South Indian Inscriptions

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA

Vv. 36-40 record various grants.

(V. 41.) I worship the lotus-like foot of the destroyer of the sacrifice of Daksha,^[1] which is revered by the hosts of the gods ; which is covered by the brilliant rays of the lines of its exceedingly white nails, as (a lotus is covered) by ducks kept for pleasure ; which is adorned with huge serpents glittering like ornaments, as (a lotus is adorned) with the floating fibres of its stalk ; which is surrounded by the heads of the hosts of his enemies, as (a lotus is surrounded) by flights of female bees.

(V. 42.) Let that Vîrêśvara protect you whose deep compassion with heroes was the cause of Daksha-Prajâpati’s head becoming quickly the head of a ram !,^[2]

Vv. 43-49 record various grants.

(V. 50.) Having made at Âtukûru a tank, where lines of swans meet in the clusters of the widely opened water-lilies floating on the waves ; which is charming, because the curlews are (seen there) striding in circles and sporting in pairs, (pressing each other) with their throats, (at the same time) uttering sharp cried ; which is the rival of the ocean ; where a loud dabbling noise originates in the cavities of the banks, the lord Nâdiṇḍla-Appa presented it completely to the Brâhmaṇs.^[3]

Vv. 51 and 52 record two grants.

(V. 53.) This tank at Appâpura, resembling the ocean, which, abounding in lotuses, was the abode of the kings of birds,^[4] became a forest, a field of rampant paddy, and in the hot season a stream, because (even at that time) it was full of water.

Vv. 54-59 record various grants.

(V. 60.) As long as the floods of the daughter of Jahnu, the daughter of Tryambaka and the holy daughter of Sahya are purifying the earth and the whole city of Koṇḍavîṭî,^[5] as long as a poet is sporting in the waves of the nectar-ocean of poetry, so long shall the creeper of Sâḷuva-Timma’s fame continually blossom on earth !

V. 61 records a grant by Sâḷva-Timma.

(L. 257.) Happiness ! Happiness ! May it cause happiness !

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^[1] I.e. Śiva.
^[2] This is an allusion to the legend that Śiva, irritated because he had not been invited to the sacrifice of Daksha-Prajâpati, the father of his wife Satî, decapitated his father-in-law, but afterwards, out of pity, revived him and gave him the head of a ram.
^[3] I find impossible to render the niceties of the text in my translation. The terms used are such as to convey the idea of an arena, where circles of kings (râjahaṁs-âvataṁsa) are assembled, where a wresting (mithuna-krôḍa-khêlâ) takes place, where a champion (aṇkakâra) appears, and where loud applause (uttâla-tâla) is heard.
^[4] Dvijarâja seems to be meant for râjahaṁsa.
^[5] The daughter of Jahnu is the Gaṅgâ. The daughter of Tryambaka is the Gôdâvarî which rises on mount Tryambaka ; compare the verse in Rudrabhaṭṭa’s commentary on the Vaidyajîvana quoted by Aufrecht, Cat. Cod. Sanscr. Bibl. Bodl. p. 318a :
Yatr=âgatâ Tryambaka-parvatâch=cha Gôdâvarî Sindhunadêna yuktâ | tatr=âsti Gôdâ-taṭa-madhya-dêśê Shaṭkhêṭak-âkhyaṁ nagaraṁ suramyam || The Tryambaka forms part of the chain of mountains on the north-west side of the Peninsula which commonly are called Sahya ; in the Vâyupurâna, I. 45, 104, the Gôdâvarî therefore appears in the list of river which rise on the Sahya. Here, however, the daughter of Sahya is the Kṛishṇa, as shown by the corresponding verse in the Koṇḍavîḍu inscription (compare p. 112, note 3), where Kṛishṇaveṇṇâ has been inserted instead of Sahyaputrî. Rivers are frequently called the daughter of the mountains where they arise ; even in the dry geographical description of the Vâyupurâṇa the rivers rising on mount Mahêndra are called his daughters (45, 106). The statement that the Kṛishṇâ purifies the city (purî) of Koṇḍavîḍu is, of course, a poetical exaggeration, the distance between Koṇḍavîḍu and the river being more than twenty miles.