South Indian Inscriptions

INCRIPTIONS OF THE KALACHURIS OF TRIPURI

music¹,—(and) by the charioteer of the sun, who gracefully waving his head from side to side in joy, allows the reins (of his horses) to slip from his hands.

(V. 9) There was the foremost of his disciples named Prabōdhaśiva, as Paraśurāma was of (Śiva) the enemy of Madana, —who, conquering all his enemies, adorned the faces of the quarters with his fame, and bestowing wealth on the meritorious, placed the earth under obligation.

(V.10) He² was like Kumāra (i.e., Kārttikēya), whose one hand was skilled in making offerings at the proper time to the high flames of fire (as Kumāra’s hand is in feeding his mighty peacock) ; who (like Kumāra) always avoided the company of women; who showed the effect of his power on mighty kings (as Kumāra exhibited that of his dart on the Krauñcha mountain), who was devoted to (Śiva) the enemy of the mind-born (as Kumāra also was dear to him) ; and who performed (all) his duties towards the gods (as Kumāra accomplished the work of the gods, viz., the destruction of the demon Tāraka).³

(V. 11) He, having thought over all the scriptures, realized God by the performance of religious austerities and meditation, and living on the fruits of priyāla, āmalaka,⁴ greens and śālūka⁵, caused the wonder of the world by practising austerities even in his boyhood on the bank (lit., the surface of the land) washed by the river (Śōņa). imitating his spiritual preceptor.

(V. 12) He, having attained power, has acted like the rising sun,—whose feet are rendered more resplendent by the (jewelled) crests of kings (who bowed to him, even as the sun’s rays are when they fall on the peaks of mountains) ; who has done the work of destroying ignorance (as the sun dispels darkness); who is revered by all people at the time of making peace (as the sun is at the beginning of twilights); (and)—what more (need be said?)—who, having attained greatness has pervaded the three worlds by his power (as the sun does by its heat).

(V.13) He, by the process of excavating, breaking and ramming⁶ heaps of large stones, has constructed a wonderful way through mountains (and) across rivers and streams, and also through forests and thickets, as Rāghava (did) across the ocean. A great deed of the mighty proclaims wonder in the world !

(V.14) At night this hermitage,—(which is wafted) with breezes, extremely cool with the sprays of the water of the Śōņa, which makes the sky reverberate with loud roars of lions, and which has bee-like clouds hovering round mountain peaks,—causes people to suspect lightning on account of the phosphorescence of great medicinal plants (growing near it).

(V.15) In this place herds of monkeys kiss the cubs of lions, (and) the young one of a deer sucks at the breast of the lioness. Other hostile animals forget their (natural) antipathy (to one another) ; for the minds of all become tranquil in penance-groves.

(V. 16) Near the temple built by his preceptor, the tranquil Prabōdhaśiva caused to be erected this lofty and spacious monastery, which is, as it were, his own fame resembling while clouds. Thereafter he caused to be excavated a sea-like lake,⁷ by the side
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¹ I.e., in order to enable Śiva to hear his devotee’s fame sung in heaven.
² In the original vv. 10-13 are relative clauses, having for their correlative Prabōdhaśiva in v.9.
³ There is a play on several words in this verse, owing to which adjectival expressions yield two meanings, one connected with the sage and the other with Kārttikēya.
⁴ Emblic Myrobalan.
⁵ Śālūka is ‘the esculent root of different kinds of lotus’. (M. W.)
⁶ The process of making roads described here shows that macadamizing was well known in those days, see Ep. Ind., Vol. XXI, p. 152, n. 1.
⁷ Prakhya at the end of a compound means ‘resembling.’ Banerji, however, takes sindhu to be the name of the lake