गुप्त अभिलेख संग्रह (जे. एफ. फ्लीट - गुप्त सम्राटों एवं परवर्ती नरेशों के ऐतिहासिक पाषाण व ताम्रलेख)

THE GUPTA INSCRIPTIONS; No. 17, PLATE X. 77
were, for (even) Râma and Bhagîratha; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . on the earth,
(was) Viśvavarman;—who surpassed (the mountain) Mêru in firmness, Vainya in here-
ditary virtue, the moon in development of lustre, (the god) Vishṇu in strength, and the
most unendurable fire of universal destruction in brilliance, and (Indra) the lord of the
gods in prowess;—who, when he grasps (his) weapon, cannot be gazed upon even
for a moment by (his) enemies, whose eyes are blinded by fear, just like a sun, which,
turning back upon (its) course, has an unendurable form and a brilliant and terrible lustre
that is heightened by rising in a cloudless sky;—to whom obeisance is performed by the
waterlilies which are the faces of the lovely women of (his) enemies, frightened before-
hand by (hearing of) the prowess of (his) strength, (and now) destitute of ornaments,
moist on the cheeks with the water of the tears that cling there, (and) deprived of beauty by
having their wearing of adornments stopped;—whose forces, moreover, have reverence done
to them by [the oceans], the palmyra-trees on the shores of which are beautified by the
lustre of the production of jewels (from the waters); the rows of the foam on which are
broken through by the terrified sharks and marine monsters; (and) all of whose hands,
which are their waves, are shaken about by a fierce wind;—at the time of the journeying
forth of whose army, the earth has (its) thickets emptied of the beasts and birds which
flee away from fear of the lances that uproot the trees and make the mountains tremble,
and, having (its) highways made uneven by protuberances, sinks down as it were (under
the tread of his troops);—whose reputation has respect paid to it in a reverential manner
in the sky by the Vidyâdharas, bound in the fetters of the arms of (their) mistresses, who
are blinded by the radiance, directed towards (them), of the rays of the jewels in (his)
diadem, (and) the upper parts of whose cheeks are shaded by the lifting up of (their)
joined hands in the act of respectful salutation;—and who, even when he was still in early
youth, nourished (his) pure intellect by following the sacred writings, and now effects the
protection of the world like Bharata, pointing out, as it were, the path of the true religion
among kings. While he, the king, the bravest among kings, is governing the earth, just
as (Indra) the lord of the gods, of unmeasured majesty, (governs) the heavens, there is
never any one [among mankind] who delights in wickedness, [or] is beset by misfortune, or
is destitute of happiness
(L. 19.)—And when four hundred fully-complete auspicious years,¹ together with the
eightieth (year), had here gone by; on the bright thirteenth day of the month Kârttika
which brings happiness to the thoughts of all mankind;—in the season² which abounds
with waters that are of a reddish-brown colour with the pollen that is discharged from the
blue waterlilies; when the skirts of the groves are radiant with the flowers of the bandhûka³
and bâṇa⁴-trees; when there is the time of the awakening from sleep of (the god)
Madhusûdana;⁵ (and) when the stars are as pure as a bed of waterlilies in full bloom;—
(L. 22.)—He who has adorned (this) city on the banks of the Gargarâ with irrigation
wells, tanks, and temples and halls of the gods, drinking-wells, and pleasure-gardens of

¹ See page 73 above, note 1; and page 75, note 4.
² i.e. Śarad, the autumn, consisting of the two months Âśvayuja (September-October) and Kârt-
tika (October-November).
³ bandhûka; 'a shrub bearing a red flower; Pentapetes Phœnicea; Terminalia Tomentosa.'
⁴ bâṇa; 'the blue-flowering Barleria.'
⁵ Vishṇu, who sleeps during the four months of the rainy season. His slumber commences on
the eleventh day of the bright fortnight of the month Âshâḍha (June-July), and ends on the eleventh
day of the bright fortnight of Kârttika (October-November).