History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v3.c34.s3.22

v3.c34.s3.22

Kumārapāla like his predecessor was a great builder and many Jain vihāras are said to have been built by him or his ministers. He is certainly described by Jain chroniclers as building the temple of Somnath and it is said that Hemachandra himself, when asked by the king what was the most meritorious thing for him to do, replied that he should rebuild the temple of Somnath and the king built the temple of stones. We have already seen that Bhoja is credited with building the temple of Somnath as also Bhīma. Jayasinha is distinctly recorded to have done the same. Probably the temple was so contiguous to the sea that sea-waves dashed against the base of the temple and former builders only put up wooden pillars into the basin of the sea. The building of a stone-temple by Kumārapāla cannot be doubted; for an inscription in the Bhadrakālī temple without the precincts of Somnath dated 1169 A. D. mentions this fact in detail. A Kānyakubja Brahmin ascetic from Benares moved about in India, making Sthānoddhāra and came to Somnath via Malwa. He requested Jayasinha to build the Somnath temple and the latter began the construction. The work was, however, finished by Kumārapāla. This inscription gives the credit of inducing the kings of Gujarat to build the temple to the Brahmin ascetic Bhāva Bṛihaspati, a saint of the Lakulīśa sect. But the Jain chroniclers take the credit to themselves and attribute Kumārapāla’s action to the advice of Hemachandra. We may give credit to both, for indeed Kumārapāla appears to have honoured both Hindu and Jain ascetics and learned men. On this inscription we have commented elsewhere.