XI

THE AUTHOR OF THE POEM

Māgha Bhaṭṭa, the author of the Shishupālavadha, was a native of Gujaradesha of which the capital was Shrīmāla, Māla, or Binna Māla¹. In the concluding verses of this poem, he gives the short history of his father, Dattaka; grandfather, Suprabhadeva; and the king Shrī Dharmalābha, whose name is variously read by different manuscripts². The correct name of the king seems to be Vimalata, which also accords with that found in an inscription bearing the name of the king Vimalata with the date 625 A. D.

THE DATE OF THE POET.

Tradition places Māgha in the latter part of the 1100 A. D. as a contemporary of Shrī Bhojadeva, who reigned about that time. On the strength of the date of composition

1. See the 14th chapter, Prabhāvaka-charita Lives of the Masters, composed in the 2nd half of the 13th century A. D. by a certain Prabhāchandra.
2. Dharmanābha, Dharmanātha, Varmalākhya, Varmalāta, etc.