North Indian Inscriptions

PATTADAKAL INSCRIPTION OF KIRTIVARMAN II.

22 suvarṇṇasya kraya-dânâd=gṛihîtâni ttriṁśan-[n*]ivarttanâni¹ kshêttr[âṇi] Śrâvaṇa-mâsê amâvâsyâyâṁ sarvva-grâsê sûryya-
23 grahaṇê² mâtâpittrô[ḥ*] puṇy-âbhivṛiddhayê atmanaḥ śri(śrê)y[ô-rtthaṁ cha]6 âchârya-prasaṅga-dêvakarmmik-âvarttan-ôpâya-nimittaṁ dêvasya
24 pûjâ-saṁskârâya [cha] svakîy-âyatanê³ dattâni rakshitavyâni . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
25 mata . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

TRANSLATION.

......Ôm ! Ôm ! Reverence to Śiva ! Victorious, victorious, be that union of (the god) Hara and (the goddess) Gaurî, in which the face and breasts (of the goddess) are passionately kissed by the left arm (of the god) ; in which the fingers (of the god) separate themselves among the curled tresses (of the goddess) that imitate the quivering movements of a swarm of black bees ; (and) which resembles in beauty a fully expanded white water-lily (i.e. the god), enhanced by the sweetness of a yellow water-lily (i.e. the goddess) brought to maturity by the rays of the sun !⁴

......(Line 4.)— Possessed of a mind that was free from (the contaminations of) the Kali age ; like a very Raghu promoting the increase of the race of the Chaḷukyas;⁵ ever delighting in charity, like (Karṇa) the son of the Sun ; characterised by impetuosity, like Vṛikôdara,— (such was) the glorious and blameless and generous Vijayâditya-Satyâśraya, the favourite of fortune and of the earth, the Mahârâjâdhirâja, the Paramêśvara, the Bhaṭṭâraka. By him there was erected a great stone temple of (the god) the holy Vijayêśvara-bhaṭṭâraka.⁶ On the south of this :⁷—

......(L. 7.)— The son, the dear (or favourite) son, of the glorious Vijayâdịtyadêva, (was) the illustrious unrepulsed one, to whose feet obeisance was done by all feudatory chiefs, the bruiser of the town of Kâñchî, the glorious Vikramâditya-(II.)-Satyâśraya, the favourite of fortune and of the earth, the Mahârâjâdhirâja, the Paramêśvara, the Bhaṭṭâraka. His dear (of favourite) queen-consort, born in the race of the Haihayas, (was) one who, like the divine (goddess) Umâ, was a very mother of mankind.⁸ By her there was erected a great stone temple of (the god) the holy Lôkêśvara-bhaṭṭâraka. On the north of this :⁹—

......(L. 11.)— Of (her) the glorious Lôkamahâdêvî, the uterine younger sister,— a dear (or favourite) queen of the glorious Vikramâdityadêva ; (and) the mother of,- Hail !- Kirti-
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......¹ The Nâgarî version (line 26) has tṛiṁśan-niº.
......² From mâsê to sûryya, both included, the passage is illegible in the version in local characters. In the Nâgarî version (line 26), the next word after kshêttr[âṇi] is âchârya-prasaṅga : the date, and part of the following context, were omitted in their proper place, and were inserted, with the exception of śrêyô-rtthaṁ cha, which was left out altogether, in four short lines that stand near the bottom of the south-east face, which had been left blank between the ends of the line of the version in local characters and the beginnings of the lines of the Nâgarî version ; and, fortunately, that part of the date which is obliterated in the version in local characters, is distinctly legible in the Nâgarî version.
......³ This locative seems rather uncouth. But it occurs again, in precisely the same phrase, in the other Nâgarî inscription on the east face of the square part of the pillar.
......⁴ See page 4 above, note 3.
......⁵ See page 4 above, note 12.
......⁶ The literal translation may perhaps be “there was set up (the god) the holy Vijayêśvara-bhaṭṭâraka in (or of) a great stone temple.” But the inscription seems really to seek to record the building of the temple,— not merely the setting up of an image of the god.— The same note applies to the two temples ......⁷ The context is— “Thus, in the middle of these (three) shrines,” in line 15.
......⁸ Her name, Lôkamahâdêvî, which here is only indicated by the word lôka-mâtâ, ‘mother of mankind,’ is given in the next sentence.
......⁹ Note 7 above applies here.