North Indian Inscriptions

INSCRIPTIONS OF THE KALACHURIS OF RATANPUR

AMODA PLATES OF PRITHVIDEVA I : YEAR 831

TRANSLATION

Success ! Ōṁ ! Adoration to Brahman ! (Verse 1) Adoration to that reality, Brahman, which is attributeless, all-pervasive, eternal and auspicious, the ultimate cause (of the universe) and supreme light conceivable by the mind.

(V. 2) The foremost luminary of the firmament is the sun, the Primeval Being. Then was born from him his son Manu, the first of kings. In his family there was born Kārtāvīrya on the earth.

(V. 3) There was the king, the divine and illustrious Kārtavīrya, an ornament of the earth, who threw into bondage Rāvaṇa, who had propitiated Śiva with the embrace of the daughter of the Himālaya (i.e., Pārvatī) who was terrified as he (i.e., Rāvaṇa) lifted up the mountain (kailāsa) with ease and who (i.e., Rāvaṇa) was greatly enraged when his offerings to the three-eyed (Śiva) were washed away by the stream of the greatly flooded Reva which was turned back by the suddenly placed dam of his mighty arms.

(V. 4) The kings born in his family became (known as) Haihayas on the earth. In their family was born that (famous) Kōkkala, the first king of the Chaidyas.^⁹

(V. 5) By that king was erected on the earth a pillar of victory after forcibly dispossessing the kings of karṇāṭa, and Vaṅga, the lord of the Gurjaras, the ruler of Kōṅkaṇa, the lord of Śākambharī, the Turushka and the descendant of Raghu,^¹⁰ of their treasure, horses and elephants.

(V. 6) He had eighteen, very valiant sons, who destroyed their enemies as lions break open the frontal globes of elephants; the eldest of them, an excellent prince, became the lord of Tripurī and he made his brothers the lords of maṇḍalas by his side.
__________________

¹ Metre of verses 17—21: Anushṭubh.
² Read शंखो
³ This pāda is lacking in one akshara. Read यश्‍च
⁴ Hiralal reads गर्ग्गेस्व (श्व) र:: but the second akshara appears clearly to be र्भे. . In line 15 of the Raipur plate (No. 75, above) also, the reading is Garbh-ēśvara.
⁵ Read -स्ताग्त्रे. Hiralal suggested चकोरनयनो, but a Sanskrit poet would not use such an epithet with a male person, much less in his own case.
⁶ लिखित is ungrammatical for लिखितवान्
⁷ Hiralal read योद्धासल:, but the second akshara is undoubtedly हा.
⁸ Metre: Vasantatilakā.
⁹ I. e., the people of the Chēdi country.
¹⁰ Probably the contemporary prince of the Gurjara-Pratīhāra dynasty.