North Indian Inscriptions

INSCRIPTIONS OF THE KALACHURIS OF RATANPUR

RATANAPUR STONE INSCRIPTION OF PRITHVIDEVA11 : YEAR 915

(V. 12) [The heavenly damsels] gathering together again and again on the path of the gods (i.e., in the sky) and conversing with crowds of hostile warriors killed on the battlefield as they speedily became gods . . . . rumbling out of season.

(V. 13) . . . . . like the man-lion he was the best of men; like Achuyuta (Vishṇu) wielding his uplifted discus, he leads a victorious army; like Vishṇu who is fond of the bird (Garuḍa) and reclines on the best of serpents, he is fond of the Brāhmaṇas and lives in the company of the best of^¹ Nāga princes.

(V. 14) (This verse is completely effaced.)

(V. 15) Who accepted a beloved clad in a black garment . . . . . who had lovely, compact and large breasts, and who just then fell in love with him . . . . Taking off the sheath of (his sword) . . . . .

(V. 16) In the fight, in which the strokes of his creeper-like sword appeared like (flashes of) lightning and in which it was difficult to move about an account of multitudes of streams of blood gushing forth from the necks of crowds of wrathful foes, he having attacked the hostile king Jaṭēśvara . . . . .

(V. 17) He is to his enemies as the sun is to a mass of darkness; he is Pradyumna to women (and) the preceptor of gods (i.e., Bṛihaspati) in the right judgment of speech; being well-known for imprisoning (his) mighty (foe),^² he resembles Kṛishṇa (who in his Dwarf incarnation imprisoned Bali), (but unlike Kṛishṇa) he is not dark-complexioned.³

(V. 18) Though like the ocean he is .. . . dear to all creatures, appears charming with his great vitality (as the ocean does with its abundant store of water), has attained a supreme position by his command of all armies (as the ocean by its lordship over all rivers), and is receptacle of precious things (as the ocean is a treasure of jewels), he does not (unlike the ocean which gives shelter to water) give refuge to dullards.

(V. 19) The regions at the extremity of the earth . . . . . which appear beautiful with the magnificent bridge of Rā¬ma (and) those, the water of the ocean in which is absorbed by the navels of the women in the city of Varuṇa, have been resorted to by his fame.⁴

(V. 20) This [Brahmadēva who is the sun to] the lotuses which are the faces of the excellent ladies who come out of eagerness to see his handsome form [may come] to our world to give away wealth to suppliants in charity.’- Being as it were urged by gods through such apprehension^⁵ the sun moves continuously round the regions on the slopes of the golden mountain (Mēru).

(V. 21) Consigning the yoke of the government to him who, being a treasure of merits, had been brought over with great favour from the Talahāri-maṇḍala and who killed hostile kings with the strokes of the sword grasped in his hand, the king Pṛithvīdēva (II), the lord of the famous Kōsala country, obtained great mental happiness.

(V. 22) [Seeing that ] on the orb of the earth . . . . . is like dew-drops on ( the
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¹There is a play on the words chakra meaning (i) a discuss and (2) an army, dvijāti meaning (ii) the bird Garuḍa and (ii) a Brāhmaṇa, and bhōgin meaning (i) a serpent and (ii) a Nāga prince or an officer in charge of a bhōga or bhukti (sub-division).
² This may refer to the imprisonment of Jaṭēśvara.
³ There is contradiction here, since the prince Brahmadēva is said to be Kṛishṇa and still not to have the complexion of Kṛishṇa, but the contradiction is only apparent as the intended meaning is that he was not infamous. The figure is Virōdhābhāsa.
⁴ The regions in all the four directions were described this verse. The first hemistich which described the northern and eastern regions is almost completely lost. The description in the second hemistich refers to the southern and western regions.
⁵ The idea in this verse occurs also in verses 7 and 17 of the Mallār stone inscription, below, No. 97.