South Indian Inscriptions

INCRIPTIONS OF THE EARLY CHALUKYAS OF GUJARAT

when the army of the Tājikas, — which poured forth arrows, javelins¹ and iron- headed clubs; which destroyed, with its rapidly brandished and glittering swords, the prosperous Saindhava, Kachchhēlla, Saurāshţra, Chāvōţaka, Maurya, Gurjara and other kings; which, desiring to enter Dakshiņāpatha (South India) with a view to vanquish all Southern kings, came,² in the very first place, to conquer the vishaya of Navasārikā; which rendered the regions between the quarters dusky with the dust of the ground raised by the hard and noisy hoofs of its galloping horses; the bodies ( of warriors) in which appeared dreadful as their armours were reddened by very large streams of blood (gushing) from the intestines which came out of the cavities of their big bellies, as they impetuously rushed forth and were completely pierced by spear-heads; which had not previously been vanquished even by numerous eminent chiefs among hosts of kings, who offered their heads on return for high honour and gifts they had received from their lord; who opposed it, biting mercilessly both their lips with the tips of their teeth ; who, though they were great warriors and had their sharp swords reddened by the mass of blood that flowed when the sides of the loins and the trunks of hostile elephants were rent on several extensive battlefields, could not attain success ; who cut off the necks of their enemies’ heads, as though they were plucking the stalks of lotuses, hitting them with their horse-shoe-shaped sharp arrows which were quickly discharged for the destruction of their adversaries; whose bodies were covered with a coat of bristling hair on account of their martial spirit and excitement,─ was defeated1 in the forefront of the battle in which headless trunks began a circular dance to the accompaniment of the loud noise of drums beaten continuously in joy caused, as it were, by the thought ‘To-day at least we have, by laying down our heads, paid off the debt we owed to our lord in (this) one life !’

(L. 35) (He) addresses the (following) command to all his officers born in this family and others according as they may be concerned,—to the heads of vishayas, headmen of villages, residents, Vāsāvakas, Āyuktas, Viniyuktakas and other:-

“Be it known to you that for the increase of the religious merit and fame of (Our) mother and father and of Ourself, we have given, as a religious gift with a libation of water on the Mahākārţţikī, the village Padraka situated in the āhāra and vishaya of Kārmaņēya,— together with udranga (and) uparikara, together with (the right to) minor and major gifts, not to be entered by chāţas and bhaţas, to be enjoyed by a succession of sons and sons’ sons according to the maxim of waste land, exclusive of gifts previously made to gods and Brāhmanas, —to the Brāhmaņa Kāñchala who has studied two Vēdas, the son of the Brāhmaņa Gōvindali, of the Vatsa gōtra, who is a student of the Taittirīya śākhā (of the Black Yajurvēda) and has emigrated from Vanavasi.

(L. 40) Wherefore, none should cause an obstruction while he is enjoying, cultivating or causing it to be cultivated in the manner of an agrahāra. Gracious kings of the future, whether born in our family or others, considering that fortune is impermanent and unsteady like a flash of lighting, and that life is as inconstant as a drop of water adhering to the tip of a blade of grass, should consent to and preserve this Our gift. And he, who, with his mind obscured by the veil of the darkness of ignorance, will confiscate it or allow it to be confiscated, shall incur the five great sins together with the minor sins”.

And it has been said by the venerable Vyāsa, the redactor of the Vēdas—
(Here follow five benedictive and imprecatory verses.)
__________________________

¹ Jhashira is derived from jhash to hurt, and means some weapon like a javelin which could be thrown against the enemy.
² The subject is ‘the army of the Tājikas’, above, p. 143.