According to Hemachandra's 12th century Dvyashraya, Mayanalla was an extremely beautiful Kadamba princess. She once saw Karna's painting by a Buddhist artist. Enamoured by Karna's looks, she rejected all other suitors, and resolved to marry him. With the approval of her father Jayakeshi, she sent an artist to Karna's court with her own portrait. The Kadamba king also sent gifts for Karna, including an elephant. When Karna went out in the garden to check out the gifted elephant, he found the princess waiting for him. He verified her identity by asking certain questions, and then married her. According to Merutunga's 14th century Prabandha-Chintamani, Mayanalla-devi was an ugly princess of Karnata. One day, she remembered her past life. In that past life, she was a devout Shaivite, who had planned to visit the Somanath temple in Gujarat. However, she was stopped at Bahuloda for being unable to pay a pilgrim tax imposed by the rulers of Gujarat. When Mayanalla recalled this incident from her past life, she decided to marry the king of Gujarat and waive this unfair tax. At her insistence, her father Jayakeshi sent a marriage proposal to Karna, but Karna rejected the ugly princess. Mayanalla then came to Karna's court with her eight female companions, and threatened to commit suicide. Karna still refused to marry her, but unable to witness their deaths, Karna's mother Udayamati declared that she would die with the girls. As a result, Karna had to relent. He married Mayanalla, but kept neglecting her. Ultimately, she was able to win him over with help of a minister. Later, she convinced their son Jayasimha Siddharaja to waive the pilgrim tax. This is also attested by another chronicler. The Kashmiri poet Bilhana also appears to allude to this incident. He stayed at Karna's court for sometime, and composed the poetic drama Karna-Sundari, which presents Karna as a hero. According to this work, Karna dreamt of the princess (called Karnasundari, or "Karna's beautiful woman"), and decided to marry her. His jealous queen attempted to get him married to a boy disguised in Karnasundari's dress. However, Karna's clever minister foiled her plan by replacing the boy with the real Karnasundari. Although Bilhana was a contemporary of Karna, his account is the least accurate one, because it is intended to be a drama. Nevertheless, his account is helpful in estimating the date of this marriage. Bilhana probably left Karna's court