Note 71 — Chapter II · THE CHAULUKYAS OR SOLAṄKIS (a.d. 961–1242)

So great is Siddharája’s fame as a builder that almost every old work in Gujarát is ascribed to him. Tradition gives him the credit of the Dabhoi fort which is of the time of the Vághelá king Víradhavala, a.d. 1220–1260. The Prabandhachintámaṇi gives this old verse regarding Siddharája’s public works: ‘No one makes a great temple (Rudramahálaya), a great pilgrimage (to Somanátha), a great Ásthána (darbár hall), or a great lake (Sahasraliṅga) Chapter II. The Chaulukyas, a.d. 961–1242. Siddharája Jayasingha, a.d. 1094–1143. such as Siddharája made.’71 Of these the Rudramahálaya, though very little is left, from its size and the beauty of its carving, must have been a magnificent work the grandest specimen of the architecture of the Solaṅki period. The remains of the Sahasraliṅga lake at Aṇahilapura show that it must have been a work of surprising size and richness well deserving its title of mahásaraḥ or great lake. Numerous other public works are ascribed to Siddharája.72