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NAGPUR STONE INSCRIPTION,
189
TRANSLATION.
Oṁ!
On! Adoration to Bharati 158 (Verse 1). O goddess of speech and divine Durga I Let simplicity, force, sweetness, depth, harmony, and whatever other qualities you possess, let them all be shared by us !
(2). May Lakshmi's husband, that sole lord of fortune in all the three worlds, grant you prosperity,-he from whose middle stride even the sun and the other luminaries yonder shine forth!
(3). May good utterances, clad in játi and dritta metres, pleasing by their style and by figures of speech, and expressive of poetical sentiment, be gracious to us! And may sages be so, men of taste, of noble birth and good conduct, who charm with the qualities that adorn them!
(4). May Siva grant whatever is auspicious, -he who, terrific when he destroys the irresistible foe Pura, singularly embellished with copious ashes, and revered by the lordo of the Yakshas, resembles this fire-born race, which is terrible when it breaks the strongholds of irresistible foes, is exquisitely adorned with abundant good fortune, and paid homage to by the kings of kings!
(5). Glory be to the lotus-born Brahman who, engendered in the mundane egg which was produced in the great ocean, and, when set free, an object of reverence for Siva, is like the pearls which grow in the oyster-shells of the sea, and are prized by great lords !
(6). May that form of the husbands of Uma and Lakshmi grant you both enjoyment and salvation, which, both passionless and passionate, wearing both a wreath of human skulls and flower-garlands, clad both in tiger and elephant skins and in costly garments, adorned both with serpents and with pearl-strings and other ornaments, and both smeared with ashes and anointed with perfumes, is fearful as well as auspicious!
(7). May Vishņu purify you, who, in the guise of a fish and other creatures having assumed one after another all forms, made the whole universe not differing from himself !
(8). Well-known is the glorious mount Arbuda, which utterly humbles the pride of the noblest of mountains, and rivals the firmament with the rich splendour radiating from its sapphire crest. The circle of the pollen of the lotuses that swing to and fro in the pools on its broad sky-piercing top looks as if it were indeed another vault of heaven.
(9). I fancy, it was when the creator, wishing to know whether the gods or the mortals were purer, attached the round of heaven, filled with the former, and this orb of
Lo., the goddess of speech or eloquence.
For the exact definitions of praedda, auddrya, madhurya, samddhi and samatd, denoting certain qualities of stylo, me, e.g., Kdvyddarfa I, 45, 76, 81, 93, and 47. But these terms should be understood here, not only in their technical, but also in their ordinary sensor, serenity of disposition,' to.
The madhyamet Vaishnavasta padam, Vishna's middle stride,' is the air. The idea which the poet intends to BORVOJ Apparently in, that, if Vishnu's madhyama-pada already is so high, bis stana.pada must be infinitely higher still.
# 8oo Indische Studion, vol. VILL, PP. 180 and 193.
Io, tbe kod Kurers. a L.., the Paramars family which will be eulogioed in the following. • Lo, the form of Hari-Han or Vishna-Bina; see ante, vol. I, p. 311, note 47.
