Part 2 — CHAPTER II. THE CHAULUKYAS OR SOLAṄKIS (a.d. 961–1242)
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Other evidence proves that at the time of Múlarája a Chaulukya king named Bárappa did reign in Láṭadeśa. The Surat grant of Kírtirája grandson of Bárappa is dated a.d. 1018 (Śaka 940). This, taking twenty years to a king, brings Bárappa’s date to a.d. 978 (Śaka 900), a year which falls in the reign of Múlarája (a.d. 961–996; Ś. 1027–1053). The statement in the Prabandhachintámaṇi that Bárappa was a general of Tailapa seems correct. The southern form of the name Bárappa supports the statement. And as Tailapa overthrew the Ráshṭrakúṭas in a.d. 972 (Śaka 894) he might well place a general in military charge of Láṭa, and allow him practical independence. This would explain why the Dvyáśraya calls Bárappa king of Láṭadeśa and why the Kírtikaumudí calls him general of the Lord of Láṭa.
Mr. Forbes, apparently from bardic sources, states that on his wife’s death Ráji the father of Múlarája went to the temple of Vishṇu at Dwárká. On his return he visited the court of Lákhá Phuláni and espoused Lákhá’s sister Ráyáji by whom he had a son named Rákháich. This marriage proved the ruin of Ráji. In a dispute about precedence Lákhá slew Ráji and many of his Rájput followers, his wife Ráyáji becoming a Satí. Bíja the uncle of Múlarája urged his nephew to avenge his father’s death and Múlarája was further incited against Lákhá because Lákhá harboured Rákháich the younger son of Ráji at his court as a rival to Múlarája.
Bhíma I. a.d. 1022–1064.Durlabha was succeeded by his nephew Bhíma the son of Durlabha’s younger brother Nága Rája. The author of the Dvyáśraya says that Durlabha wishing to retire from the world offered the kingdom to his nephew Bhíma; that Bhíma declined in favour of his father Nága Rája; that Nága Rája refused; that Durlabha and Nága Rája persuaded Bhíma to take the government; and that after installing Bhíma the two brothers died together. Such a voluntary double death sounds unlikely unless the result was due to the machinations of Bhíma. The Prabandhachintámaṇi gives Bhíma a reign of fifty-two years from a.d. 1022 to 1074 (S. 1078–1130), while the Vicháraśreṇi reduces his reign to forty-two years placing its close in a.d. 1064 (S. 1120). Forty-two years would seem to be correct as another copy of the Prabandhachintámaṇi has 42.
Two copperplates of Bhíma are available one dated a.d. 1030 (S. 1086) eight or nine years after he came to the throne, the other from Kacch in a.d. 1037 (S. 1093).
Bhíma seems to have been more powerful than either of his predecessors. According to the Dvyáśraya his two chief enemies were the kings of Sindh and of Chedí or Bundelkhand. He led a victorious expedition against Hammuka the king of Sindh, who had conquered the king of Sivasána and another against Karṇa king of Chedí who paid tribute and submitted. The Prabandhachintámaṇi has a verse, apparently an old verse interpolated, which says that on the Málwa king Bhoja’s death, while sacking Dhárápuri, Karṇa took Bhíma as his coadjutor, and that afterwards Bhíma’s general Dámara took Karṇa captive and won from him a gold maṇḍapiká or canopy and images of Ganeśa and Nílakaṇṭheśvara Mahádeva. Bhíma is said to have presented the canopy to Somanátha.
Early next morning Mahmúd renewed the battle. His men made greater havoc among the Hindus till they drove them from the town to the house of their idol Somanátha. At the gate of the temple the slaughter was dreadful. Band after band of the defenders entered the temple and standing before Somanátha with their hands clasped round their necks wept and passionately entreated him. Then they issued forth to fight and fought till they were slain. The few left alive took Chapter II. The Chaulukyas, a.d. 961–1242. Somanátha, a.d. 1024. to the sea in boats but the Musalmáns overtook them and some were killed and some were drowned.
Chapter II. The Chaulukyas, a.d. 961–1242. Bhíma I. a.d. 1022–1064. Bhíma I. a.d. 1022–1064.An inscription at Somanátha shows that soon after Mahmúd was gone Bhímadeva began to build a temple of stone in place of the former temple of brick and wood.
Chapter II. The Chaulukyas, a.d. 961–1242. Bhíma I. a.d. 1022–1064. Bhíma reigned forty-two years. Both the Prabandhachintámaṇi and the Vicháraśreṇi mention Karṇa as his successor. According to the Dvyáśraya Bhíma, wishing to retire to a religious life, offered the succession to Kshemarája. But Kshemarája also was averse from the labour of ruling and it was settled that Karṇa should succeed.
Bhíma died soon after and Kshemarája retired to a holy place on the Sarasvatí named Mundakeśvara not far from Aṇahilaváḍa. Karṇa is said to have granted Dahithalí a neighbouring village to Devaprasáda the son of Kshemarája that he might attend on his father in his religious seclusion. But as the Kumárapálacharita mentions Kshemarája being settled at Dahithalí as a ruler not as an ascetic it seems probable that Dahithalí was granted to Kshemarája for maintenance as villages are still granted to the bháyás or brethren of the ruler.
A fourth story in the Dvyáśraya tells that when the king was planning an invasion of Málwa a Yoginí came from Ujjain to Patan and said ‘O Rája, if you desire great fame, come to Ujjain and humbly entreat Kálika and other Yoginís and make friends with Yaśovarman the Rája of Ujjain.’ The king contemptuously dismissed her, saying, ‘If you do not fly hence like a female crow, I will cut off your nose and ears with this sword.’
A Dohad inscription of the time of Siddharája dated a.d. 1140 (S. 1196) says of his frontier wars: ‘He threw into prison the lords of Suráshṭra and Málwa; he destroyed Sindhurája and other kings; he made the kings of the north bear his commands.’ The Suráshṭra king referred to is probably a ruler of the Áhír or Chúḍásamá tribe Chapter II. The Chaulukyas, a.d. 961–1242. Siddharája Jayasingha, a.d. 1094–1143. whose head-quarters were at Junágaḍh. According to the Prabandhachintámaṇi Siddharája went in person to subdue Noghan or Navaghani the Áhír ruler of Suráshṭra; he came to Vardhamánapura that is Vadhván and from Vadhván attacked and slew Noghan. Jinaprabhasúri the author of the Tírthakalpa says of Girnár that Jayasiṃha killed the king named Khengár and made one Sajjana his viceroy in Suráshṭra. So many traditions remain regarding wars with Khengár that it seems probable that Siddharája led separate expeditions against more than one king of that name. According to tradition the origin of the war with Khengár was a woman named Ráṇakadeví whom Khengára had married. Ránakadeví was the daughter of a potter of Majevádi village about nine miles north of Junágaḍh, so famous for her beauty that Siddharája determined to marry her. Meanwhile she had accepted an offer from Khengár whose subject she was and had married him. Siddharája enraged at her marriage advanced against Khengár, took him prisoner, and annexed Sorath. That Khengár’s kingdom was annexed and Sajjana, mentioned by Jinaprabhasúri, was appointed Viceroy is proved by a Girnár inscription dated a.d. 1120 (S. 1176).
The Dvyáśraya says that after his conquest of Ujjain Siddharája seized and imprisoned the king of a neighbouring country named Sim. We have no other information on this point.
The Dohad inscription dated a.d. 1140 mentions the destruction of Sindhurája that is the king of Sindh and other kings. The Kírtikaumudí also mentions the binding of the lord of Sindhu. Nothing is known regarding the Sindh war. The Kírtikaumudí mentions that after a war with Arṇorája king of Sámbhar Siddharája gave his daughter to Arṇorája. This seems to be a mistake as the war and alliance with Arṇorája belong to Kumárapála’s reign.
Siddharája, who like his ancestors was a Śaiva, showed his zeal for the faith by constructing the two grandest works in Gujarát the Rudramahálaya at Sidhpur and the Sahasraliṅga lake at Patan. The Jain chroniclers always try to show that Siddharája was favourably inclined to Jainism. But several of his acts go against this claim and some even show a dislike of the Jains. It is true that the Jain sage Hemáchárya lived with the king, but the king honoured him as a scholar rather than as a Jain. On the occasion of the pilgrimage to Somanátha the king offered Hemáchárya a palanquin, and, as he would not accept the offer but kept on walking, the king blamed him calling him a learned fool with no worldly wisdom. Again on one occasion while returning from Málwa Siddharája encamped at a place called Śrínagara, where the people had decorated their temples with banners in honour of the king. Finding a banner floating over a Jain temple the king asked in anger who had placed it there, as he had forbidden the use of banners on Jain shrines and temples in Gujarát. On being told that it was a very old shrine dating from the time of Bharata, the king ordered that at the end of a year the banner might be replaced. This shows the reverse of a leaning to Jainism. Similarly, according to the Prabandhachintámaṇi, Hemáchárya never dared to speak to the king in favour of Jainism but used to say that all religions were good. This statement is supported by the fact that the opening verses of all works written by Hemáchárya in the time of Siddharája contain no special praise of Jain deities.
In the dissensions that followed the king’s death Kumárapála’s interests were well served by his brother-in-law Kṛishṇadeva. Eventually the names of three candidates, Kumárapála and two others, were laid before the state nobles sitting in council to determine who should be king. Of the three candidates the two others were found wanting, and Kumárapála was chosen and installed according to the Vicháraśreṇi on the 4th of Márgaśírsha Suddha and according to the Kumárapálaprabandha on the 4th of Márgaśírsha Vadhya. At the time of his succession, according to the Prabandhachintámaṇi and the Kumárapálaprabandha, Kumárapála was about fifty years of age.
Kanhada or Kṛishṇadeva Kumárapála’s brother-in-law and adviser overvaluing his great services became arrogant and disobedient insulting the king in open court. As remonstrance was of no avail the king had Kṛishṇadeva waylaid and beaten by a band of athletes and taken almost dying to his wife the king’s sister. From this time all the state officers were careful to show ready obedience.
According to the Kumárapálachintámaṇi Kumárapála married one Padmávatí of Padmapura. The chronicler describes the city as to the west of the Indus. Perhaps the lady belonged to Padmapura, a large town in Kashmír. Considering his greatness as a king and conqueror the historical record of Kumárapála is meagre and incomplete. Materials may still come to light which will show his power to have been surprisingly widespread.
The Paramára chiefs of Chandrávatí near Ábu were also feudatories of Kumárapála. It has been noted that to punish him for siding with Arṇorája of Sámbhar Kumárapála placed Vikrama Siṃha the Chandrávatí chief in confinement and set Vikrama’s Chapter II. The Chaulukyas, a.d. 961–1242. Kumárapála, a.d. 1143–1174. nephew Yaśodhavala on his throne. That Kumárapála conquered the chiefs of Sámbhar and Málwa is beyond question. Among his names is the proud title Avantí-nátha Lord of Málwa.
Chapter II. The Chaulukyas, a.d. 961–1242. Kumárapála, a.d. 1143–1174. Kumárapála’s temple seems to have suffered in every subsequent Muhammadan invasion, in Alaf Khan’s in a.d. 1300, in Mozaffar’s in a.d. 1390, in Mahmúd Begada’s about a.d. 1490, and in Muzaffar II.’s about a.d. 1530. Time after time no sooner had the invader passed than the work of repair began afresh. One of the most notable restorations was by Khengár IV. (a.d. 1279–1333) a Chúḍásamá king of Junágaḍh who is mentioned in two Girnár inscriptions as the repairer of Somanátha after its desecration by Alá-ud-dín Khilji. The latest sacrilege, including the turning of the temple into a mosque, was in the time of the Ahmadábád king Muzaffar Sháh II. (a.d. 1511–1535). Since then no attempt has been made to win back the god into his old home.
In the side wall near the door of the little shrine of Bhadrakáli in Patan a broken stone inscription gives interesting details of the temple of Somanátha. Except that the right hand corners of some of the lines are broken, the inscription is clear and well preserved. It is dated a.d. 1169 (Valabhi 850). It records that the temple of the god Someśa was first of gold built by Soma; next it was of silver built by Rávana; afterwards of wood built by Kṛishṇa; and last of stone built by Bhímadeva. The next restoration was through Gaṇḍa-Bṛihaspati under Kumárapála. Of Gaṇḍa-Bṛihaspati it gives these details. He was a Kanyákubja or Kanoj Bráhman of the Páśupata school, a teacher of the Málwa kings, and a friend of Siddharája Jayasiṃha. He repaired several other temples and founded several other religious buildings in Somanátha. He also repaired the temple of Kedáreśvara in Kumaon on learning that the Khaśa king of that country had allowed it to fall into disrepair. After the time of Kumárapála the descendants of Gaṇḍa-Bṛihaspati remained in religious authority in Somanátha.
Though Kumárapála was not a learned man, his ministers were men of learning, and he continued the practice of keeping at his court scholars especially Sanskrit poets. Two of his leading Pandits were Rámachandra and Udayachandra both of them Jains. Rámachandra is often mentioned in Gujaráti literature and appears to have been a great scholar. He was the author of a book called the Hundred Accounts or Prabandhaśata. After Udayana’s death Kumárapála’s chief minister was Kapardi a man of learning skilled in Sanskrit poetry. And all through his reign his principal adviser Chapter II. The Chaulukyas, a.d. 961–1242. Kumárapála, a.d. 1143–1174. was Hemachandra or Hemáchárya probably the most learned man of his time. Though Hemáchárya lived during the reigns both of Siddharája and of Kumárapála, only under Kumárapála did he enjoy political power as the king’s companion and religious adviser. What record remains of the early Solaṅkis is chiefly due to Hemachandra.