| Both
the versions agree on some important particulars. Bhubhata or Bhuyada, identified with
Mihira Bhoja of Kanauj, was the overlord of Saurashtra. It is likely that he had given his
daughter in marriage to the ruler of Saurashtra, possibly Balavarman or his son. An
inchoate legend preserved in Skanda Purana also points to Mihira Bhoja having married a
daughter of Saurashtra. Skanda Purana has a whole
section of Prabhasa Khanda giving a detailed description of Somanatha and other shrines of
Prabhasa and the traditions connected with them. Somanatha was then the biggest shrine in
the country, and looking to the contacts of the imperial Pratiharas of Kanauj with
Saurashtra, it would not be unreasonable to infer that under the Pratiharas, Prabhasa
became a holy city, as important as, if rot more than, Kashi. |
