________________
ŚREYANSANĀTHACARITRA
53
lord, we shall follow only your command, like your servants. Therefore, command us, Iord." .
· Triprstha replied: "There was no crime on your part. Fighting at the master's order is certainly the course of warriors. Dismiss fear. Now I am your master. Henceforth remain in your respective kingdoms, having become subject to me." After reassuring the kings in this way, Triprstha went with his retinue to Potanapura, like another Purandara.
Conquest of southern half of Bharata (762–776)
Janārdana and his elder brother again left Potanapura for an expedition of conquest, surrounded by seven jewels, 74 the cakra, et cetera. First he conquered Māgadha, the face-ornament of the eastern part; and Varadāman, the head-wreath of the southern part; and the chief-god, Prabhāsa, by whom the western part is made radiant ; and also the Vidyadhara-kings of the two rows of Vaitādhya. Hari gave Agnijațin the overlordship of the two rows. For the noble, being served, bear fruit like a kalpa-tree. After he had conquered the southern half of Bharata in just this way by an expedition of conquest, Triprştha turned his face towards his own city, He shone with half the magnificence and half the strength of arm of a cakravartin. Then in a few marches Mādhava reached the Magadhas. Then the tilaka of kings saw a huge stone being lifted by a crore of men, like a tilaka of the earth. With his left arm Hari easily held the stone in the air over his head like an umbrella. Triprstha was warmly praised as skilful by kings and people, who were astonished at the sight of his strength of arm, like bards. After depositing it (the stone) in the proper place, he set out and reached the city Potanapura, the abode of fortune, in a few days.
74 762. See above, p. 44. The cakra makes the seventh.
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org