Note 73 — Chapter II · THE CHAULUKYAS OR SOLAṄKIS (a.d. 961–1242)

At this period it seems that the kings of Gujarát Sámbhar and other districts, seeing the great reputation which his literary tastes had gained for Bhoja of Dhárá used all to keep Pandits. Certain carvings on the pillars of a mosque at the south-west of the modern town of Dhárá show that the building almost as it stands was the Sanskrit school founded by Bhoja. The carvings in question are beautifully cut Sanskrit grammar tables. Other inscriptions in praise of Naravarman show that Bhoja’s successors continued to maintain the institution. In the floor of the mosque are many large shining slabs of black marble, the largest as much as seven feet long, all of them covered with inscriptions so badly mutilated that nothing can be made out of them except that they were Sanskrit and Prakrit verses in honour of some prince. On a rough estimate the slabs contain as many as 4000 verses.73 According to the old saying any one who drank of the Sarasvatí well in Dhárá became a scholar. Sarasvatí’s well still exists near the mosque. Its water is good and it is still known as Akkal-kui or the Well of Talent. As in Dhárá so in Ajmir the Aṛháí-dinká Jhopḍá mosque is an old Sanskrit school, recent excavations having brought to light slabs with entire dramas carved on them. So also the Gujarát kings had their Pandits and their halls of learning. Śrípála, Siddharája’s poet-laureate, wrote a poetical eulogium or praśasti on the Sahasraliṅga lake. According to the Prabandhachintámaṇi Siddharája gathered numerous Pandits to examine the eulogium. As has already been noticed Siddharája’s constant companion was the great scholar and Jain áchárya Hemachandra also called Hemáchárya, who, under the king’s patronage, wrote a treatise on grammar called Siddhahema, and also the well-known Dvyáśrayakosha which was intended to teach both grammar and the history of the Solaṅkis. Hemachandra came into even greater Chapter II. The Chaulukyas, a.d. 961–1242. Siddharája Jayasingha, a.d. 1094–1143. prominence in the time of Kumárapála, when he wrote several further works and became closely connected with the state religion. Several stories remain of Siddharája assembling poets, and holding literary and poetic discussions.