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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
(V. 14.) When his elder brother’s son, named Polekêśin, of a dignity like Nahusha’s,
was coveted by Fortune,[1] and finding his uncle to be jealous of him thereat, had formed the
resolution to wander abroad as an exile,[2]─
(V. 15.) That Maṅgalêśa, whose great strength became on all sides reduced by the
application of the powers of good counsel and energy gathered by Him,[3] abandoned, together with
the effort to secure the kingdom for[4] his own son, both that no mean kingdom of his and his life.
(V. 16.) Then, on the subversion of that rule encompassed by the darkness of enemies,
the whole world grew light again, invaded as it were by the lustrous rays of His irresistible
splendor. Or when was it that the sky ceased to be black like a swarm of bees with thundering clouds, in which flashes of lightning were dancing like banners, and the edges of which were
crushed in the rushing wind ?[5]
(V. 17.) When, having found the opportunity, he who was named Âppâyika, and
Gôvinda approached with their troops of elephants to conquer the country north of the
Bhaimarathî, the one in battle through His armies came to know the taste of fear,[6] while the
other at once received the reward of the services rendered by him.
(V. 18.) When He was besieging Vanavâsî, which for a girdle[7] has the rows of haṁsa
birds that sport on the high waves of the Varadâ as their play-place, and which by its wealth
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[1] A comparison with Ragh. V. 38 suggests the interpretation that it was desired to confer on Polekêśin the
dignity of Yuvarâja, or heir apparent.
[2] The verb apa-rudh means ‘ to debar, to shut out from, to banish, to exile ;’ it is often joined with râshṭrât,
râshṭrâd=aparuddhaḥ being equivalent to râshṭrâd=bhrashṭaḥ ; and aparuddhaś=charati is used of a person who
as an exile wanders about in foreign countries. Already in the Atharvavêda, III. 3, 5, we find the phrase
anyakshêtrê a p a r u d d h a ṁ c h a r a n t a m , in a hymn by which the restoration of an exiled king is accomplished ; see Bloomfield’s Atharvavêda, p. 74.
And in the Aitarêya-Brâhmaṇa, VIII. 10─ I take this quotation
from the St. Petersburg Dictionary─ the manner in which a prince who has lost his kingdom may regain it, is
described thus : Yady u vâ ênam upadhâvêd r â s h ṭ r â d a p a r u d h y a m â n a s : tathâ mê kuru yathâham
idaṁ râshṭram punar avagachchhânîty, êtâm êvainaṁ diśam upanishkramayêt, tathâ ha râshṭram punar
avagachchhati ; ‘ if ever there should seek shelter with him (i.e. with the anointed Kshatriya) one who is being
shut out from his kingdom, saying “ act for me in such a manner that I may regain this kingdom,” he (i.e. the
anointed Kshatriya) should let him depart in this (north-eastern) direction ; so verily he recovers his kingdom.’
From all this it is clear that what our poet wishes us to understand, is, that Polekêśin, either banished by Maṅgalêśa
or having left the country from fear of him, went to neighbouring princes and asked their assistance in the
recovery of his rights. The expression aparuddha-charita is used by the poet with special reference to the phrase
aparuddhaś=charati, as explained above.─ Vyavasâya-buddhi is used by Kâlidâsa in the Kumârasambhava, IV. 45.
[3] I.e. Polekêśin, whose exploits are eulogized in verses 15-32. In the original the sentences in these verses
are all relative clauses, the relative pronouns of which are correlated with the tasya at the commencement of verse
35. In my translation I have written the pronoun, when it refers to Polekêśin, with an initial capital letter.
[4] For the use of the word gata compare e.g. Sîtâ-gataṁ snêham, ‘ his love for Sîtâ,’ in Ragh. XV. 86 ; see
also above, verse 11, vibhûti-gat-âbhilâsha.
[5] The first half of the verse states that, as the rising sun dissipates the darkness of night, so Polekêśin dispersed
the enemies who on the destruction of Maṅgalêśa’s rule (literally, of the umbrella which is the sign of sovereignty)
on all sides beset the realm. And the second half impresses on the reader the fact that only then, on Polekêśin’s
rise to power, and at no other time, the troubles attending Maṅgalêśa’s destruction were put an end to. Though
the poet, employing the rhetorical figure of aprastutapraśaṁsâ, in the second half of the verse actually speaks of
a phenomenon of nature, the clearance of the sky of storm-clouds by the agency of the sun, the context and
his choice of the words (patâka, paryanta-bhâga, the verb garj for which see e.g. Ragh. IX. 9, and aḷi-kula which
recalls ari-kula) at once suggest to the reader what is intended to be conveyed.─ The question ending with kadâ
vâ undoubtedly requires an answer in the negative (na kadâpi). The word tâvat with which the verse commences
I take in the sense of tasminn=avasarê or tatkâla êva ; compare e.g. Kumârasambhara, VII. 30 and 63. With the
second half of the verse compare Varâhamibira’s description of the clouds at the time of an earthquake,
Bṛihatsaṁhitâ, XXXII. 17.
[6] Compare Ragh. III. 26, sutasparśarasajñatâṁ yayau.
[7] The city of Vanavâsî, being represented as a woman, has for her tinkling girdle the rows of singing haṁsa
birds that play in the Varadâ river which flows close to the town. Compare Ragh. IX. 37 ; also ibid. XIX. 40,
saikataṁ cha Sarayûṁ vivṛiṇvatîṁ śrôṇi-bimbam=iva haṁsa-mêkhalam ; and Kir. IV. I. kûjatkalahaṁsa-mêkhalâṁ . . . priyâm=iva . . . bhuvam.
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