Kumarapala

Kumarapala was a ruler from the Chaulukya (Solanki) dynasty of present-day western India. He ruled present-day Gujarat and surrounding areas, from his capital Anahilapataka (modern Patan).

Kumarapala was a descendant of the Chaulukya king Bhima I. The information about him largely come from two sources – the numerous Sanskrit and Apabhramasa-Prakrit language inscriptions and the Jain texts. These provide a highly inconsistent historical profile in some respects, and corroborate each other in some. Both portray Kumarapala as a keen and generous patron of arts and architecture, one who supported the divergent religious Indian traditions in Western India, particularly Gujarat and Rajasthan region.

Kumarapala inscriptions predominantly invoke Shiva – a Hindu god, and they do not mention any Jain Tirthankara or Jaina deity. The major Veraval inscription calls him Mahesvara-nripa-agrani (worshipper of Shiva), and even Jain texts state that he worshipped Somanatha (Somesvara, Shiva). He rebuilt a spectacular Somanatha-Patan tirtha site with many Hindu temples, bathing ghats and pilgrim facilities, according to one inscription, thereby expanding the Somnath temple his father rebuilt after the plunder and destruction by Mahmud of Ghazni. The inscriptions suggest that he was a Hindu and participated in Brahmanic rituals, at least till the last known inscriptions that mention him.

According to Jain texts such as those written by Hemachandra and Prabhachandra, Kumarapala spent his early life in exile to avoid persecution by his relative and predecessor Jayasimha Siddharaja. He ascended the throne after Jayasimha's death, with help of his brother-in-law. He ruled for nearly three decades, during which he subdued a number of neighbouring kings, including the Chahamana king Arnoraja and the Shilahara king Mallikarjuna. He also annexed the Paramara territory of Malwa to his kingdom by defeating Ballala. Kumarapala, state the Jain text, became a disciple of the Jain scholar Hemachandra and adopted Jainism towards the end of his reign. The Jain texts composed after his death, additionally state that after his conversion, Kumarapala banned all killing of animals in his kingdom – a law that would be consistent with the Ahimsa principle. Multiple legendary biographies by medieval Jain chroniclers present him as the last great royal patron of Jainism. However, the inscriptions and the evidence from rulers who succeeded Kumarapala do not corroborate the Jain texts.

Administration

Three sons of Udayana, who is said to have helped Kumarapala during his early years, became highly influential and powerful politicians during Kumarapala's reign. These were Vagabhata, Amrabhata and Charubhata. Vagabhata-deva was made a minister, and a man named Āliga was made the chief of council (jyayana-pradhana).

The coins attributed to Kumarapala has his name on reverse and seated goddess, probably Lakshmi, on obverse.

Religion Kumarapala was born in a Shaivite family, but started patronizing Jainism at some point in life. The later Jain accounts portray him as the last great royal patron of Jainism, and as a righteous Jain king. During his reign, Jainism became prominent in Gujarat. It is not certain when exactly Kumarapala adopted the Jain faith. While several legendary chronicles state that he met the Jain scholar Hemachandra early in his life, the historical accuracy of this claim is doubtful.

According to Kumarapala's near-contemporary Somaprabha, the king used to hold religious meetings with Brahmins, but remained unsatisfied with their discussions. One day, his minister Vahada noticed this and told him about Hemachandra. The king requested a meeting with the Jain monk, who later converted him to Jainism. Hemachandra himself gives a similar account in his Mahavira-Charita. The later legendary accounts of Kumarapala's conversion to Jainism are too fanciful to be true. For example, Merutunga claims that Hemachandra made the god Shiva appear before Kumarapala at the Somanatha temple. Shiva told Kumarapala that Hemachandra was an incarnation of all the gods. On Hemachandra's advice, Kumarapala gave up the consumption of meat and wine. After return to his capital, Kumarapala took the twelve vows and became a Jain.

The Jain chronicles state that Kumarapala banned animal slaughter, alcohol, gambling and adultery after his conversion to Jainism. However, no extant inscriptions issued by the king announce any such ban. Two inscriptions issued by his feudatories ban animal slaughter on certain days of the month. These are the Ratanpur inscription and the 1152 CE Kiradu inscription.

Even after his conversion to Jainism, Kumarapala did not stop patronizing Shaivism. Hemachandra himself states that Kumarapala restored the temples of Shiva-Kedaranatha and Somanatha, and also erected the Kumareshvara temple after being told to do so by Shiva in a dream. Although Jain accounts unanimously state that Kumarapala converted to Jainism, none of the king's extant inscriptions invoke Jain deities. Most of his inscriptions began with invocations to Shiva. Even the Ratanpur inscription of his feudatory, which bans animal slaughter in accordance with Jain principles, begins with an invocation to Shankara (Shiva). The Kiradu inscription also states that Kumarapala achieved his conquests by the grace of Shankara. The 1169 CE Veraval prasasti inscription issued by the Shaivite priest Bhava Brihaspati describes Kumarapala as the leader of the rulers who worship Maheshvara (Shiva).

In view of these evidences, historian H. C. Ray theorizes that Kumarapala leaned towards Jainism because of financial considerations: he simply wanted to win over the support of rich Jain merchants, who controlled the economy of Gujarat. Historian Ashoke Kumar Majumdar criticizes this theory, arguing that the rich merchants in Gujarat probably became Jain after Kumarapala's conversion to Jainism, and because of his attempts to promote Jainism.

According to Hemachandra's Dvyashraya, Kumarapala began his day with blessings from the Brahmins and accepted a tilaka. Later in the day, he visited a Jain temple (named as Kumarapala-Vihara by a commentator). At the temple, he worshipped Parshvanatha. Thus, Hemachandra's writings indicate that Kumarapala did not give up Brahaminical rituals completely. However, the writings of the later Jain writers suggest that Kumarapala was completely devoted to Jainism. For example:

Jina-Mandana states that Kumarapala stopped worshipping the Brahmanical idols. Somaprabha, writing around a decade after Kumarapala's death, claims that the king recited Jain mantras and the Pancha Namaskara prayer after waking up. After meditating and taking a bath, he worshipped Jain images. Time permitting, he visited the Kumarapala-Vihara and performed the Jain eight-fold worship there. After this, he visited Hemachandra and listen to his teachings. At noon, the king had lunch only after he offered food to the Jain deities. Next, he discussed religion and philosophy with an assembly of learned men, and then attended his court.

It is possible that Kumarapala gave up the Brahminical rituals during the last years of his life. Another possibility is that the later Jain writers made concerted attempts to falsely portray him as a completely devout Jain.

The Shaivite texts claim that Kumarapala converted back to Shaivism. For example, a Skanda Purana story states that Brahmins appealed to Hanuman for Kumarapala's re-conversion to Shaivism: a talisman given by Hanuman resulted in the destruction of Kumarapala's capital, and ultimately, his re-conversion. Gadadhara's Sampradaya Pradipa (1554) claims that Hemachandra was defeated in a debate and sentenced to death, after which Kumarapala became a Shaivite. Such stories, which appear to be imaginary, conceded that at some point, Kumarapala believed in Jainism.

Constructions The Vadnagar inscription (1152 CE) mentions that Kumarapala built the fort of Vadnagar. Jagaducharita mentions that he ordered a tank to be built at Bhadravati (Bhadreshwar).

He built the temple at Somanatha in 1169 CE which the grandest and the most beautiful of his time. It's gudhamandapa (shrine proper) had the ceiling of about 34 feet which is the largest known in India. He also constructed Somnath Temple in Pali, Rajasthan.

According to Jain prabandhas, he built 32 Jain temples as the repentance of his non-vegetarianism in early life. This is mentioned in Yashapala's Mohaparajaya-nataka (VS 1229-32, 1173-76 CE) as well as in Prabhachandracharya's Prabhavakacharita (VS 1334, 1278 CE) and Merutunga's Prabandhachintamani (VS 1361, 1305 CE). Though it may be not be true explanation, he had constructed large number of temples himself or were constructed by his governors, administrators and officers.

He built Kumara-vihara dedicated to Parshwanath which had 24 devkulikas (shrines) in Anahilapataka. He built Trivihara and Tribhuvana-vihara (1160 CE) at Anahilapataka in merit of his father Tribhuvanpla which had 72 devkulikas and was dedicated to Neminatha. The large Ajitnatha temple at Taranga built by Kumarapala still survives while most of his other temples no longer exists. He also built temples at several sites, many of which are already Jain sites of pilgrimage: Shatrunjaya, Arbudagiri (Abu), Stambhatirtha (Khambhat), Prabhas (of Parshwanatha). He also built Kumaravihara at Tharapadra (Tharad), Iladurga (Idar), Jabaliputra (Jalore, 1165 CE), Dwipa (Diu), Latapalli (Ladol), Karkarapuri (Kakar), Mandali (Mandal) and Mangalpura (Mangrol). He built Jholika-vihara (1163 CE) at the birthplace of Hemachandra in Dhandhuka. Kumarapalapratibodha mentions his excavation of Jivantaswami Mahavira image from Vitabhayapura and its installation in the temple at Anahilapataka. Karmba-vihara, Yuka-vihara and the Mushaka-vihara are mentioned with a bizarre story in Prabandhachintamani, Puratan-prabandha-sangraha and Kumarapala-charitra-sangraha.

His Jain ministers built large number of temples. His minister Prithvipala built mandapa in front of the Vanrajavihara at Anahilapatak and the extant mandapa at the Vimala Temple on Mount Abu. He also built a mandapa the Ninnaya's temple built by his ancestor at Chandravati for the merits of his maternal grandmother. He also built Shantinath temple in Shayanvadapura in Rohamandal for the merits of his maternal grandfather. These two were between 1150-60. Minister Amrabhatta, son of Udayana, replaced old Shakunika-vihara at Bhrigukutch (Bharuch) with new grand temple. The relics of it are reused in extant Jami mosque at Bharuch. Minister Amarabhatta built Shakuni-chaitya (1166 CE) at Bhrigukutch (Bharuch) which was consecrated by Hemachandra. His brother Vagbhatta replaced old temple of Adinatha with new magnificent temple. Siddhapala, son of poet Shripala, built Siddhapala-vasati at Anahilapataka. Governor Muluka built Sahajigeshwara temple in 1146 CE in memory of his father, as mentioned in the inscription in Sodhli stepwell in Mangrol.

Anchalagaccha-pattavali mentions that Minister Vagbhatta built the Adinath temple (1155-1157 CE) on Shatrunjaya hill. On its foothill, he established the Vagbhattapura town and built Tribhuvana-vihara. Dholka inscription mentions that minister Vagbhatta added 24 devakulikas to Udayana-vihara (about 1167 CE) in Dholka. Dholka-prashasti mentions that Vairisimha, a friend or a relative of Minister Vagbhatta, built the Parshwanatha temple in Khambhat.

Kavi Vagbhatta who wrote Vagbhattalankara, built the Mahavira temple known as Undira-vasahika at Padra which was consecrated by Jinabhadrasuri. Minister Vadhuyana's son Kapardi built the Adinath temple at Vatesara. A mutilated Junagdh inscription mentions many temples built by Minister Dhavala.

The earliest extant temple of his period is small temple of Sarvamangala Devi at Khandoran. Other extant temples include Khandeshwari-mata Temple at Math near Kasangadh near Idar, the Mata temple (1146 CE) at Kanoda, the triple shrine at Parbadi in Saurashtra, Kumbheshwara Temple at Kumbhariya. The mandapa was added to Akhada Mahadeva temple at Vasai during his time. The temple at Galteshwar in Kheda district is a rare Bhumija style temple of Chalukyan style, devoid of any Paramara influence. There is a temple of Shashibhushana (c. 1169 CE) at Prabhas which is mentioned as one of five sacred temples of the town according to Prabhas-kanda. Kumarapala's Somanatha inscription mentions its renovation by Pashupatacharya Bhava Brihaspati. Some older parts of the temple still survives.