Studies in Indian Literary History

by P. K. Gode | 1953 | 355,388 words

The book "Studies in Indian Literary History" is explores the intricate tapestry of Indian literature, focusing on historical chronology and literary contributions across various Indian cultures, including Hinduism (Brahmanism), Jainism, and Buddhism. Through detailed bibliographies and indices, the book endeavors to provide an encycloped...

39. Identification of the Siddharaja-Saras

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In a work called the Sarasvatipurana,' devoted mainly to the description of holy places or tirthas associated with the river Sarasvati2 in Gujarat falling into the gulf of Kutch, there is a good deal of description of a lake called siddharajasarah . 3 This lake, the Sarasvatipurana tells us, was formed from the river Sarasvati itself:Folio 110 a (of Ms No. 429 of Vis. I)- " evam sarasvati brahman pracibhutva saridvara | mahata ca jalaughena matsyakacchapavahina || 23 || hasamanena phenocairavatairnrtyativa sa | tabhyam saridumyam sahita purayamasa tatsarah || 24 || Indian Historical Quarterly, Vol. XIV, pp. 252-258. 1. MSS of the Sarasvatipurana mentioned by Aufrecht are:- Part I, p. 699-"Kh. 64. B. 2, 34; BL. 2; Gu. 3; Bhk. 14; Poona 429" (a Saradapurana is frequently quoted by Hemadri). Out of these MSS the MS available to me is "Poona 429" which is the same as No, 429 of Vis I in the Govt. MSS Library at the B. O. R. Institute, Poona. 2. N. L. Dey's Geographical Dictionary (London, 1927) pp. 180- 181, where various identifications of the river Sarasvati are recorded. We are concerned here with the river Sarasvati which is an affluent of the river Kuvarka falling into the gulf of Kutch. 3. Hemacandra, a contemporary of Siddharaja refers to this lake as follows in verse 114 of canto XV of the Dvyasrayakavya. " atitya maithilam yuddham raghavo nu krtakratuh | prapatataratithyam sa purtam cakre mahasarah || 114|| " Abhayatilakagani who wrote his commentary on the Dvyasrayakavya in Sam. 1312 = A. D. 1256 comments on the above verse as follows:- " sa raja sahasralingakhyam mahasarah purta cakre karayat " (Vide analysis of this Kavya in IA., IV, p. 269) cf. also verse 117 of canto XV of the Dvyasrayakavya :- " sambhoh sahasramastau ca ayatanani sarastate || 244

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tusta siddharajasya tirtham putena varina | sampurna tatsarascakre samamtadaksayena sa || 25 || sa tatsarasamasadya punyam punya mahanadi | 245 sarasvati sthita devi lokanam papanasani || 26 || " This lake, thereafter, became the abode of all heavenly beings as Siddharaja established one thousand lingas of god Siva all round it :- 88 tatha naga suparnasca siddhascakradharasca ye | saritah sagarah sarve yaksavidyadharastatha || 31 || sahasram yatra linganam siddhesena pratisthitam | nivasam rocayamasuh tasminnamrtasagare || 32 || " The place in course of time attained great celebrity as a centre of religious purification :- " ekasmin sivakunde'pi .... muktidam nrnam | kim punaryatsahasrasya linganam puratah sthitam || 38 || trisu lokesu vikhyatam siddharajasarovarah || 40 || " It became pre-eminent among the holy places owing to the presence of 1000 Siva lingas : " :- sarvesameva tirthanamidamevadhikam sarah | sahasram yatra linganam sthitam devaganaih saha || 46 || " Even god Kesava made this place his abode to please king Siddharaja :- " prityartham siddharajasya punyetvamrtasagare | " jalasayi jagadyonih tasminsvapiti kesavah || 38 || " yatra sete sa bhagavan ' yoganidram samasritah | tatsthanam muktidam brahman svetadvipadvisisyate || 46 || 1. About the temple in the centre of the Sahasraling Talav Burgess observes :-" In the centre was an island on which stood the (Continued on next page )

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snatva tirthavare yatra pasyamtim jalasayinam | sarvapapavinirmukta vaikuntham prapnuvanti te || 50 || " In front of god Kesava is situated the dasavataraka tirtha in the Siddharaja lake :- - " tasya devasya puratah tasmin sarasi samsthitam | dasavatarakam nama ..papranasanam || 58 || " The ten images of the ten incarnations of god were established at the rart at by Siddharaja himself. These ten images are of the ten avataras viz :- ( 1 ) matsya, ( 2 ) kurma, (3) varaha, (4) narasimha, (5) vamana, (6) bhargavo ramah ( 7 ) dasarathirama, ( 8 ) krsna, ( 9 ) buddha and (10 ) kalki (verses 61 and 62). Another tirtha called the dasasvamedhika tirtha is situated in front of the image of vamanavatarah- 66 vamanasyagratastatra kuruksetram sadasthitam | .tyah sahaya tam kathitam te mahanagha || 76 || dasasvamedhikam tirtham tasyaika puratah sthitam | . namasvamedhanam yatra khyatah phalam labhet || 80 || " Sumati now asks Markandeya to explain to him the genesis of the 1000 Siva lingas, which is then explained in a mythical style as follows : " banena yani lingani vimuktani nadijale | tesam sahasrasamuddhrtya siddharajah samanayat || 83 || sthapitam siddharajena tasmin punyasarovare | sahasram banalinganam yugapadbhaktimuktidam || 84 || " (Continued from previous page) temple of Rudresvara destroyed, of course, by the Muslims, who raised a large octagonal Rauzah on its ruins; but of this only the dilapidated remains now exist." It appears from verses 48, 49, 50 of the Sarasvatipurana quoted above that the central temple was of Kesava or Visnu and not of Rudresvara and this fact is consistent with the dasavataraka tirtha in front of the god Kesava in the same lake containing the images of the 10 incarnations of god Visnu as described in detail by the Sarasvati purana ( verses 61-62 of chap. xvi ).

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The purificatory powers of a single Siva linga have been mentioned by god Siva himself in the sivasastra . What can be the power of 1000 Siva lingas ? :- " etattu sivasastresu sivena kathitam svayam | sahasram drsyate yatra kim varnyate maya || 86 || " Siddharaja practised penance on a a mountain called the amarakamtaka and then took his bath in the waters of the river Narmada ( v. 90 ). God Omkara was pleased at this and granted Siddharaja a boon, promising that he would thenceforward reside permanently on the embankment of the Sahasralinga Lake :- " svaya sahasralinganam sthapitam tatsarastade | tatra vatsyamaham nityam bhaktya te pritimanasah || 92 || " Then follows a long a dealing with the effects of religious rites performed at the Sahasralinga tirtha, followed by the prasasti of king Siddharaja and his Lake as follows:- 66 na siddhesasamo raja na sarastadrsam kvacit | samam sahasralingena tirthamanyat (na) drsyate || 220 || tatragarani tenaiva sthapitani sarastate | brahmananam yatinam ca trpyartham ca tapasvinam || 121 || sarvakamasamrddhani sobhante tani suvratah | brahmavisnvisa devanam loke striya iva sthitah || 122 || unmata caiva nimna ca kirtistena prakasita | siddharajena tatraiva sthita sa vyapya rodasi || 123 || siddharajasamo raja na bhuto na bhavisyati | sahasram yena linganam yugapatsthapitam svayam || 134 || " Chapter XVI from which the above information has been extracted is designated siddharajamahatmya varnana and it ends with the following verses :Folio 121 b- 88 idam tu yah siddhanrpasya janma srnoti bhaktya purusottamasya | prapnoti kamansakalanihaiva prayati visnoh paramam padam sah || 268 ||

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ye siddharajasya caritrametat pathanti srrnvanti ca sustavanti | te siddhakamah sukhino manusyah prabhukrpayasca sada bhavanti || 269 || " I shall now record the description' of the Sahasralinga Talav, the construction of which has been ascribed to king Jayasimha Siddharaja2 of Gujarat (A. D. 1093-1143). Various artificial lakes or reservoirs in Gujarat are ascribed to Siddharaja. "One of the largest of these was the Sahasralinga talav, or tank of the thousand Saiva shrines at Pattan the remains of which are still pointed out to the north-west of the town. It must have been a reservoir of of immense size, and derived its name from the numerous little temples containing lingas, placed on the steps around it. In the centre was an island on which stood the temple of Rudresvara, destroyed of course by the Muslims, who raised a large octagonal Rauzah on its ruins; but of this only the dilapidated remains now exist. "The basin of the lake is now converted into little fields. The great embankment surrounding it appears to be composed throughout of solid brick-work and this was once faced with solid masonry forming flights of steps to the water's edge. On and above these steps stood the thousand shrines of which fragmentary remains are still found buried in the debris of the embankment. "This tank is said to have been begun by Jayasimha Siddharaja "" " 1. Burgess and Cousens: 'Architectural Antiquities of Northern Gujarat' (Arch. Survey of Western India, Vol. IX ), London, 1903, PP. 38-39. - 2. Vide pp. 973-977 of Dynastic History of Northern India by Dr. Hem Chandra Ray, Vol. II (1936) Jayasimha was a great builder. Besides the Sahasralinga Talav the temple of Rudramahakala at Siddhapur is also ascribed to him. (The Sarasvatipurana contains a description of this temple and some genealogy of Siddharaja but I shall deal with this material in a separate paper). Jayasimha appears to have been a devotee of the Saiva faith. The era known as the Simha era was already in use in Jayasimha's reign (Vide Atru Stone Inscription dated in the year 14 of this era as also Mangrol inscription of Kumarapala dated in the 32 year of this era). One sorrow viz. the want of a son gnawed at his heart. Dr. Ray (p. 975) gives a table showing the relationship of Kumarapala with his predecessor Jayasimha.

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shortly before he set out against Yasovarman, the sovereign of Malava and is the theme of legend and song. " A historical incident associated with this tank is the stabbing of Bairam Khan, the famous minister of Humayun, when alighting from a boat after a sail on the tank on Friday, the 31 st January 1561. Bairam Khan rebelled against Akbar and was sent to Mecca. He came to Patan and was hospitably received by Musa Khan Fuladi the Governor, but was stabbed by Mubarik as described above. Burgess further remarks that during the 14 th century all the rich shrines of the Hindus (Brahmanical or Jain) were desecrated, plundered and demolished at the will or caprice of the Moguls. If this statement is applicable to the Sahasralinga Talav we may presume that the shrines on the embankment of this talav may have been destroyed in the 14 th century. I am of opinion that the Sarasvatipurana was composed at a time when the tirthas associated with the river Sarasvati had attained so sacrosanct a character as to necessitate the creation of a special purana like the Sarasvatipurana.' It would also be reasonable to suppose that when this purana was composed all the tirthas on the banks of the river Sarasvati were quite in a flourishing condition, free from. the ravaging hands of the Moguls. The Bombay Gazetteer2 records the following information about the Sahasralinga Talav :- " 'The Sehesling or Sahasraling Talav, the tank with the thousand shrines, was dedicated to Shiv by Sidh Raj just before he set out on his expedition against Yasovarman, king of Malava. A merchant left nine lakhs of Balotras with a certain banker and died. The heirs of the latter knew nothing of the sum and refused to take it. Jai Sing Sidh Raj decided that the money should be spent in building a reservoir, and it was done, "the finest in the world, hitherto unsurpassed by all that the cleverest and wisest have executed or imagined, and it remains to this day (A.D. 1200-1230)." 1. Hemacandra, a contemporary of Siddharaja Jayasimha informs us (in chapter xv, verse 118 of the Dvyasraya Mahakavya) that Siddharaja Jayasimha caused to be made the Sahasralinga tank and established also schools for learning Jyotisasastras, Nyaya-sastras, and the Puranas. Perhaps the Sarasvatipurana may have been the outcome of the study of Puranas instituted by Jayasimha. 2. Bombay Gaz. Vol. VII (Baroda), p. 600.

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believe the foregoing description of the Sahasralinga tank if compared with that given in the Sarasvatipurana leaves no doubt that the Siddharaja-Saras described in the latter work is exactly identical with that now known to history and archaeology. It appears, however, that though the tank was called a Sahasralingasaras the actual number of Saiva shrines on the bank of this lake was one thousand and eight as stated by Hemacandra sambhoh sahasramastau- cayatanani sarastate | ' The testimony of Hemacandra being contemporary must be taken as conclusive on the question of the exact number of the Saiva shrines on the bank of the Siddharaja lake." 1. Vide B. S. S., LXIX ( Dvyasraya Kavya ), Canto XV, v. 117. 2. I take this opportunity of thanking Mr. Ambalal B. Jani (Assistant Secretary, Forbes Gujarati Sabha, Bombay) at whose request I began my study of the historical material in the Sarasvatipurana in April 1937. Mr. Jani was also kind enough to keep the contents of this paper in May 1937 at the disposal of the scholar entrusted with the work of editing the Sarasvatipurana. I am not aware to what extent these contents have been useful to the above editor in the preparation of his proposed edition of the work. I await with eagerness this edition of the Sarasvatipurana for which I have supplied to the Forbes Gujarati Sabha a copy of the B. O. R. Institute MS No. 429 of Vis. I (from the Vishrambag Collection of the Peshwas in the Govt. MSS Library).

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