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264
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
when it took fright at the fire which issued from the thunderbolt as it vibrated and broke in striking (Ravana's) broad chest,-that indeed truly tells his renown.
(Verse 10.) Of him whom the divine Dattatreya," that home of the amorous dalliance of fortune, favoured with the gracious promise of sons,--who, I ask, are we to describe the excellencies? What is the use of empty babbling? In his case even the goddess of speech, I fancy, is certainly embarrassed.
(11.) Then, how many rulers of the earth did not spring from him, a tree whose creeping-plants were the vows of good men in which he engaged,-(rulers) renowned for their zeal in defeating kings who were (like) newly risen Tårakas psi
(12.) Among them who thus came one after another, was born, filling men with wonder, Kokkalladeva, supremely fortunate (and) swaying the orb of the earth like Indra; who to rising enemies was what a forest-fire is to expanding creepers, (and) whose prowess, adorned as he was with self-confidence, filled the circumference of the three worlds.
(13.) Whose forces, moving hither and thither to conquer the earth, like the sea which sweeps over its shores, when met together, by their excessive weight pressed down the earth, and thus laid low the several broad hoods of the lord of serpents.
(14.) When the dust raised by his army gradually ascended from the earth and rolled about in the sky, the pairs of Chakraváka birds, apprehending the approach of night, became flurried and separated; the peacocks, thinking the clouds had come, held a dancing festival; and, deprived of sight, the eyes of a sudden were struck with blindness.
(15.) When the lordly elephants of his large army which was fond of the woods by the sea-shore, resembling huge mountains in crowds plunged into the water, the ocean after a long time was reminded of that occasion when the Mandara mountain was whirled about in it.
(16.) And when the elephants of his army, while he occupied the slopes of the Vindhya, excited with rut were breaking (the trees), the forest, with its swarms of birds unmelodiously chirping, cried out as it were with pain.
(17.) Having conquered the whole earth, he set up two unprecedented columns of his fame, in the quarter of the pitoher-born (Agastya)" that well-known Krishnaraja, and in the quarter of Kuvera" Bhojadeva, a store of fortune.
(18.) From him then was born Mugdhatunga, than whom nobody is more exalted in the three worlds; and who, desirous of conquering the quarters, when he had overthrown the enemies, what country did he not make his own p
(19.) Whose sole object of affection, when he was preparing for contests, was his sword,-a couch for the fortune of battle, a club for (the destruction of) hostile forces, a sprout of the creeper-anger, a dear friend of pride, a sapphire-channel for the watergood conduct, a branch of the tree-bravery, an endless path for bold deeds to proceed by. (20.) Who, possessed of terrific splendour, in every battle so handled the host of enemies that the crowds of goblins were exulting, that men carried their heads broken,
Dattatreya was an incarnation of Vishnu. See Bhagavatapurana, IX, 23, 23.
Taraka was a Daitya who was conquered by Indra.
i.e., in the south.
i.e., in the north. Compare Raghuvamia, XV, 108.
If I understand the verse rightly, the word f in the second line is superfluous; and with prep. f is employed in an unusual sense.
