Kumarpala

 Kumarpala

Sanjay Sonawani

 

Suffering immense hardships, poverty, and fires to save his life, facing numerous conspiracies with immense courage, and seeing his parents killed, Kumarpala finally avenged his scheming and cruel uncle and founded a great empire. His greatest feat was that he resurrected the Lord Somnath temple which was destroyed a century ago by Muslim invaders.  This is the stunning saga of Kumarpala Solanki who is still remembered as the last Hindu emperor of India!

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Synopsis

 Eleventh century. Defeating all the kings of north-west India, Muhammad of Ghazni finally invaded Gujarat. The port of Prabhaspattan, which had reached the height of its glory, was plundered and destroyed. Pride of India, the Temple of Lord Somnath was looted and desecrated. More than fifty thousand soldiers and devotees who resisted the attack on the temple were brutally massacred and thousands were made captives. Loaded on camels, Muhammad carried the huge wealth and beautifully carved sandalwood gate of Somnath temple to Afghanistan. The outrage and fury of this humiliation continued to erupt in India, but no king came forward to avenge this insult and to resurrect the Somnath temple. For almost a century Somnath site was suffering from the neglect and fury of nature until the mighty Kumarapala of the Solanki clan surfaced on the political horizon.

 However, Kumarapala's journey to the throne was full of struggles, conspiracies, and betrayals!

Twelfth century. King Siddharaja Jaisingh of the Solanki dynasty was ruling from Anhilpatan, Gujarat. Though an ardent devotee of Lord Shiva, Siddharaja was cruel in behavior. Injustice against the subjects had reached to alarming extent. The jobless people were turning lawless and were indulging in gambling, drinking, prostitution and were caught in the trap of moneylenders. Attacks by Islamic and neighboring states were rampant. The number of mosques was increasing. The foreign trade had now gone into the control of Arabs. Disorder and chaos were making the lives of the people miserable. And ironically what Siddharaja worried about was that he had no son to inherit the throne.

Though his younger brother Tribhuvanapala, a celebrated warrior, was trying to put some sense in Siddharaja,  Siddaraja was not in a position to listen to him. Instead, he put him under house arrest in his mansion. Following the house arrest of Tribhuvanpala, conspiracies arose in the capital. Siddharaja brutally killed the conspirators. As soon as Siddharaja heard the news that Tribhuvanapala's wife was pregnant, he got restless and he not only tightened the security but also cut off their food and water. This was too much for Tribhuvanpala who tried to rebel by secretly contacting his powerful acquaintances but although Tribhuvanpala achieved great feats in the rebellion, he failed before the strong forces of Siddharaja. Tribhuvanpala and his pregnant wife, who were again humiliatingly arrested, were sent to a remote village, far from the capital.

One fine day his wife gave birth to a son named Kumarpala. Seeing the auspicious birthmarks on the newborn baby's feet, astrologers predicted that "he is destined to be the king in the future".

As soon as spies of Siddharaja gave this news, in a fit of anger Siddharaja decided to kill all the three. He sent a troop of soldiers. When, in the middle of the night,  Tribhuvanapala realized an army troop was secretly approaching his house, he mercilessly attacked the troop and killed them all. Now realizing that Siddharaja would take his revenge by sending a strong army, sensing imminent danger Tribhuvanapala left that place immediately with his wife and new-born son and settled secretly in the forest near Prabhaspatan, now under the control of Arnoraja, the king of Kutch.

Due to the destruction, the area of Somnath temple was in a pitiable condition.  Seeing that, Tribhuvanpal was getting upset and he used to narrate the glorious stories of that once populated with devotees and richest temple to Kumarpala and would urge him that the temple should be restored to its ancient glory. He also mastered Kumarapala in the art of weaponry. Kumarpala entered youth while living in disgraceful poverty, but his spirits were always high.

Siddharaja's spies were still looking for them. On hearing the news that a young man named Kumarapala had bravely destroyed a sea pirate ship, he ordered the area of Prabhasapatana to be sealed and searched for the absconding Tribhuvanpala, his wife and son. A large army was employed on this feat which started searching them everywhere. At that time, Kumarapala, who had fallen in love with Swarnadevi, a village chief's daughter, and went to meet her in a nearby village, sensed that their own search was on.

He ran to the forest, towards their hut but he found that their hut was surrounded by soldiers and  Tribhuvanpal was fighting fiercely with them using all his skills. Kumarapala jumped into it and fought courageously. Unfortunately, an arrow pierced his mother's chest and she collapsed. Tribhuvanpal now began to fight with redoubled ferocity. By this time all the soldiers searching around had reached that place. Tribhuvanpal was now bathed in blood while Kumarapala fell like a thunderbolt on the attacking army. At that time the wounded Tribhuvanpala also collapsed dead on the field. Kumarpala was completely surrounded by the enemy army. Grieving the death of his parents and realizing that he could not fight with such an army, the injured Kumarpala somehow managed to escape while giving a brave fight to the overwhelming soldiers. While running away from the pursuing soldiers through the dense woods, at one point he fell into a deep and fell unconscious.

He regained consciousness and realized that he was now in a Jain monastery by the sea, saved by the Jain sage Hemchandra, and was being treated sympathetically. Hemachandra was not happy with the constant invasions and internal strife, rebellions, and intrigues that had thrown the people of the country into the crevasse of misery. Kumarpala was grieving and was enraged by the murder of his parents. He made up his mind that he should acquire a kingdom and build an empire, and as soon as he felt better he decided to meet his father's well-wisher Udayan, a feudatory. Hemachandra gave him seven hundred gold coins to help in this work. Kumarpal went to meet Udayana, but on realizing that Udayana had left for the capital, Anhilpatan, and Kumarpala also marched towards the capital in the guise of an ascetic.

Siddharaj Jaisingh was still upset by the news that although his younger brother and sister-in-law were killed and that Kumarpala was still alive. His search for Kumarapala was endless. Meanwhile, the spies told him that there was a possibility that Kumarpala had come to the capital in the guise of an ascetic. Soon Siddharaja invited all the ascetics present in the city to his palace on the occasion of his father's Shraddha. Knowing that Kumarapala's feet carried auspicious birthmarks, he shrewdly came up with the idea of washing the feet of all the ascetics under the pretense of ritual. Kumarapala was present in that gathering of ascetics with immense curiosity and anger. As Siddharaja began to wash the feet of each monk, he realized that this was a trick to catch him. As soon as Siddharaja came near him, Kumarapala attacked him and nimbly made his way through the alarmed guards and left the palace. Now the search for him started once again with great vigor. Kumarpala's exile began again.

He secretly married Swarnadevi and then met Udayana. First impressed, Udayana arranged his meeting with Krishnadeva, one of Siddharaja's disgruntled ministers. Realizing that Kumarapala would make a worthy ruler, he assured Kumarapala of all help. 

But to their shock, in the meantime, Siddharaja declared his daughter's minor son to Arnoraja of Cutch as heir to the kingdom. Udayana turned his back on Kumarapala as Arnoraja was a mighty king. Arnoraja was also happy to foresee that the kingdom of Anhilpatan would now soon be annexed to his kingdom with this new arrangement.

But Krishnadeva decided to keep his promise. He also wanted Somnath temple to stand again. He gave his army to Kumarapala, but as such an army would not be enough, Kumarapala, with the financial help of Hemacandra, raised more troops and tactfully attacked Siddharaja. In the third attempt, Kumarapala not only defeated the mighty army of Siddharaja in this battle but also killed Siddharaja on the battlefield. Kumarapala finally got his kingdom.

Enraged by this news, Arnoraja attacked Kumarapala with the help of Muslim powers. But Kumarapala's aim was to revive the Somnath temple by bringing the area of Prabhaspatan under his kingdom. While planning the architecture of the new temple, Kumarapala successfully repelled the invasion of Arnoraja and the Muslim powers and annexed not only Prabhaspatan but also the kingdoms of Kutch, Rajasthan, and Malwa to his kingdom thus founding an empire.

And the grand construction began.

The Muslim rulers of Multan became even more enraged when they learned that the temple was being rebuilt. But now that Rajasthan was also under Kumarpala's control and a formidable army was protecting borders, the invasion attempts failed. Then the conspiracy was resorted to. One day some assassins disguised as Jain monks came to Anhilpatan. Believing that the Jain monks would be non-violent and thus harmless, Kumarapala visited them unarmed. During the discussion, Kumarpala became alarmed when he sensed that these people were not Jain monks, let alone adherents of Jainism.

But those assassins disguised as ascetics took out their hidden daggers, surrounded Kumarapala, and attacked him. Unarmed Kumarapala put up a deadly resistance...but a fatal wound lodged in his chest and he spreading his arms, in pain, started collapsing...

A golden urn of the Somnath temple was being installed in great jubilation and it began to shine brightly in the sunlight and like an uprooted tree their emperor was falling down in a pool of blood!

 

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Based on the novel written by Sanjay Sonwani, “Akhercha Samrat"