The Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts of the Bombay Presidency from the Earliest Historical Times to the Musalman Conquest c8.s11.102

c8.s11.102

³ A ceremony which centred in a horse, and was concluded after the selected steed had been turned loose for a year, to roam about at will, guarded by armed men. The ceremony appears to have ended sometimes in the actual immolation of the horse, but sometimes only in keeping it bound during the celebration of the final rites. The successful celebration of a hundred aśvamêdhas was supposed to raise the sacrificer to a level with the god Indra.—The Early Gupta inscriptions say that Samudragupta (about the middle of the fourth century A.D.) restored the aśvamêdha-sacrifice, after it had been for a long time in abeyance.—Mr. K. B. Pathak (see Ind. Ant. Vol. XIV. p. 13) has taken Krishṇavarman and his son to be Jains by religion; and has expressed the opinion that the reference to the aśvamêdha-sacrifice shews that Krishṇavarman was originally a follower of Brâhmaṇism, and embraced Jainism in the latter part of his life. But, such was the religious toleration in these early times, that the mere fact that the grant was made to Jains does not necessarily prove that Krishṇavarman and Dêvavarman were themselves of that religion. I do not find anything conclusive in the record, in support of that view. And the reference to Svâmi-Mahâsêna and the Mothers of mankind, and, still more, the claim to belong to the Mânavya gôtra, seem opposed to it.