Part 6 - Death of Viradhavala and Vastupala

King Viradhavala died in 1238.A.D. 139 His popularity has created a tradition, which says that a large number of people burnt themselves on his funeral pyre and Tejapala had come to the creamation ground with his army to check others from doing so. Viradhavala had two sons-Pratapamalla and Visaladeva. pratapamalla had died during the life time of Viradhavala, leaving a son, Arjunadeva, after him Visaladeva, the younger son of Viradhavala, came to the throne in 1238. A.D.141 Vastupala died in 1240 A.D.(1296 V.S), only two years after Visaladeva's coming to throne. Both the Prabandhakosa and the Vastupalacarita have given 1242 A.D.(1298 V.S.)as the date of Vastupala's death. But the Vasantavilasa Mahakavya of the contemporary Bulacandra has the date of his death as Sunday the fifth day of the bright half of the month Magha in the year 1296.V.S. (1-1-1240 AD). 144 This statement is also supported by the dates in a palm-leaf manuscript, which mention that Vastupala died in 1296 V.S., 145 and in an Abu inscription, of the third day of the bright half of month Vaisakha of the year 1296 V.S. (12-4-1240 A.D.), Tejapala is referred to as Mahamatya, 146 which corroborates the above statement that Vastupala died in Magha month of the year, and Tejapala took the charge of the office only after the death of Vastupala.

118 So, there is no doubt that author Balacandra Suri was given a correct date of Vastupala's death and the statements of the authors of Prabandhakosa and Vastupalacarita about the date of Vastupala's death is incorrect. 148 The Prabandhas say that Vastupala expired in the village Ainkevalia, while he was going on his last pilgrimage to Mt.Satrunjaya. 147 This statement may be reliable, but we do not find it mentioned in the Vasantavilasa The Prabandhakosa refers to the loss of Vastupala's ministerial power in favour of the minister Nagada. Elsewhere it is said that Vastupala had incurred the anger of Visaladeva, because of the punishment meted out by the former to a maternal uncle of the king, as that man had insulted a Jaina Sadhu; but the minister was saved by the intervention of Somesvara. 149 It is also mentioned that once Visaladeva demanded from Vastupala the accounts of the state- revenue, and finding that some of the money was spent after temples etc. decided to punish him; but here also the king was held back by Somesvara. 150 Though we may not accept such stories in their entirety, they can be considered as indicative of the fact that the minister had incurred the displeasure of the new king in his later life. There is nothing inherently impossible in this, as we know several such instances in history, when a new king finds it difficult to pull on with the old minister. But here, there is no evidence to show that Vastupala was actually displaced by Visaladeva, though he was no more on very good terms with the young sovereign. It is not

119 unlikely that this may have been due to the machinations of Nagara politicians led by Nagada or because Visaladeva might have felt the old minister rather too overbearing to be tolerated. There is a very trustworthy evidence to show that Tejapala, the younger brother, continued as the Mahamarya or prime-minister for a few years after the death of Vastupala, and that the king's displeasure was not so great as to displace him from office. The above mentioned Abu description shows that Tejapala was the minister after the death of Vastupala. We get first evedence mentioning Nagada as the Makamarya in 1310 V.S. (1254 A.D.), 151 which shows that Tejapala died between 1247 and 1254 A.D. In any case, it can be definitely said that Nagara Brahmin Nagada became the Mahamarya of Visaladeva only after Tejapala's death. 152 In the preceding chapters we have seen the literary and scholarly traditions of Gujarat in the ages that preceded Vastupala. We had studied the historical and biographical accounts of Vastupala and of the poets and scholars in his Literary Circle. And then we have reviewed the noteworthy contribution which they made to Sanskrit literature. The works of this Literary Circle range from stray verses to Mahakavyas and also deal with various branches of Sastric literature. Even if we do not consider the works which are known only through references and have not yet been discovered, there are Ten Mahakavyas, four plays, eighteen Prasassis, six Stotras three

1 120 anthologies, a collective of Prabandhas, a collection of Jaina Dharmakathas, two works on Apabramsa Rasa, three works on poetics, two works on grammar, a work on metrics, a work on Nyaya, two works on astrology, three commentaries on Jaina religious works and a gloss on the Sanskrit play Anargharaghava. 153 This contribution becomes all the more noteworthy of the great Literary and Scholastic activity that was going on in Gujarat in the 13 th century A.D. under the direct patronization of Vastupala. The literary culture of Gujarat in these days was a composite one, in which there was an admirable cultural co-operation among the Brahminical and Jaina Scholars. We find that royal priests like Somesvara write Prasastis of Jaina temples and a Jaina Sadhu like Balacandra Suri borrows literary motifs from a great Brahminical work like the Bhagavata Purana. 154 Moreover, we find that Amaracandra, also a Jaina Sadhu, summarises the whole of the Mahabharata in verse, and praises Vyasa in the beginning of every be noted that the sacred book summarised by Amaracandra canto. 155 It may is not the Jaina version of the Mahabharata, but that great encyclopedia of Indian traditions and legends ascribed to sage Vyasa. This non-sectarian outlook in literary matters was not accidental, but it came from commendable toleration and the spirit of 'give' and 'take' which prevailed in contemporary life, represented by the great figure of Vastupala in almost all its aspects as the preceding pages have shown.