Tilakamanjari of Dhanapala (study)
by Shri N. M. Kansara | 1970 | 228,453 words
This is an English study of the Tilakamanjari of Dhanapala, a Sanskrit poem written in the 11th century. Technically, the Tilaka-manjari is classified as a Gadyakavya (“prose-romance”). The author, Dhanapala was a court poet to the Paramara king Munja, who ruled the Kingdom of Malwa in ancient west-central India. Alternative titles: Dhanapāla Tila...
5. Short biography of Bhoja
Paramara Bhojadeva of Dhara, the son and successor of Sindhuraja, was one of the most famous rulers of the eleventh century A.D., celebrated for his learning and patronage of learned men. His rule z¤¤O 62.History of Paramara Dynasty pp.75-76. 63. Nava-sahasanka Charita 1.8: divam yiyasu yaci mudramadhana yam vakpatirajadevah | tasyanujanama kavi bandhavasya bhinati tam samprati sindhurajah |||| 64.Epigraphies Indica Vol.I.pp.296-305, vs.7.
131 revived the memories of the reign of Vikramaditya the 65 Great. At least six inscriptions of Bhoja are available, viz., the Bansvara plates dated 1020 A.D., the Batma plates dated 1020 A.D., the Sarasvati-image Inscription dated 1047 A.D., the Tilakawada copper plate dated 1047 66 A.D., and the Kalyan Inscription. Bhoja's military career as the most powerful emperor in the north was chequered with constant conflicts with the surrounding contemporary Hindu kingdoms of Chedi in the east, Calukyas of Anahilavada in the west and the Calukyas of Kalyana in the south. He had fights a with the king of Chedi Indranatha Toggala I, with Bhima of Gujarat, with the kings of Karnataka and Lata and with the Gurjaras and the Turushkas, as stated in the 67 Udayapura Prasasti. By dz means of intrigues, Bhoja defeated Gangeya Vikramaditya (circa 1010-1041 A.D.), Kalacuri the/king of Tripuri, encaged him and took him away to his capital, honoured him and at last made him his his friend. This incident may have served as a historical background for the parallel incident, in the Tilakamanjari of Dhanapala, of the 65.A History of Civilization in Ancient India Vol.II.p.320. 66.History of Paramara Dynasty pp.83-88. 67.Epigraphies Indica Vol.I.vs.19: cedi narendraratha loggala bhimamukhyan karnatalatapati- narendrarato'gala 68.Puratana-prabandha-samgraha(SJGM). II. p.20) gurjarara turuskan | yadbhrtyamatravijita- navalokya maula dosana balani kalayakti na lokan ||19 ||
132 defeat of Samaraketu at the hands of Vajrayudha due to the magic power of the Balaruna ring and the former's capture and subsequent friendship with Harivahana, the 69 son of his opponent Meghavahana: The Udayapura Prasasti speaks of the Turks and others as being defeated by the contingents or a general of Bhoja and not by Bhoja himself. He was certainly not one of those who fought with Mahmud at Somanatha. Perhaps, as suggested by Col. Luard and Mr. Lele on the gh strength of a statement in the Tabkat-i-Akbari, it was due to Bhoja's efforts to intercept the defiler of the temple built by him and by his feudatory Calukya Bhima that Mahmud went back with his plunder through the western part of the 70 71 desert of Multan. His revenge over Tailappa II, his enmity with the Chedi kingdom on the east and with the Karnataka king in the south were almost hereditary and more disastrous. Having subjugated Jayasimha after a long conflict of nine years (1010-1019 A.D.), Bhoja annexed Konkana to his kingdom as is confirmed by a Jain 78 inscription known as the Kalyana plates of Yasovarman. 69.Tilakamanjari pp.92-103. 70.HMNI.Vol.III.p.158.. 71.BCRI.pp.50-56; Political History of Northern India from Jain Sourses p.98. 72.Epigraphies Indica Vol.XVIII.pp.320-325.
1 133 In Gujarat his enmity was with Bhima who, however, established diplomatic relations with Bhoja. His envoy was 75 74 73 Damara who has been mentioned as 'Damodara'by Hemacandra. In the north Bhoja seems to have received a set-back at the hands of the Kacchapaghatas, rulers of Gwalior, the feudatories of the Candellas. In 1043 A.D. a great confederacy of the king of Delhi, Bhima of Gujarat, the Cahamana of Nadulla, Somesvara of Kalyani and the Kalcuri King Karna seems to have been formed under Bhoja's 76. leadership. This confederacy wrested Hansi, Thaneshwar and other places in the north from the Yamini kings of 77 Gazna. At this time the brilliant military career of Bhoja reached its pinacle with his empire extending from Camba and Thaneshwar in the north to Krsna and Tungabhadra in the south, and from Dwarka in the west 78. to Kanoj in the east. The acquisition of Lata emboldened Bhoja to push his armies further south. This brought him to the border of Konkana, the region extending from the present Thana District in the Maharashtra to the Malbar 73.Prabandha Chintamani p.33. 74.Dvyasraya-kavya of Hemachandra IX.26. 75.Dynastic History of Northern India Pt.II.p.870; also Epigraphies Indica Vol.IX.pp.70 ff. 76.Brigg's Farishta 1.118. lasa- 77.CHI.111.32-33 referred to in The Glory that was Gurjaradesha .p. 145. 78.The Glory that was Gurjaradesha D.145; also the Udayapura Prasasti vs.17:34 malayagirito'stodya vidyama bhukta prthvi prthujarapatestulyarupena yena unmulyorvi bharagurugana lilaya capayamjya, ksipta diksu ksitirapi param pritimapadita ca || in Epigraphies Indica Vol.I.p.235.
1 134 coast in Kerala. Silaharas held sway over the north part of this country and their territory extended as far as Goa. They had been on friendly terms with Sindhuraja, but, for some reason, their relations with Bhoja became unfriendly. In 1017 A.D. he invaded Konkana and returned victorios to Malwa where he celebrated the event with great pomp and ceremony. The Silaharas, however, continued to rule over Konkana, probably as vassals of the Paramaras, as is evidenced by the Bhandup plates of the Mahamandalesvara Cittaraja (1026 A.D.)79 Thus practically the whole of North India was under the sway of Bhoja. The only other rival emperor in the country was Rajaraja Cola of Tanjore (984-1014 A.D.), the virtual monarch of almost the whole of South India as well as the Greater India. He was on terms of cordial friendship 80. with Bhoja: The Paramara King Bhoja is sometimes represented as the lord of the land bounded by the Kailasa, Malaya and the mythical Sunset and Sunrise mountains. Another tradition holds that the same Paramara king ruled for a little over fifty-five years over 'Daksinapatha' together with 'Gauda'.There is no doubt that 'Daksinapatha' 79.History of Paramara Dynasty pp.96-98. 80.ibid.p.117. }
135 has been mentioned here in the sense of the whole of South India often conceived as a separate Cakravarti- 81 ksetra. Shri D.C.Sarkar opines that the claim is merely conventional as is shown by the fact that Bhoja's domi-n nions did not include any considerable part of South India. Gauda, according to him, indicates the northern Cakravarti-ksetra or Aryavatta, and the above-mentioned tradition mentions both the partial Cakravarti-ksetras side by side to signify the whole of the Bharatavarsa conceived as the main Cakravarti-ksetra. The opinion of Shri Sarkar is corroborated by the Tilakamanjari of Dhanapala wherein Meghavahana, as well as Harivahana are said to have ruled as the emperors of North India. The utilization of the word 'rajaraja' in compounds like 'vidyadhara+rajarajadhani* might have conveyed some oblique references with the contemporary audiance. In Samaraketu's naval expedition to the South is reflected Rajaraja's naval expedition of 'Srivijaya'. It might have been significant that the 85 name of the warship of Samaraketu is 'Vijaya-yatra. Dr. Moticandra has already drawn our attention to the stri- 86 king resemblance between these two naval expeditions. 84 81.SGAMI.p.15. 82 82.TH(N). p.362:--: bharatavarsardhabhubhujo maharaja meghavahanasyah etc. 82.Tilakamanjari p.362:-- 83.ibid.p.366. 84.ibid.pp.114-126 and 131-140. 85.ibid.p.131: - -- 86.Sv.p.220. sajjikrta vijayayatra vidhana nauh | 83
136 And Harivahana's attainment of the emperorship of the Vidyadharas inhabiting the northern slope of the Vaitadhya 88 87 range and subsequent gift of it to Samaraketu is but an image of Bhoja's unrivalled sovereignty of the whole of North India and his subsequent political adjustment with Rajaraja cola and later on with his successor Rajendra Cola who is declared, in his inscriptions (A.D} 1025), to have conquered Orissa, Bihar and Bengal and reached the banks of the Ganga from which he assumed the 89 title of Gangaikonda-cola (the Cola who seized the Ganga?? The latter part of Bhoja's reign was as unhappy and inglorious as those of his predecessor Munja and Sindhuraja. Incessant wars with his neighbours wore out his military strength, and it was further weakened shortly after 1044 A.D. by the terrible blow inflicted on it by the Karnataka King Somesvara who ravaged Malwa, plundered its capital and forced Bhoja to flee. It was probably after this tragic end of Bhoja that Dhanapala thought of undertaking the Jainistic vow of a fast unto the death. One of the greatest monarchs of India, Bhoja was, at the same time, a great scholar and patron of learning. 87•TMON). p. 403: abhisicya ca uttarasreni rajye etc. 88.ibid.p.426: 31141741-712-4 --112-4. tarako savaratah sarddhamakhiladhikarai, sakalamapyuttara sreni rajyamu- 89.A History of Indian Shipping and Maritime Activity p.175%; also C.p.194. : prayacchat |
137 90. He is propably called 'Kaviraja' and 'Malavacakravartin' by the inscription writers of the time even in other domains. He was also called 'Trilaka-narayana-bhumipala' by Vardhamana in his Ganaratna-mahodadhi? Prabhacandra also testifies to this effect? He has been credited with works in every branch of knowledge in every Sastra.According to Ajada, the commentator of the Sarasvatikanthabharana, Bhoja wrote eighty-four works and all these were given the names which were Bhoja's own titles Birudas. 92 He is traditionally credited to have ¤¤¤gad been a polymath who composed works on Grammar, Poetics, Astronomy, Astrology, Logic, Medicine, Zoology, Architecture, Numismatics, Philosophy, Dream Psychology, Palmistry and etc. 90.Ganaratna-mahodadhi of Vardhamana III.5.pp.150-151. 91.Prabhavaka-charita 18.13: atha sribhojarajasya vagdevikulasabhanah | kala- sindhuma hasindhorvidvad valli mahaukasah || 13 || etc. 92. iha hi sista siromani nikhila niravadya vidyanirmana purva prajapatih pracanda bhujadandaparakramarjita caturasiti biruda prakasita svakrtagrandhasamajah sri bhojarajah sastrarambha 93 -" etc.p.37. Des. Cat. of Mss. in Jain Bhandars at Pattan. Vol.I. Palm leaves, GOS LAXVI, as quoted by Bhoja’s shringara Prakasha 93.Prabhavaka-charita 17.75-78 : bhojavyakaranam yetat sabdasastra pravartate ||75|| asau hi majhyadhisi vidvaccakra siromanih | sabdalankaradaivajna- tarka sastrani nirma mem ||76|| cikitsa rajasiddhanta rasa va styudayani cam akasakuna kadhyatma svapna samudrikanyapi ||77|| granthannirmita- vyakhyana prasna cudamani niham | vivrti caya sadbhave'rdhakandam meghamalaya || jaya
.138 Aufrecht records the following works as attributed to 94 Bhoja :I.Anthology:- (1) Subhasita-prabandha; II.Architecture:- (2) Samarangana-sutradhara ; III.Astronomy and Astrology:- (3) Aditya-pratapasiddhanta; (4) Raja-martanda; (5) Raja-mrgahka (Karana); (6) Vidvajjana-vallabha (Prasna); IV.Dharmagastra Rajadharma and Polity :- (7) Bhujabala-nibandha; (8) Bhupala-paddhati; (9) Bhup PlaBhupalasamucchaya (or Krtya-samucchaya); (10) Canakya-niti (or Dandaniti); (11) Carucarya; (12) Purtamartanda; (13) Raja-martanda; (14) Rajaniti; (15) Vyavaharasamuccaya; (16) Yukti-kalpataru; 1 V.Grammar:-(17) Sarasvati-kapthabharana (or Sabdanu- sasana); VI.Lexicography:- (18) Nama-malika; VII.Medicine:- (19) Ayurveda-sarvasva; (20) Raja-martanda (or Yogasarasamgraha); (21) Raja-mrganka; (22)salihotra; (23) Visranta-vidyavinoda; VIII.Music:- (24) Sangita-prakasa; IX.Philosophy:- (25) Raja-martanda (commentary on Patanjali's Yogasutras); (26) Siddhanta-sara-paddhati; (27) Siva-tattva-ratna-kalika; (28) Tattva-pariksa 94.CC.pt.I.p.418; pt.II.p.95.
139 (or Siva-tattva-pariksa); X.Rhetorics:- (29) Sarasvatikanthabharana; (30) srnsrngara-prakasa; XI.Sanskrit Poetry and Prose: (31) Campu-ramayana; (32) Mahakalavijaya; (33) Srngaramanjari; (34) Vidyavinoda; XXI.Prakrit Poems;- (35) Kusumasataka. 95 Shri T.R.Cintamani adds a few more, viz., (36) Amaravyakhya and (37) Kodanda-mandana. Some of these works have already been published. Modern scholars like Aufrecht and A. Rangaswami Sarasvati hold that all these must have been the works of quite a large number of scholars, all working under the presidentship of Bhoja himself. Dr. V. Raghavan and Ray, 96, however, do not fully agree with them. Sridharadasa, the author of the Sadukti-karnamrita of Shridhara-dasa quotes about forty verses of Bhoja- 3697 deva 1 Bhoja was a great builder. Highly devoted as he was to 98. Siva, who was his dynastic deity, he built temples dedicated to Kedaresvara, Ramesvara, Somanatha, Sundira, 99. Kala, Anala and Rudra. The Bhojasala at Dhara (now Kamala Maula Mosque) was a university variously referred 95.Sarasvati-kanthabharana of Bhojadeva Intro.p.xiii-xvi. 96.Bhoja’s shringara Prakasha Intro.l ff.; Dynastic History of Northern India p.872. 97.Sadukti-karnamrita of Shridhara-dasa Intro.p.87. 98.Paramara Inscriptions in Dhar State (875-1310 A.D.) p.l, Intro.vss. of Gandhawani plates dated Vikrama Samvata 99.Epigraphies Indica Vol.I.pp.233-238. vs.20:2214144: 14472- samjnam jagatim cakara | ; also Bhoja-carita of Rajavallabha Intro.p.2
140 to as 'Sarasvati-sadana' 'Bharati-bhavana' or 'Saradasadma' and it exhibited on its two pillars two charts, 'alphabetical and grammatical, the first in the form of a single snake and the second in that of two intertwined 100 snakes. The university, adorned with a temple of a Srasvati, was a meeting place of great poets, scholars 101 and critics attracted from all parts of India. Close to it was a large well known as 'Akkal-kui'. Bhoja's big palace formerly known as Raja-martanda (now the Lata Masjid) is another living monument. The old forts of Dhara and Mandu are also attributed to him. The extensive lake known as Bhoja-sagara (covering about 250 sq. miles) Of Bhopal in the vicinity of Bhojapur (Lat.23'-6 N Long.77'-30 E) encircling the village Dip (Rly. Stn. on the Central Rly.) which was then an island, has never 102 been a myth. Bhoja erected a sacred tank at Kapilesvara in Kashmir, from which one Padmaraja, a betel-seller, used to dispatch large number of jars of holy water to 103. wash the king's face Ujjayini reached its cultural height during the days of Munja and Bhoja, both of whom were the children of that ancient seat of empires and 100.Bhoja Raja by P.T.Shrinivasa Aiyangar, pp.98-99 as quoted by HIS.p.353. 101.Epigraphies Indica Vol.VIII.pp.96 ff. 102.Paramara Inscriptions in Dhar State (875-1310 A.D.) Intro.p.xi. 103.Rajatarañgini of Kalhana. Stein’s Edn VIII.190-193.
141 profound learning, though these emperors seem to have shifted their capital to Dhara due to political and military reasons. 104 King Bhoja still lives in public memory chiefly as a patron of learning and a liberal donor. Kalhana and Merutunga as well as other Jain chroniclers have recorded many anecdotes testifying to his munificence to poets and scholars. Mammata, a junior contemporary, also 105 adduces to it. During Bhoja's rule Uvata, the son of Vajrata of Anandapura i (modern Vadnagar) in the north Gujarat, wrote the Sukla-yajurveda-bhasya in Ujjayini, as is evident from his concluding remarks to the commentary. Bhoja conferred the honour of 'Vidyapati' to ha Baskarabhatta, the forefather of Bhaskaracarya, the famous writer on Astrology. At the court of this magnificent royal polymath flourished Dhanapala, the author of the Tilakamanjari of Dhanapala, one Kalidasa, the author of the Nalodaya, Vijnanesvara, the author of the Mitaksara, and others like 106 Khra and Cittapa. In the opinion of Dr. Kunhan Raja, the famous nine scholarly 'jems', referred to in the wellknown verse of the Jyotirvidabharana, seem to have 104.Rajatarañgini of Kalhana. Stein’s Edn IV.259. 105.Kavyaprakasha of Mammata X.114:.. 106.Survey of Sanskrit Literature p.96.
142 flourished in the court of Bhoja of Malwa who is but mentioned as 'Vikrama'. The nine'jemsere Dhanvantari, Ksapanaka, Amarasimha, Sanku, Vetaj abhatta, Ghatakarpara and Kalidasa. He granted a hundred 'agraharas' on the bank of the Narmada in Saka 923 (i.e.1001 A.D.) to Purantaka for his Syamala-dandaka, a proso-poetic piece in praise of the goddess Sarasvati. Bhoja is said to _107 108 have honoured Shri Gopanandisuri. Two hundred years later, Somesvara refers to his munificence in his Girnar 109 Inscription. Thus the universal testimony of succeeding ages prove that the high praise showered on Bhoja ■ was based on a fact of history. This is poetically recorded in 110 the popular verse in the SRB As an imperial monarch whose writ ran over almost the whole of North India, and as an unrivalled patron of men of letters, Bhoja naturally seems to have been very proud almost to the extent of being jealous or impatient of his Saiva faith, of his power, patronage and unsurpassable scholarship of his assembly. Prabhacandra has noted a few instances of Bhoja's anxiety to guard the 107.A History of Classical Sanskrit Literature p.492. 108•JP.Intro p•8: sah sri prabhacandro gopanandina surina sahadhyaista yasya pada dharajagaradhipatih dharajagaradhipatih sribhojarajah samapujayat | 42-4421 109.The Glory that was Gurjaradesha p.218. 110.$RS • III •79, P•117: asya sribhojarajasya dvayameva sudurlabham | satrunam srr nkhalai loha tamra sasajapatrakaih || |
143 111 honour of his assembly of scholars, emen at the cost of the life of the adversary. Thus it is said that he almost decided to murder Dhanapala whose caustic digs at the weak points of certain Hindu religious beliefs. Again, he is said to have staked one lac coins each for each of the five hundred scholars of his assembly to meet the challenge of Vadivetala Santisuri, who is said to have returned alive on the strength of Dhanapala's precautions.12 A similar, though more serious, incident is recorded about suracarya, a Jain monk, who, due to his haughty scholarship, severely criticized the introductory verse of Bhoja's Sarasvati-kanthabharana, a work on Sanskrit Grammar, and obliquely abused the king to have committed a great poetic crime in composing a a verse suggestive of conjugal relations with the wife 113 of one's nephew! It was, again, due to Dhanapala's | 111.Prabhavaka-charita 17.139: sribhojah kupitastasyapasavyavacanakramai | dadhyavamu hanisyami vibruvantam dvija bruvam || 139 || 112.1b 2d.16.53_cd: anyatha matsabha jitva ko yatyaksatavigrahah ||;and ibia.60: kavisvaranuprayatasca gurjaresa dharavadhih prityavrtya te prapuh pattanam sriniketanam ||6|| 156 || 113.ibid.18.153 ff. The introductory verse of Bhoja's SKB is : caturmukhamukhambhoja vana hamsavadhumama | mana ne isata nityam suddhavarna sarasvati The comments of suracarya vere: asmabhirati purvamasravi brahmacarini | kumari sampratam tatra vyapadista vadhuriti || 155 || citramasrutapurvam tadanyat prcchami kincana | matulasya suta gamya yatha''ste daksinapathe || surastrayam bhratr jaya devarasya yathocita | bhavadese tada gamya'nujagajavadhuh katham || 157 || yadbadhusabdasamipye 'manase ramata mama | prayukta . ; also ibid. 195: sri bhojarajah svasabha jetaram hanti niscitam | jaye parajaye vapi na sreyah kimu kurmahe || 195 || ||
144 active assistance that Suracarya could safely be transported beyond the pale of the Malava territory. In his ambitious zeal to reconcile all the systems of Indian Philosophy, Bhoja is recorded to have had recourse to dictatorial method when he rounded up various scholars of different faiths and confined them in a dungeon from which there were to be set free only when they arrive 114 at a unanimous decision! And the desired unanimity t did come off, not with regard to the systems, but about how to save one's life !! And the credit for setting the king on the right track by convincing him of the impossibility of such a unanimity and abandoning the method is said to have gone to the above-mentioned suracarya. If we take these traditional anecdotes at their face value, we have no ground to disbelieve the incident of Bhoja's throwing the Ms. of the Tilakamanjari of Dhanapala into the fire-pan. Another point worth noting and a unique one in the whole history of the Sanskrit literature is the composition of the Sanskrit prose-romance named the Srngaramanjari-katha by Bhoja. It was composed most probably after the composition of the Tilakamanjari of Dhanapala by Dhanapala, - 114.Prabhavaka-charita 18.111_ff: tasmatsarve'pi samgatya darsanasthamanisinah| kuru dhvamaikameveda sandihama yatha na hi ||113|| samarpindayadekama bata ke tan pasuniya || 116 || sahasrasamkhyaya tatra pumsah sribika strirapi canayat | bhoktum nadacca sarvesamekam matyacikirsaya || 117|| suryaाvaca parinama daikamadhyam vajayata | jivo nijah ki raksyah iti citamahajvare || 2281 || a
145 who composed his work probably after Bhoja composed the Campu-ramayana. It was composed probably because Dhanapala refused to fall in line with the wish of Bhoja to have him as a hero of his prose-romance, in the same way as Bana obliged his patron King Harsa, compred to whom Bhoja was definitely a far greater scholar. The apologetic tone of Bhoja in the beginning of the Shringaramanjari-katha of Bhojadeva with regard to describing his own capital city Dhara and resorting to the device of putting his own describing description as the hero of the story in the mouth of a 115 fountain-doll is very remarkable. And, Bhoja, unobliged by Dhanapala, had to indulge in this direct literary action to get himself immortalized, in view of an imperial patron's then justifiable expectations from the E foremost of his court-poets especially when there was such a glorious precedents formed by Bana - and might be that none of his other court-poets possessed the quality and the talent requsite for composing such an inimitable work with him as the hero - a work which = i stand a fair comparision with the Harsacarita of Bana. Dhanapala was the only poet who could bear the brunt of such a responsible and tough commission, as was amply 115. Shringaramanjari-katha of Bhojadeva P. 7: -- ityanidhaya re mantraputraka ! yadyapyasmatparisadah sammatam tathapi nijaguna viskaranamavagalamaya pratibhasate | tadrajavarnana bhavaneva ityabhihitah giving scafrifect : sa bhanitu garibhe- ... 1 ---
146 proved by his composition of the Tilakamanjari of Dhanapala In the absence of the availability of this poet, Bhoja seems to have been constrained to compose a work which might serve as an illustration of different types of love (raga) as the Erotic (srigara) was his most favourite sentiment. And I this might have been the principal cause behind Dhanapala's refusal to comply with Bhoja's request to put his name in the place of Meghavahana and that of Dhara in that of Ayodhya. This might also have nipped in the bud even a possible hope of Bhoja about Dhanapala ever composing another work - an 'Akhyayika to commemorate him. The differece of their mutually hostile religious faiths seem to have been a gulf too unbridgeably wide for the imprial order made to the poet, who was a senior in age and scholarship and favoured even by his predecessor, like Munja and who was too popular with the people to be coarsed into composing a work of art to order. A sort of an inherent contempt of a Jain poet for a Saivite royal, but junior, patron surely precluded the possibility of his ever being dazzled by the king's personality so as to command an instantaneous natural eulogistic inspiration. Otherwise, a poet Dhanapala who admired Bama for his Harsacarita which fetched its author boundless
147 116 fame could not have resisted a similar temptation to such a fame for himself. It is significant that Dhanapala praises Bhoja elaborately for his personal handsomeness and valour. As to his scholarship, however, he briefly calls him 'acquainted with the entire literature' (nihsesavanmayavid) and nothing more. Bhoja's craving for literary fame must have been whetted by Dhanapala's work, which far surpassed the former's Campu-ramayana indirectly criticized by the latter in the introductory verses of the Tilakamanjari of Dhanapala and ultimately resulted in a direct request - by the emperor to his favourite court-poet, who refused to oblige. And taking recourse to the rather justifiable grounds in view of his own considerable talents, Bhoja seems to have seized the opportunity of incidantally immortalizing himself and his capital Dhara rather with a vengeance, while principally writing a work in illustrating his main thesis of Raga-srngara in his 117 118. Srigaraprakasa. This is a unique instance of religious difference of opinion depriving us another historical Sanskrit prose-romance an 'Akhyayika' which could have successfully contended with that of Bana's Harsacaritam. And-Bhoja amply deserved such an honour in view of his * * * * me out b 116.Tilakamanjari Intro.vs.27. 117. (P.T.0.) 4
cakravati' gujara ---Tim 147 (4) ** bharata paryanta ***13 →*** baka nadi ma sidhdha sa $ep(R) u ariyalani ja iravati siva kitapura nadi sampa dampa khi o vipasa vi. pura sarasvatini prayada a -sampadalaka •kamala sarasvatamandala cata 0 alipa sthai vi sar mepata vardhamana stambhatirtha anadapura dhara- sagastra d ba sa bapora vidisa tripura hala mandana tapi nadi kagara nadi man'yakhata yayatitangana sa 3/ linga '* pascima pradhi cl 11. nakaro 5 Ins prajhyotisa purva sagara kanci gange'ikodakalapurama ello anuradhapura 7 sinhala malam talattalama manavama hataha lu daram bhoja parama2 ane colona samrajyanum bharata ( asare i.sa.1040 ) bhaja paramaranum saman'ya sapheda) MeghEY 11 colanum aman'ya 1 ma Cala Rebary dharma vajaya 200 Photostat of the Political Map of India (1040 4.D.) as given by Shri K.M.Munshi in his Gujarati book entitled *Cakravarti Gurjaro'. ghe . + [101
148 brilliant career, profoundly extensive scholarship and munificient patronage, the qualities, which are beautifully summed up in a verse in the Udayapura Prasasti 119