South Indian Inscriptions

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA

(V. 4.) There was a high family of twice-born, the circle of whose virtues, resembling the moon’s rays,^[1] was (ever) expanding ; in which the sons of Hâritî trod the path of the three Vêdas (and) which had sprung from the gôtra of Mânavya,^[2] the foremost of Ṛishis.

(V. 5.) Where the hair was wet from being constantly sprinkled with the holy water of the purificatory rites of manifold sacrifices ; which well knew how to dive into the sacred lore, kindled the fire and drank the Sôma according to precept.

(V. 6.) Where the interiors of the houses loudly resounded with the sixfold subjects of Study^[3] preceded by the word ôṁ ; which promoted the increase of ample châturmâsya sacrifices, burnt-offerings, oblations, animal sacrifices, new-and full-moon and śrâddha rites.

(V. 7.) Where the dwellings were ever resorted to by guests (and) the regular rites not wanting in the three libations ; (and) where on a spot near the house there grew one tree with blooming Kadamba flowers.

(V. 8.) Then, as the (family) tended this tree, so there came about that sameness of name with it of (these) Brâhmaṇ fellow-students, currently (accepted) as distinguishing them.^[4]

(V. 9.) In the Kadamba family thus arisen there was an illustrious chief of the twice-born named Mayûraśarman, adorned with sacred knowledge, good disposition, purity and the rest.

(V. 10.) With his preceptor Vîraśarman he went to the city of the Pallava lords,^[5] and, eager to study the whole sacred lore, quickly entered the ghaṭikâ^[6] as a mendicant.^[7]

(Vv. 11 and 12.) There, enraged by a fierce quarrel with a Pallava horseman (he reflected) : ‘ Alas, that in this Kali-age the Brâhmaṇs should be so much feebler than the Kshatriyas ! For, if to one, who has duly served his preceptor’s family and earnestly studied his branch of the Vêda, the perfection in holiness^[8] depends on a king, what can there be more painful than this ?’ And so─

(V. 13.) With the hand dexterous in grasping the kuśa-grass, the fuel, the stones, the ladle, the melted butter and the oblation-vessel, he unsheathed a flaming sword, eager to conquer the earth.

(V. 14.) Having swiftly defeated in battle the frontier-guards of the Pallava lords, he occupied the inaccessible forest stretching to the gates of Śrîparvata.
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^[1] Compare Ind. Ant. Vol. VI. p. 29, line 5 of the text : guṇ-âṁśubhir=vyâpya jagat=samastaṁ.
^[2]. In the fourteen Kadamba copper-plate inscription enumerated under Nos. 602-614 of my Southern List, to which may now be added the Beṇṇûr plates in Ep. Carn. Vol. V. Part I. p. 594, the two epithets Mânavya-sagôtra and Hâritî-putra are six times applied to the Kadambas generally, and four times to individual Kadamba kings ; in one case (No. 613) Mânavya-sagôtra alone is applied to a king. The word tryârsha-vartman of the text, which with Hâritî-putra forms a Bahuvrîhi compound, I take to be practically equivalent to svâdhyâya-charchâpâra (-charchika, etc.)in the terms pratikṛita-svâdhyâya-charchâpâra, etc., of the plates ; see above, Vol. VI. p. 15, note 3. None of the terms mentioned here occur in my No. 602, the only plates which are earlier than the present inscription.
^[3]. I.e. the six Vêdâṅgas.
^[4] The simple meaning of the verse is that the members of the family, as they tended the Kadamba tree came to be currently called by the specific name ‘ Kadamba.’ I take the word sânâmya-sâdharmyam of the text to be a Karmadhâraya, not a Dvandva compound ; it literally means ‘ a sameness of property which appease as sameness of name ’ (sânâmya-rûpaṁ sâdharmyam).
^[5] I.e. Kâñchîpura.
^[6]I.e. a particular establishment for holy and learned men, probably founded by a king ; see my introductory remarks, above, p. 26.
^[7] The word tarkuka is given in Hêmachandra’s Abhidhânachintâmaṇi, v. 388, as a synonym of yâchaka, etc., and is explained by yâchaka in a gloss on Râjataraṅgiṇî III. 254.
^[8] The attainment of holiness was obstructed by the caused by the Pallava king’s horseman.