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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
(Vol. V.
Hara (that) in former days the devout Gañas Bâņa and Dinisaļa, and so many others, obtained boons." On his having thus spoken, the Jains said-" It may be so !;' but why dost thou simply talk of former worthies P; cut off thine own head, under such conditions that all people may know of it, and offer it to him, and get it back from him, and then we will admit that) thou art indeed a pious man and he is indeed the god."
(L. 38)-- When they had thus spoken, Êkantada-Rama said " If I offer my head to (Siva) the foe of Love, and obtain it baok, what is the wager that ye will pay to me P;" wbereupon they replied, in anger, “We will pluck up our Jina and set up an image of Siya." Then, saying " Give me (it in writing on a palmyra-leaf," and taking the palmyra-leaf that they gave, Rama brought (his image of) Siva into the presence (of the Jains) at the place where he was to straightway cut off his head and make an offering of it, and spa ke thus :-"If I have ever not said that thou alone, O Sambha !, art my protection without fail, and if my thoughts have ever gone astray after other gods, my head shall not go from me by the edge of this acimitar;' but, otherwise, 0 siva !, let it roll down before thy feet :" and, thus speaking, the brave Råma, with a loud shout, and with an unfaltering hand, set himself to cut off his head and lay it at the feet of Siva. While the disciples were saying "Surely he inflicted but a small wound; he drew the sword and thought, indeed, to do a bold thing, but then he became afraid and has preserved his body unhurt; he must have devised some mischief to the sword (blunting it, so that it shall not wound him)," Rama, that man of ability, quickly and instantly cut through his own nock with as little difficulty as if he were shearing through a bundle of grass, and placed (his head) at the feet of Isa (Siva), and caused joy to the attendants of Sankara (Siva).
(L. 43)- After the severed head had been exhibited in public during seven days, Hara kindly gave it back: the head became sound again without any scar; and Råma received it back, to the knowledge of all people. In much perturbation, all the Jains, in great distress, bowed down on the ground and seized his feet, imploring him to abstain from destroying their Jina; but, refusing to abstain, he fell on it like a thunderbolt from a clear sky, and broke the head of the Jina. Just as a wild elephant in rat plunges into a grove of plantain-trees, and, though alone, sweeps everything away before him, so he, putting forth his strength, scattered the heroes who guarded it, and the horses, and the chieftains, and, while the opposing ranks of the Jains, crying out that Mári (the goddess of plague or death) had come upon them, were running away in flight, he beat the Jina till it fell; and there he made them accept the holy Vira-Somêsa.
(L. 46)-When the Jains, having gone in & body, and having related all the matter in a cunning way to king Bijjana, were, with enmity, making a very slanderous complaint about it, king Bijjana became mad with anger, and looked at Ramayya with wrath, and said " Why hast thou done this evil thing ?;" whereupon he shewed the palmyra-leaf that they had given, and said :-“This is the palmyra-leaf that they gave; weigh it in thy mind, and place it in thy treasury; let them wager again; if they dare further stake, in thy presence, (all) their various Jinas, then I will cut off my head and place it as the stake in their hands, and will recover it even after they shall have barned it; but they shall wager to me the various Jings of their eight bundred shrines, the chief of which is the Anesejjeyabasadi." Therenpon king Bijjana said “We will see this marvel;" and he summoned the wise men of the shrines, and the other)
Erhgw, line 38, is to be taken as enge ( chage, change), in what manner P, how ?,' + (-) -- bowsoever, it may be.
* I... "let me not have the courage to cut it off."
Lit, like dry thunderbolt, nnaccompanied by rain."
• There is reference to Mårt in line 28 of the Nesargi inscription (Jour. B. Br. R. 41. Soc. Vol. X. p. 243); and another coun in an inscription at Balmuri (Ep. Cars. Vol. III., Br. 169), in which she is called Mariya-muri, the destroying deity Mart."
