द्वितीय राजतरङ्गिणी (जोनराज - कल्हणोत्तर मध्यकालीन कश्मीर का प्रामाणिक इतिहास)

FOURTH SERIES.
I bow to the Great Being, Mahādeva, who assumes
the form of the movable and of the immovable, on
whose crown rests the moon, and whose purpose is
pure. Let that form, half of Hara and half of Gourī,
protect you. At the sight of this form, the king of
the serpents twined himself round the bracelet of Gourī,
out of excess of devotion. I bow to the sun-like
guru, the light of whose favour dispelled the thick
darkness of ignorance, even of Shuka,* and expand-
ed the lotus-like heart of Buddhyāshraya.†
A good poet should bow to the truthful words of per-
sons skilled in discussion and deliberation, to the shlokas
graced with good rhythm, thick with alliterations, and
beneficial, and conveying various meanings and full
of sweetness and thought. It is by the beauty of
such sentences that a king's fame is brightened on all
sides. When the energetic Shrī Jonarāja and the
learned Shrīvara saw the Rājatarangiṇī written by the
Brāhmaṇa, Shrī Kahlaṇa, they, in order to immortalise
themselves, composed two beautiful books of kings,
bringing the account down to the year 62. Then the
poet Shrī Prājyabhaṭṭa, adorned with every good
* The name of the author.
† The name of the author's father.