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Introduction
xxҳіх
fine speech in prose as in verse. His body was strong and proportionate; he had a fine figure. He was chosen in marriage by many princesses.
All the Varnas-castes or communities-approached him and elected him as their king for his merits. He made cities, business-places and villages safe from robbers, beasts of prey, wild animals and disease. He had vowed not to kill men except equal foes met in battle.
The inscription gives a graphic picture of the rain-storm and the floods in the Suvarna-sikatā, the Palasini and other rivers of the mountain Urjayat and the havoc they had worked with the lake. The rains had made the whole earth one sea of waters. The dam was broken by the velocity of the floods. The wind had toppled down the peaks of the mountain, uprooted the trees, and destroyed the banks, attalaka ( top-rooms on fortifications ), upatalpa ( upper-story ), dvāra( entrances'), and saraṇa ( chambers ). It was, as if, the wind of the day of destruction. The flowing away of all the water made the Lake Sudarşana appear as if it were a sandy desert-painful to look at. There was left a gaping chasm 420 Hastas in length and 420 in breadth and 75 Hastas deep.
'The task of re-building a lake with such a huge chasm was staggering. His ministers and officers had not the energy to face it. So they advised the Mahākshtrapa to leave it alone. When the people saw that the dam was not to be re-built they raised a hue and a cry. One minister-Suvişākha the Pahlava - son of Kulaipa who was appointed at that place the governor of Anartta-Saurashtra by the king undertook to execute the task for the benefit of the city and
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