North Indian Inscriptions

INSCRIPTIONS OF THE KALACHURIS OF RATANPUR

TRANSLATION

[Ōṁ! Adoration to Śiva!]
(Verse 1) May that Īśa (Śiva) grant (you) well being !-he, (about the object) on whose head (various doubts are entertained, such as)-Is it the crescent portion of the moon, [or, is it] not [a piece of mother-of -pearl] lying on the bank of the celestial river, the waters of which are augmented by the flood of the nectar-fluid . . . .or is it, oh, a fish . . . . gone to heaven. . . . . . . . . . !

(V. 2) This highest light, dispelling darkness, which has the lustre of the eye of the three worlds-(the people) call it the Being who is a mine of nectar . . . . (who is) not the last from whom (proceeded) a line of universal sovereignty, the progenitor of the Kshatriyas;- in his race was born on the earth the illustrious Kārtavīrya.

(V. 3) In his race (there) was Haihaya, from whom were born the Haihayas . . . . . . . . . being the beloved of [Ādi]tyasēna (?).

(V. 4) In the race of those Haihayas was born that ruler of Chēdi, the illustrious Kōkalla, an image of the god of love, in whom the whole world found delight-(he), who with his unimpeded valour, [treasure and might], sent forth his own glory to measure how much the universe was above (and) below the earth.^¹º
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¹ The lithograph shows प clearly before दिग्नागादि.The akshara has since been broken away.
² Metre of verses 28-31: Anushṭubh..
³ The missing letters were evidently नृपस्य.
⁴ Kielhorn read गौडान्वये but the letters are clearly in the original. As shown above, this Kāyastha minister of Karṇa is probably identical with him who put up the Rewa inscription (No. 51, above). The latter traced his descent from the sage Kāchara of Kulāñchā which K. N. Dikshit places in Bengal.
⁵ Metre: Śārdūlavikrīḍita.
⁶ Metre of this and the next verse: Anushṭubh.
⁷ Read कीर्त्तिधरो. See above, p. 411, n. 2.
⁸ Read वास्तध्यस्यानुजो.
⁹ The mātrā on ज appears to have been cancelled.
10 Kielhorn, who made the pada-chchhēda as yēna ayaṁ Tritasaurya-, translated, 'by whom, (being) on earth, in order to measure his own fame, how much it might be, this. . . . . . . . of (?) Tritasaurya was sent up high into the universe.' But the construction ayam . . . . . . . . prēshitam is grammatically indefensible, I would, therefore, take the words as yēna a-yaṁtrita-sau(śau)rya-; see above, p. 410,n. 1.