (apparently meaning in a human form) and a Hariya Bráhman was set over it.19 The God said Call me Jagat-Svámi the Lord of the World for I am its only protector. According to a local Bráhman account the original image of the Sun was of wood and is still preserved in Lakshmí’s temple at Pátan in North Gujarát.20 Another account makes the builder of the temple Shripunj or Jagsom. According to one legend Jagsom’s true name was Kanak who came from Kashmír. According to the Bráhm Bhát Tappa Jagsom was a king of Kashmír of the Jamáwal tribe who established himself in Bhinmál about 500 years before Kumárapála. As Kumárapála’s date is a.d. 1186, Jagsom’s date would be a.d. 680. Appendix III. Bhinmál. Sun Temple. According to the common local story Jagsom was tormented by the presence of a live snake in his belly. When Jagsom halted at the south gate of Bhinmál in the course of a pilgrimage from Káshmír to Dwárka, he fell asleep and the snake came out at his mouth. At the same time a snake issued from a hole close to the city gate and said to the king’s belly snake ‘You should depart and cease to afflict the king.’ ‘There is a fine treasure in your hole’ said the belly snake. ‘How would you like to leave it? Why then ask me to leave my home?’ The gate snake said ‘If any servant of the king is near let him hearken. If some leaves of the kir Capparis aphylla tree are plucked and mixed with the flowers of a creeper that grows under it and boiled and given to the king the snake inside him will be killed.’ ‘If any servant of the king is near’ retorted the king’s snake ‘let him hearken. If boiling oil is poured down the hole of the gate-snake the snake will perish and great treasure will be found.’ A clever Kayasth of the king’s retinue was near and took notes. He found the kir tree and the creeper growing under it: he prepared the medicine and gave it to the king. The writhing of the snake caused the king so much agony that he ordered the Kayasth to be killed. Presently the king became sick and the dead snake was thrown up through the king’s mouth. The king mourned for the dead Kayasth. So clever a man, he said, must have made other good notes. They examined the Kayasth’s note book, poured the boiling oil down the hole, killed the gate-snake, and found the treasure. To appease the Kayasths and the two snakes lákhs were spent in feeding Bráhmans. With the rest a magnificent temple was built to the Sun and an image duly enshrined. Nine upper stories were afterwards added by Vishvakarma.