South Indian Inscriptions

INCRIPTIONS OF THE KALACHURIS OF TRIPURI

with the gracious promise of sons? What is the use of vain prattle? In this case even the goddess of speech is, I fancy, clearly perplexed!

(V. II) Then, from him who was a mountain¹ for the creepers that were the far reaching vows of good men, how many lords of earth did not spring, the fame springing from whom was in the habit of defeating (i.e., surpassing in lustre) the young (i.e., full) moon ?

(V. 12) Among those who thus appeared successively was born Kōkalladēva (I), who caused the wonder of men; who marked the highest limit of blessedness; who was like Indra on the orb of the earth that submitted to him; who was the wild fire in burning the spreading creepers that were his enemies; (and) whose valour, adorned as he was with pride, pervaded the circle of the three worlds.

(V. 13) On account of whose forces, when they met together for the conquest of the world, marching like the waves of the ocean overflowing its bounds, the multitude of the broad hoods of the lord of serpents sank under the earth which was pressed down by their excessive weight.

(V. 14) When the dust raised by his forces gradually rolled on from the earth to the sky, the pairs of Chakravāka birds, apprehending (the approach of) night, separated in grief; the peacocks, mistaking it for the approach of clouds, performed a joyful dance; and on the disappearance of all light, the eyes suddenly became blind.

(V. 15) When the lords of elephants in his vast army, which was fond of the forests on the sea-shore, plunged into (its) water like the principal mountains crowding together, the ocean after a long time was reminded of that occasion when the Mandara mountain revolved in it.

(V. 16) While he was occupying the slopes of the Vindhya mountain, the forest, with its multitudes of birds chirping harshly, cried out, as it were, in pain, as (the tress were) being broken by the rutting elephants of the army.

(V. 17) Having conquered the whole earth, he planted two unique pillars,––in the quarter of the pitcher-born (Agastya)² that (well-known) Krishnarāja, and in the quarter of Kubēra³ Bhōjadēva the treasure-house of fortune.

(V. 18) From him then was born Mugdhatunga, than whom (there was) none exalted in the three worlds. And when he was desirous of conquering the quarters, what country did he not obtain, having destroyed his enemies?

(V. 19) His sole object of affection, when he was preparing for fight, was his sword,––(which was) a couch for the goddess of battle, a bolt for (the destruction of) the enemy’s army, a sprout of the creeper that was his anger, a dear friend of haughtiness, a channel; (made) of sapphire for the water of good deeds, a branch of the tree of bravery, and an endless path for the movements of his adventurous deeds.

(V. 20) Possessed of the prowess of Rudra⁴, he so dealt with the hostile forces
_______________________

¹It is not necessary to translate parvata by ‘a tree’ as Kielhorn does. Again, his translation of the expression taruna-tāraka-rāja, etc., as ‘renowed for their zeal in defeating kings who were like newly risen Tārakas’ and his remark ‘Tāraka was a Daitya who was killed by Indra’ are manifestly wrong. Tāraka (n.) means ‘a star’ and tāraka-rāja, ‘the moon’.
²I.e., in the south.
³I.e., in the north.
⁴Kielhorn translated raudram yō dhāma vi(bi)bhrat by ‘possessed of terrific splendour’. The whole verse is, however, intended to compare the battlefield, where the king slaughtered his enemies, with the cemetery where Rudra revels in the company of his hosts of spirits and goblins. Besides raudra is used before in the sense of ‘terrific’ and it is not likely to have been used in the same sense again in the last quarter. I, therefore, prefer to take raudram dhāma as ‘the prowess of Rudra’.