| It
is quite likely that Bhoja may have been responsible for the rebuilding of the temple
after its destruction by Mahmud of Ghazni. Udaipur prashasti of Bhoja (undated) claims
that he defeated the Turushkas (verse 19) and also built the Somanatha temple (verse 20),5
whereas the A.D. 1169 inscription, now housed in the Bhadrakali temple at Patan, credits
Bhimadeva (A.D. 1022-72) with the rebuilding of this temple. It distinctly states
that it was Bhimadeva's temple which Kumarapala had rebuilt.6 The most reasonable hypothesis, therefore, is that both Bhima and
Bhoja had joined to rebuild the temple7 and Kumarapala's inscription, referred to above,
omitted the name of Bhoja probably because he belonged to another line of kings.
5 Epigraphia Indica, I (Calcutta, 1892), pp.
222-238.
6 Historical Inscriptions of Gujarat part 2 (Forbes Gujarati Sabha, Bombay 4, 1935)
Chalukya Vamsha Lekha. pp 62-63.
7 K.M. Munshi, op. cit., p. 140. |
