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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
[VOL. XIII.
(Verse 20)-So that it may be said that the Moon-bearer [Śiva], whose lips are like lotuses, rested (there) when taking covert from the breaking open of the primitive mountains, the Kondaligere Tank, an (?) abode of the sun, which lends splendour to the Lady Earth and is a new girdle (for her), like the Ocean, radiantly displays itself in maguificence combined with dignity.
(Verse 21)-[This is mostly illegible but it contains some further praise of the Kondaligere Tank of Kaḍiyür.]
(Verse 22)-The temple of Siva of Kalidevasvamin removes defilement
it is impossible even for the Lotus-bora [Brahman] and the Snake-king to praise (it adequately),
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(Verse 23)-Containing all (kinds of) water-dwellers, displaying indeed a multitude of the forms of bright white kine in union, it appears like a crore of storehouses described as being of exceeding magnificence.
(Verse 24)-How the god's dwelling, (accommodated) for the four seasons, does display itself, in due order possessing an enclosure, arising in massive height, and shewing elegance, while the worship there, the very eminent holy men there, the right glorious maguificence there, the line of banners fluttering on all sides as they combine in splendour there, are altogether most brilliant!
(Verse 25)-Are there not combined in Kaḍiyur a surrounding sanctuary, an assemblyhall, a refectory, a fountain, and brilliant dispensation of lore, if any observe?
(Lines 41-47)-Moreover, badioudu [trouble, or striking] and biduvudu [desertion, or discharge] occur there (only) in the art of archery; artificial and transient shows (only) in jugglery; kadanguvudu [lust, or thickening] and... (only) in the masses of the clouds; saralate [sickliness, or straightness] and badatana [poverty, or slenderness] (only) in women's waists; naduka [fear, or quivering] and maradi [hostility, or ? different stalks] (only) in the flower-clusters of the mangoes; kundu [defect, or waning] and kalanka [blemish, or moon-spot] (only) in the deer-pictured [moon]; urku [pride, or steel] and kampa [trembling, or agitation] (only) in scimitars; sere [confinement, or state of check] and eru [wounds, ox casting] (only) among dicers; lobha [meanness, or attraction]... (only) in the splendour of tender sprigs; nirodha [constraint, or spiritual self-suppression] and nishparigraha (destitation, or lack of worldly ties] (only) in the practice of austerities. It attracts the min1 by its folk, who possess loyalty to the paksha [cause] of the (Divine) Unity like the paksha [wing] of Tarkshya [Garuda], which is found in no other place; maryade [rule of conduct, or shore] like the sea-monsters' home [the Ocean]; pratipannate [enlightenment, or loftiness] like the King of Mountains [the Himalaya]; patience like the earth; elegance like the power of expression of an emperor of poets.3
(Verse 26)-Do any other towns approach Käḍiyur, as it displays lofty eminence on the sea-girt earth? The men of that place are sages, bright with the holy spirit filling them, lacking in naught (?), generous, learned in the Agamas, versed in faultless principles, virtuous all of them.
(Verse 27)-The Two-hundred, who are accomplished in faultless Vedic lore, well accomplished in the very difficult science of grammar and the Agamas, are a Brahman tribe of excellent conduct, elegantly adorned.
1 Brahman is the deity of wisdom and eloquence, and Sesha has a thousand tongues.
The elaborately artificial passage that follows here may be compared with Bana's Kādambari, p. 6 of Bombay Sanskrit Series edn., and Andayya's Kabbigara Kāvam, § 25.
Kavi-raja-raja: here the author pays himself a compliment, for his literary name was Kavirajaraja (ee
1. 74).