North Indian Inscriptions

SUPPLEMENTARY INSCRIPTIONS

GOPALPUR STONE INSCRIPTION OF VIJAYASIMHA

lustre by means of its memorous rays), who planted his foot on the heads of eminent kings (even as the sun steds its rays on the peaks of high mountains) . . . . . .

(V. 15) “He is the (wish-fulfilling) Pārijāta . . . . . Have you heard anywhere such a milk-ocean from the words of slanderous people . . . . . ?” The ocean speaks with the shrieks of water-elephants . . . . .

(V. 17) There was his son, the king Yasa?karna, [the night lotus in the form of whose fame] did not wither even when the night had passed . . . . .

(V. 18) That king, single-handed as he was, struck (his enemies) in battle with thick (showers of ) arrows without concealing himself, . . . .formerly in the holy place . . . . .

(V. 19) In (the expedition for) the capture of cows, Arjuna, without revealing himself, defeated (his) well-wishers, friends and others³ . . . . . .

(V. 20) The illustrious Gayākarṇa, as he proceeded for the conquest of the quarters, attacked his enemy and destroyed him . . . . Others rose high with . . . . fallen on their heads.

(V. 21) In the land which had been abandoned (by his enemies), where lavali and beautiful sāla trees were growing thickly and which was infested by tigers, he always and incessantly engaged himself in capturing elephant . . . . . . .

(V. 22) There is truth in the speech of the illustrious king Narasiṁhadēva, liberality on the palm of his hand, valour on the battlefield, wealth . . . . . Have not his people said that the moon (which possesses these qualities) is (rightly known as) dōshākara since it is subject to the fault of superfluity^³?

(V. 23) There shone his younger brother, the illustrious Jayasiṁhadēva, who was (verilyi) Dharmarāja (i.e., Yudhishṭhira) among a multitude of kings (and) who [sharpened] his sword with the tears of his enemies in the domain of the god of death.

(V. 24) The illustrious Gōsaladēvī, . . . . . .

(V. 25) Victorious is the illustrious and brave Vijayasiṁhadēva, who was nobly born of her body-whose sword, black as it is (in fighting) with his enemies, produces, oh wonder! white glory^⁴!

(V. 25) Victorious is the illustrious and brave Vijayasiṁhadēva, who was nobly born of her body-whose sword, black as it is (in fighting) with his enemies, produces, oh wonder! white glory^⁴!
Here ends the description of the line of kings, composed by Sōmarāja.

(V. 26) There were Brāhmaṇas who increased the family of Kaśyapa, who were
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¹ The reference is to an incident in the life of Rāma. During his exile, he became an ally of Sugrīva, and hiding himself behind trees, he wounded Vāli while the latter was fighting with Sugrīva. The sense intended in this verse seems to be that Karṇadēva, who regarded himself as an incarnation of Rāma, felt rebuked when he heard the incomplete word Vāli-; for he was reminded of the shady incident in his past life. As the verse is unfortunately much mutilated, the full significance of the description is not clear.
² This refers to the expedition of the Kauravas for the capture of the cows of Virāṭa in whose city the Pāṇḍavas were living incognito. Arjuna, disguised as Bṛihannalā, fought and defeated his relatives and well-wishers who had sided with the Kauravas. The poet seems to have instituted a comparison here between Arjuna and Yaśaḥkarṇa. The latter also undertook an expedition for the conquest of the earth (gō), but he defeated his enemies, not his friends and well-wishers, without concealing his identity. He was thus greater than Arjuna.
³ There is a pun on the word dōshākara which means (i) the store of blemishes (dōsb-ākara) and (ii) the maker of the night (dosbā-kara).
⁴ There is a pun on the word kāla which means (i) black and (ii) the god of death. The apparent contradiction disappears when the word kāla is taken in the second sense.