South Indian Inscriptions

INSCRIPTIONS OF THE EARLY GURJARAS

TRANSLATION

[His son is the illustrious Jayabhata (IV)],─ [who appears resplendent by his destruction of troops of horses…]; the top of whose right arm becomes dark-blue [with the multitude of rays from his creeper-like sword which becomes uneven] with clusters of pearls from the frontal globes of elephants cleft in haste; who has manifested many auspicious marks as a lotus-pool exhibits cranes, ⁴ [but who, (unlike a lotus-pool which contains a store of water),⁵ has not an insensible heart]; who has acquired the multitude of all fine arts even as the moon contains all the digits, but who, (unlike the moon that marks the night⁶, has no blemish ; who has given refuge to a multitude of hostile princes as the ocean gave shelter to a number of wingless mountains, [but who, (unlike the ocean that is infested by alligators), is not affected by greed]; who destroys his enemies with his well-equipped army⁷ just as Nārāyana (Vishnu) does with his discus Sudarśana, but who, (unlike Nārāyana who is dark-complexioned), is not evil-intentioned ; who has acquired abundant prosperity as Śiva takes a large quantity of ashes⁸ (to smear his body with), [but who, (unlike Śiva whose body is entwined by serpents), is not surrounded by dissolute men].

(Verse 1 ) These people are made to fold their hands and to bow to him, who resembles the disc of the crescent moon, [since he is possessed of brilliance], has an increasing splendor of the body, and levies light taxes (even as the moon looks lovely, increases in size and sheds tender rays).

(Verse 2) This is that [Jayabhata], who, with the edge of his sword, has forcibly vanquished, in the city of the lord of Valabhī, the Tājjikas⁹ who greatly oppressed all people, even as a cloud extinguishes with its showers the fire that troubles all people.¹⁰

(Line 7) He, the illustrious Jayabhata─who is praised in songs by assemblages of the wives of gods; whose lotus-like feet are reddened by the lines of the rays of jewels (set) in the diadems of hundreds of kings; who has attained the pañchamahāśabda, (and) is the lord of the great sāmantas (feudatory chiefs),─being in good health, addresses the following order to all king, feudatories, Bhōgikas, heads of vishayas, the Mahattaras of rāshtras and villages, officials (and) others:-
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¹For the reading of the tīthi, see above, p. 98.
²The name of the scribe is completely lost. He may have been the Mahābalādhikrita Sangulla.
who wrote the Prince of Wales Museum plates of the same king about three and a half months later, see below, p. 107, 1. 51.
³The plate shows a stroke like that of media ē on the akshara following ta. Bühler conjecturally.
restored the akshara as dē (of dēva), but none of the sign-manuals of Gurjara kings contains a name ending in dēva.
⁴There are puns on several words in the eulogistic portion. Here, e.g., lakshana (n.) means ‘an auspicious mark’ and lakshana (m.) means ‘a crane.’ .
⁵A pun on the word jad-āśaya (read as jal-āśaya by the rule dalayōr=abhēdah).
⁶Dōshākara is taken as (I) dōshā-kara, ‘the maker of the night’, and (2) dōsh-ākara, ‘a store of blemishes’.
⁷Bühler translates ‘with his army placed in a well-looking circular battle-array,’ evidently understanding chakra in the sense of the chakra-vyūha, but then, there remains no word meaning ‘an army.’ .
⁸There is a play on the word bhūti meaning (1) prosperity and (2) ashes, and another on bhujanga meaning (1) a dissolute person and (2) a serpent.
⁹I.e., the Arabs.
¹⁰Būhler translated the passage as follows:─ ‘who by the edge of his sword quieted in battle the impetuosity of the lord of Valahī,─who quenching the fire of the desires of the great Pandits of the whole world, and (giving them the fruits of their wishes)––is praised ………’. This translation misses the important historical reference altogether.