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

86 CORPUS INSCRIPTIONUM INDICARUM, VOL. III.
(L. 12.)—Having reflected that the world is very unsteady, being blown about by
the wind like the charming ear-ornaments, (made of) sprigs, of the women of the Vidyâ-
dharas; (and similarly) the estate of man; and also accumulations of wealth, large
(though they may be),—they became possessed of a virtuous (and) stable understanding;
and then;¹—
(L. 13.)—While Kumâragupta was reigning over the (whole) earth, whose
pendulous marriage-string is the verge of the four oceans; whose large breasts are (the
mountains) Sumêru and Kailâsa;² (and) whose laughter is the full-blown flowers
showered forth from the borders of the woods;—
(L. 13.)—There was a ruler, king Viśvavarman,³ who was equal in intellect
to Śukra and Bṛihaspati, who became the most eminent of princes on the earth; (and)
whose deeds in war were equal to (those of) Pârtha;—who was very compassionate to the
unhappy; who fulfilled his promises to the miserable and the distressed; who was exces-
sively full of tenderness; (and) who was a very tree of plenty to (his) friends, and the
giver of security to the frightened, and the friend of (his) country;—
(L. 14.)—His son (was) king Bandhuvarman, possessed of firmness and states-
manship; beloved by (his) kinsmen; the relative, as it were, of (his) subjects; the
remover of the afflictions of (his) connections; pre-eminently skilful in destroying the
ranks of (his) proud enemies. Handsome, youthful, dexterous in war, and endowed with
humility, king though he was, yet was he never carried away by passion, astonishment,
and other (evil sentiments); being the very incarnation of erotic passion, he resembled in
beauty, even though he was not adorned with ornaments, a second (Kâmadêva) armed
with the bow that is made of flowers. Even to-day, when the long-eyed lovely women of
(his) enemies, pained with the fierce pangs of widowhood, think of him, they stagger
about through fear, in such a way as to fatigue (their) firm and compact breasts.
(L. 16.)—While he, the noble Bandhuvarman, the best of kings, the strong-
shouldered one,⁴ was governing this city of Daśapura, which had been brought to a
state of great prosperity,—a noble (and) unequalled temple of the bright-rayed (Sun), was
caused to be built by the silk-cloth weavers, as a guild, with the stores of wealth acquired
by (the exercise of their) craft;—(a temple) which, having broad and lofty spires, (and)
resembling a mountain, (and) white as the mass of the rays of the risen moon, shines,
charming to the eye, having the similarity of (being) the lovely crest-jewel, fixed (in its
proper place), of (this) city of the west.
(L. 17.)—In that season⁵ which unites men with (their) lovely mistresses; which is
agreeable with the warmth of the fire of the rays of the sun (shining) in the glens; in
¹ The context is "a noble (and) unequalled temple of the bright-rayed (Sun) was caused to be
built" &c., in line 16; all that intervenes, is by way of a parenthesis.
² Conf. Bṛihat-Saṁhitâ, xliii. 35, where the earth is described as having the mountains of
sunrise and sunset for lips, and the Himâlaya and Vindhya for breasts.—Compare also line 34 of the
Alînâ grant of Śîlâditya VII. of the year 447, No. 39 below, Plate xxv., where the Sahya and Vindhya
mountains are called the breasts of the earth.—Similes of this kind doubtless varied in accordance
with the extent of the kingdoms in which the inventors of them resided.
³ This, again, is a second parenthesis, the real context of the preceding verse being the descrip-
tion of Bandhuvarman in line 14 ff.
⁴ lit. 'high-shouldered.'
⁵ i.e. Hêmanta, the cold weather, consisting of the months Mârgaśîrsha (November-December)
and Pausha or Sahasya (December-January).