North Indian Inscriptions

SRAVANA-BELGOLA EPITAPH OF MALLISHENA.

E.- At the Bottom of the East Face.

TRANSLATION.

......(Verse 1.) Let him be propitious to the flock of the good (bhavya),¹ as of chakôras,² the moon of the glorious Nâtha race,³ the blessed Jina Vardhamâna, who is to be worshipped by the court of India ; (who is) a great (and) excellent cluster of light which dispels darkness (and) purifies the world by the streams of nectar (which consist of) the glory of knowledge ; (and) through whom, the protector of the good, the great splendour of the ocean of pure religion (dharma) is increasing !⁴

......(V. 2.) Let Gautamasvâmin, the head of a school (gaṇin), be victorious, whose well-known (other) name Indrabhûti (i.e. he who resembles Indra in power) was full of significance, as, by means of the seven supernatural powers (maharddhi),⁵ he placed the three worlds at (his) feet ! The unimpeded Mandâkinî (Gaṅgâ) of words, (having risen) from the throat of Vîra, as from the slop of the snowy mountain,⁶ having entered the ocean of his (viz. Gautama’s) intellect, (and) being absorbed by the wise, as by clouds, purifies the world.

......(V. 3.) Let the Śrukakêvalins, whose knowledge is confident (as it possesses) a thousand kinds of argumentation,⁷ derived from the doctrine of the founder of the religion (Tîrthêśa), (and) who are worshipped by the head of a host of wise men, expose the secrets of false doctrines by (their) thundering words,─ just as Indra, whose body is safe (as it possesses) a thousand eyes, produced at the sight of (Gautama) the lord of saints,⁸ (and) who is worshipped by the heads of the host of gods, cut the attributes (i.e. the wings) of the mountains by (his) roaring thunderbolt !

......(V. 4.) Say, how can the greatness be described of Bhadrabâhu, whose arms were engaged in subduing the pride of the great wrestler, delusion ? Through the merit acquired by being his disciple, the well-known Chandragupta was served for a very long time by the nymphs of the forest.⁹

......(V. 5.) By whom on this earth is he not worthy to be worshipped, the pious lord Kauṇḍakunda, who adorned (all) the quarters b (his) fame which possessed the splendor of
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......¹ i.e. of the Jainas. See Mr. Rice’s Inscriptions at Śravaṇa-Beḷgoḷa, pp. 59 and 63 of the Introduction.
......² These birds are supposed to subsist on moon-beams.
......³ The expression Nâtha-kul-êndu corresponds to Nâya-kula-chanda, ‘the moon of the Nâya race,’ in the Kalpasûtra, paragraph 110.─ [I have not yet met with Nâtha as Mahâvira’s family name. The Śvêtâmbaras use the form Jñâta, and the Digamabaras Jñâtṛi, at least in the name of the sixth Aṅga : Jñâtṛidharmakathâ, ‘the sermon of Jñâtṛi.’─ E. L.]
......⁴ The influence of the moon on the tide is alluded to.
......⁵ [The Śvêtâmbaras distinguish more than seven ṛiddhis ; compae the Aupapâtikasûtra, paragraph 24, and Hêmachandra’s remarks on his Yôgaśâstra. i. 9. ─ E. L.]
......⁶ Kutkîla, ‘a mountain,’ is given as a Sanskṛit word in Sanderson’s Canarese Dictionary. The Trikâṇḍaśêsha has the form kukîla.
......⁷ [Seven kinds of argumentation (naya) are enumerated in the Indische Studien, Vol. XVII. p. 39 (=Ind. Ant. Vol. XXI. p. 308 f. where nâê is a mispint for naê). Professor Weber’s translation of naya, ‘method of conception, exegesis,’ meets only those cases in which, as usual, the nayas are brought to bear on the canonical books. In the present verse, however, they refer to mooted problems of a general kind, in which the Śrutakêvalins defeat the followers of other religions by means of their ‘kinds of argumentation.’— E. L.]— See also Dr. Bhandarkar’s Report on Skt. MMS. 1883-84, p. 95 f.
......⁸ This is an allusion to the story of Ahalyâ.
......⁹ The same legend is alluded to in Mr. Rice’s inscription No. 40.