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

universe! May he, (the god) Śambhu, confer many auspicious gifts upon you,—employed
by whom in the rites of (effecting the) continuance and the destruction and the produc-
tion of (all) things that exist, (the god) Svayambhû, is obedient to (his) commands, for
the sake of the maintenance of (all) the worlds; and by whom, leading (him) to dignity in
the world, he has been brought to the condition of being the father (of the universe)!
May the serpent of the creator of existence¹ accomplish the allayment of your distress,—
(that serpent) the multitude of whose foreheads, bowed down afar by the pressure of the
heavy weight of the jewels in (their) hoods, obscures the radiance of the moon (on his
master's forehead); (and) who (with the folds of his body) binds securely on (his master's)
head the chaplet of bones which is full of holes (for stringing them)! May the
creator of waters,² which was dug out by the sixty thousand sons of Sagara, (and) which
possesses a lustre equal to (that of) the sky, preserve for a long time the glories of this best
of wells!
(Line 4.)—Now, victorious is that tribal ruler,³ having the name of the glorious
**Yaśôdharman,**⁴ who, having plunged into the army of (his) enemies, as if into a grove of
thornapple-trees, (and) having bent down the reputations of heroes like the tender creep-
ers of trees, effects the adornment of (his) body with the fragments of young sprouts
which are the wounds (inflicted on him).
(L. 5.)—And, again, victorious over the earth is this same⁵ king of men,⁶ the glo-
rious Vishṇuvardhana, the conqueror in war; by whom his own famous lineage, which
has the aulikara-crest,⁷ has been brought to a state of dignity that is ever higher and
¹ bhava-sṛij.—Originally, Brahman was the creator; Vishṇu, the preserver; and Śiva, the de-
stroyer. But of course the Vaishṇavas and the Śaivas invested their own special gods with all three
attributes. As regards Śiva, we may also refer to line 51 of the Alînâ grant of Śîlâditya VII. of the
year 447, No. 39 below, Plate xxv., where, under the name of Paramēśvara, he is again clearly refer-
red to as the creator. While, as regards Vishṇu, in the Vishṇu-Purâṇa, book I, chap. ii. (Hall's
edition of Wilson's Translation, Vol I. p. 41), he is described as himself becoming Brahman, and so
engaging in the creation of the universe.—That bhava-sṛij here dēnotes Śiva, is shewn by the gene-
ral purport of the preceding two verses, and especially by the mention of the chaplet of bones in this
verse. He is always represented with a necklace of skulls, a serpent hanging round his neck, and
the crescent moon on his forehead.
² The ocean. The allusion in this verse is to the legend that the bed of the ocean was exca-
vated by the sons of Sagara in their search for their father's aśvamēdha-horse, which was stolen from
their custody by the sage Kapila, and was only found by them when they had dug down through the
earth into the lower regions. Kapila, in his anger, reduced them to ashes; but subsequently restored
the horse on the intercession of Aṁśumat, the grandson of Sagara. The obsequies, however, of the
sons of Sagara remained unperformed, and their transfer to heaven was barred, until Bhagîratha, the
grandson of Aṁśumat, brought the river Ganges down from heaven, and led it over the earth to the
chasm made by the sons of Sagara. Flowing down through this, it washed their bones and ashes; by
which they were raised to heaven. And, as such of its waters as remained in the chasm constituted
the ocean, the latter was called sâgara in commemoration of Sagara and his descendants.
³ janêndra; see page 151 above, note 2.
⁴ See page 145 above, note 2.
⁵ This expression looks at first sight as if Yaśôdharman and Vishṇuvardhana were one and the
same person. But the general structure of this verse, as well as the use of the two distinct titles
janêndra and narâdhipati and of the expression âtma-vaṁśô, shews that this is not the case. "This
same" simply means "this reigning king," in whose time and territory the inscription is written.
⁶ narâdhipati; see page 151 above, note 3.
⁷ aulikara-lâñchhana; see page 151 above, note 4.
W 2.