On leaving Karna the poet visited Western India, attracted no doubt by the fame of the courts of Dhárú and Aphilvád[१] and the sanctity of Somanátha Pathan, the celebrated temple of S'iva in Sorath. For some reason not stated, he did however not go to Dhara and thus missed seeing king Bhoja. He must, therefore, have taken one of the northern routes leading from Malvâ into Gujarat. In Anhilvâd he seems to have been received badly, as he bitterly complains of the boorish manners of the Gujaratis. His blame of their language, which I think, refers to the execrable pronunciation both of Sanskrit and Prakrit prevailing in Gujarat, is well founded and my Gujarati friends plead guilty also to the second chargo about the tying of the Kakshabandha. After performing his devotions at Somanatha, Bilhana embarked, no doubt at the neighbouring port of Verùval, for the South of India. The town at which he landed canuot be made out with certainty from his too indefinite statement. But I should say that it was Honore near Gokarna at the extremity of the Konkana which Paras'urama is said to have taken from the sea. He continued his wanderings in the south for a considerable time and visited Rames'vara. Thence he turned northwards and finally arrived in Kalyana, where king Vikrama gave him the office of Vidyapati or chief Pandit.[२] He seems to have spont the rest of his life in Kalyana. For the longing which he expresses (verse 104), for a contemplative life on the banks of the Ganges,
- ↑ Karna allied himself later with Bhimadeva I. of Anhilvâd against Bhoja of Dhar, whom they defeated and slow, Ras Mala loc. cit. Perhaps the state of Kama's relations with Malva made it unadvisable for Bilhana to visit Bhoja's court.
- ↑ The term Vidyapati is not of frequent occurrenco. But it is found in a passage of the Rajatarangini, which will be quoted below and in Dr. Bhâu Daji's Chalisgâm inscription J. R. As. Soc. new cor. I. 415, l. 16.
