South Indian Inscriptions

INCRIPTIONS OF THE KALACHURIS OF TRIPURI

(V. 2) May the mass of lustre of the laugh of Śankara clad in an elephant-skin,– which, white like the goose, is spread round his face and which, being slightly darkened by the effulgence of his (blue) neck, at once assumes the clear splendour of the moon emerging from a cloud,––grant you prosperity !

(V. 3) May the Tāndava dance of (Śiva), the husband of Chandī, give you delight ! (the dance) which makes the hoods of the lord of serpents bend under (the weight of) the bowl-like earth which revolves on account of the movements of his feet, skilled in the chārī step ; which puts to flight the elephants of the quarters; which causes a sudden movement of a part of the universe by the revolutions of his staff-like arms¹ and which is accompanied by the deep sound of the damaru !

(V.4) May this continuous succession of (the Śaiva ascetics of) the Mattamayūra (clan) purify the three worlds, like the Gangā !––in which was born Purandara, who performed austerities, and who was the spiritual preceptor of kings. His disciple (was)Śikhāśiva, (who was) like fire and who, (refulgent) with the luster of his austerities, stood like a lamp on the path of final beatitude, having dispelled the pitchy darkness (of ignorance).

(V. 5) From him (i.e., Śikhāśiva), who was the lord of Madhumatī, was (spiritually) descended Prabhāvaśiva, who accumulated great austerities, was the crest-jewel of all Śaivas, and was revered by many kings. He, who was the foremost among ascetics, was made by Yuvarājadēva (I) to sanctify, by his feet, the wanton woman that was the earth.²

(V. 6) After him there was his disciple, the moon-like Praśāntaśiva, who was pure³ (even as the moon is bright); whose real nature was manifested in his attempt to destroy ignorance (as the moon’s form is seen dispelling darkness); who brightened the faces of all quarters by his bright fame (as the moon does with her luster) and who bestowed prosperity on the meritorious Śaivas (as the moon bestows splendour on the fibrous night-lotuses).

(V. 7) He, the virtuous one, the companion of sages, who lived on fruits, lotusstalks and roots, (and) who sanctified the surface of the earth by the rows of his foot-prints, built an incomparable and quiet hermitage, well-known to the people, at the foot of the Bhramara hill covered with the forest of priyāla⁴ (trees) (and situated) at the confluence of the river Sona.

(V. 8) His⁵ fame is continuously sung with delight and in a high tone in every (month of) Māgha⁶ by the Gandharvas and Vidyādharas, in the assembly of Indra held in the celestial garden,––by Nandin who, to please Śiva, pays less attention to instrumental
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by ‘elevates the quarters.’ But both these renderings are unsatisfactory; for the verb tulayati never conveys the sense of ‘brightening’ and the garland of skulls can scarcely be described as ‘elevating the quarters’ ! For our rendering of kakubh by ‘a garland of champaka flowers’ see Kakup striyām pravēnī-dikō-bhāsu champaka-sraji cited in Mahēśvara’s com. on Amarakōśa, II, 45.

¹ For the idea compare the Mahimnah stōtra, v. 16.
² Monier-Williams in his Sanskrit Dictionary gives lagnikā (which is a wrong form of nagnikā) in the sense of ‘a wanton woman’. The poet has here evidently the story of Ahalyā in mind. As Rāma purified Ahalyā by the dust of his feet, so did Prabhāvaśiva sanctify the land that was presented to him by Yuvarājadēva (I).
³ There is a play on several words here, in consequence of which they can be construed with both the sage and the moon.
⁴ Buchanania Latifolia.
⁵ In the original this is a relative clause having for its correlative sah in v. 7.
⁶ The month of Māgha, in which the Śivarātri occurs, is held sacred by the Saivas.