South Indian Inscriptions

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA

rest on the proud heads of monarchs, who causes delight to millions,^[1] is endowed with valour and ever rising─ Gôvindarâja, the beloved of the good.

(V. 11.) When this king, the resort of all that is excellent, was born, the glorious Râshṭrakûṭa lineage became unsurpassable by others, as the Yâdava clan did on the birth of Madhu’s foe ;^[2] a king who─ causing haughty adversaries to seek the confines of the regions and to relinquish food and ornaments by his harassment^[3]─ clearly made even them quite like unto the suppliants, who see their desires granted to the full and are adorned with pearl-strings by his munificence.

(V. 12.) When, seeing his superhuman form, like that of Kṛishṇa, fit to ward off calamity from the three worlds, his father offered to him the sole sovereignty of the earth, He addressed to him the seemly words : “ Let it be, dear father ! This is yours. Have I not worn, like a command unchallenged, the necklet (of heir apparent)^[4] which you have given to me ? ”

(V. 13.) When, to adorn the heavens, that father of his had gone to that state where nothing but his glory was left, He, though unaided, by the profusion of his superior splendour at once deprived of their lustre the twelve princes, famous though they were, who jointly rose with the desire of appropriating his land, just as the world-destroying fire does to the twelve suns^[5] which rise together to bring about the destruction of the earth.

(V. 14.) Afterwards, when in his infinite compassion He had released the Gaṅga from the long suffering of captivity and sent him to his own country, and when that Gaṅga in the excess of his arrogance nevertheless continued in hostility, He, even before a frown appeared on his high broad forehead, defeated him by a raid^[6] and again threw him into prison.

(V. 15.) As the rains cease on the approach of the starry season of autumn, which, having quickly placed its bees on bâṇa and asana flowers,^[7] enhances the beauty of the bandhujîva flower

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^[1] The word padma, in the sense in which I take it here, denotes really 1,000 millions or billions ; compare above, Vol. V. p. 120, note 6.
^[2] I.e. the god Vishṇu-Kṛishṇa.
^[3] Commentators would paraphrase dâna, as used here, by khaṇḍana and vitaraṇa. Passages in which the word is similarly employed are Vâs. p. 11, Nṛisiṁha iva darśita-hiraṇyakaśipukshêtra-dâna-vismayaḥ, ‘ he caused astonishment by granting gold, food and clothing, and land, and was therefore like the Man-lion (Vishṇu) who did so by mangling the body of Hiraṇyakaśipu ;’ and p. 126, lakshadâna-chyutiḥ sâyakânâm, ‘ missiles failed to hit their aim─ the bestowal of lacs (of money) never failed.’ ─ The word âśâ often conveys the two meanings which it has in this verse ; see e.g. darśitâśa in the verse in Kâd. p. 149. With muktâhâra° one may compare vimuktâhâra in the verse ibid. p. 12.
^[4] On kaṇṭhikâ see above, Vol. V. p. 138, note 2.
^[5] These twelve suns are mentioned frequently ; compare e.g. Vâs p. 160, pralayakâlôdita-dvâdaśaravi-kiraṇakaḷâpa-tîvravirahâgni-dahyamânâm atikṛiśâṁ viprâṇâm iva tanuṁ bibhratî ; and Harshach. p. 209, kshava-divasa iv=ôdita-dvâdaśadinakara-durnirîkshya-mûrtiḥ.
^[6] So the word vikshêpa is translated (in my opinion, correctly) by Prof. Cowell in Harshach. p. 170, adharma-vikshêpair=iva luṇṭhitam, ‘ sacked by the raids of demerit ;’ and the same meaning (in addition to its ordinary sense) the word even more clearly has in Kâd. p. 107, dûrasthitâny=api phalân=îva daṇḍa-vikshêpair mahâkulâni śâtayanti, ‘ by the raids of their troops they humble great families, even though they be far away, as by throwing sticks one brings down fruit that grows on a high (tree).’ Compare below, v. 18.
^[7] To make it convey this meaning, I take bâṇâsana of course as a Dvandva compound. The bâṇa and asana flowers are mentioned in the Śiśupâlavadha, VI. 46 and 47, both as blossoming in autumn. With the whole passage compare especially Kâd. p. 21 of the Calcutta ed. of Saṁvat 1919, samarôdyata-patâkin=iva bâṇâsan-ârôpita-śilîmukhâ, the Vindhya forest ‘ where bees are settled on bâṇa and asana flowers, and which therefore is like an army intent on battle where arrows are placed on bows ;’ (Prof. Peterson in his ed., p. 19, has adopted the wrong reading bâṇa-samârôpita°) ; compare also the similar passage ibid. p. 127 of Prof. Peterson’s ed., samaramukhair= iva puṁnâga-samâkṛishṭa-śilîmukhaiḥ . . . pâdapaiḥ. A passage in which, in addition to the bâṇa and asana flowers, there others are mentioned in a similar way occurs in the Nalachampû, p. 26. In inscriptions, we have the same double meaning of śilîmukha and bâṇâsana (with special reference to the autumn) in the description of Dhruvasêna III. of Valabhî, e.g. in Ep. Ind. Vol. I. p. 88, ll. 37 and 38 and Gupta Inscr. p. 176, l. 36 ; and in the Kûram plates, South-Ind. Inscr. Vol. I. p. 149, l. 27, we find, instead of bâṇâsana, śarâsana, used similarly in a double sense.