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to the throne. For his was a notably long reign, spanning roughly four decades, until the closing years of the eleventh century. The Kala·churi Karna, therefore, may have invaded at a time when the Chandella line was particularly vulnerable—when Deva·varman had not yet produced an heir—and it was because of his rescue of the dynasty under such circumstances that Gopala’s deed could be publicly celebrated, not least at the court of the king he had succeeded in placing upon the throne.6

It is unfortunate that the spotty record of Chandella history provides us with few indications concerning the events of Kirti·varman’s rule following the defeat of Lakshmi·karna. The construction of three important reservoirs is attributed to him by local tradition, and two temples of Shiva, one at Mahoba and the other at Ajayagadh, in the immediate vicinity of Khajuraho, may have been built with his patronage. An inscription accompanying a Jain image found in a village near Mahoba confirms that he extended his protection to this religion and mentions two of his officers as Jain adherents. Other inscriptions laud his personal qualities, praising him as a righteous ruler whose good works purified the evil of the age of Kali (Dikshit 1977: 109).

An important historical problem that remains, of course, is the identity of the author of our play, Krishna·mishra. Besides the addition to his name of the title yati, or “ascetic,” and the statement in the first act that he was Gopala’s guru, nothing at all is known of him with certainty. Later tradition maintains that he was an ascetic of the hamsa order, which, in the light of his clear affiliation with the philosophical tradition of Advaita Vedanta, is not an impossibil- ________

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The Rise of Wisdom Moon

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