South Indian Inscriptions

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA

ABRIDGED TRANSLATION.

(Line 1.) Let there be prosperity !

(Verse 1.) May the primeval boar protect you, he who lifted the earth that was wet as if it (were a woman that had fallen in love with him^[7] and) were in violent perspiration on account of the touching of his body !

(V. 2.) Let this primeval boar devise what is propitious ! When he had lifted the wet earth from the flood of water, he held it with great force for fear lest it should slip down,^[8] and (thereby) hurt a little the lower part of it with his tusk (like a lover who, when he has lifted his mistress in excess of passion, bewildered by the contact with her body, squeezes her with great force and inflicts a little wound to her lower lip with his tooth).

(V. 3.) The lord of Kâkuḷa who, in love’s wanton sports, interlacing his own (blue) hands with the tender (white) arms of Lakshmî clinging to his chest, wears, as it were, a garland of mandâra flowers^[9] entwined with strings of leaves of the blue water-lily, ─ may he exhibit the skill of fortune !

(V. 4.) The holy Râma (who is identical with) Hari, who may be known from the Vêdânta ;^[10] who, though his nature is knowledge, without end,^[11] and existence, yet, in order to perform the duties of Maghavat,^[12] wears an illusory body ; at whose sight even his enemies, such as Râvaṇa and the rest, went to heaven^[13] at the end of their time, and others, such as Hanumat and Vibhîshaṇa, felt perfect satisfaction on earth,─ let him grant welfare to the worlds !

(V. 5.) I do homage to the sinless lotus-like foot of Râma, the tree of desires to those who worship it, which is reddened by the splendor of the crest-jewels of Indra and the other

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^[1] Read º.
^[2] The following verse is not in K.
^[3] The anusvâra stands at the beginning of the next line.
^[4] The anusvâra stands at the beginning of the next line.
^[5] The subscript sign of the first akshara of this line is very indistinct.
^[6] For the reading of K. see the text.
^[7] Both here and in the next verse the boar and the earth are represented as two lovers, and the words have to
be taken in a double meaning.
^[8] Literally, ‘ on account of the unsteadiness of the contact.’
^[9] As Lakshmî is represented as being of white or golden colour, mandâra seems to be used here as a name of the white variety of Calotropis Gigantea, not of the scarlet-flowering Erythrina Indica.
^[10] Compare Vêdâṁta-vêdy-âtmanê . . . Vishṇavê in l. 135 of the Piṭhâpuram inscription of Prithvîśvara ; above,
Vol. IV. p. 46.
^[11] I have translated ananta, as this is the reading of both inscriptions. But I think it not unlikely that ananta is a mistake for ânanda. jñân-ânanda-sad corresponding to the well known sach-chid-ânanda which in such texts as the Râmatâpanîya-Upanishad is frequently applied to Râma-Vishṇu.
^[12] I.e. Indra.
^[13] I.e. obtained salvation.