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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
[VOL. XIV.
(V. 4) He (alone) should frame an edict whose diction is elegant, who is conversant with Sruti, Smriti, Purana, Itihasa and Agama (and is also) acquainted with the particularities of time and place.
(V. 5) May the merciful Śri (Lakshmi), by whose extreme grace Heramba (Ganesa) brought about the weaving together (of events) in the entire world of movables and immovables, (and) the lotus-born Creator (Brahma) by mere volition brought into existence the goldbright mundane egg, resting on the expanse of water, always bestow prosperity on the three worlds!
(V. 6) May Achyuta (Vishnu) protect the three worlds, freed from misery, who, in the form of a boar, having extracted with the tip of his tusk the Earth submerged in the ocean, placed (her, i.e. the Earth) in (a corner of) that (ocean) and (on that account) obtained wondrous and matchless merit, (evidently) because there was altogether no such (merit) to compare with (known till then) as (that accruing) from the establishment of a tank.2
(V. 7) May the propitious (Śiva), the sole bestower of happiness on persons resorting to him, whose right and left eyes augment the rain and the herbe of the three worlds; on (whose) brow (is Agni), borne of the Waters, (whose) friend (is) the lord of riches (Kubera), whose chariot is (the Earth) with jewels in her interior, (whose) abode (is) Śrigiri (Srisailam), (and whose) bow (is) the Golden Mount (Mora), protect you!
(V. 8) May the Earth (bearing) plentiful crops always protect you!-she whose form is resplendent with (her) limbs, namely, the seven continents; with Meru for her head; the rippling oceans of milk for (her) beauteous breasts; decorated with Rohana and other (mountains); with the glittering oceans for (her sumptuous garments; and beautiful with rivers and lotus ponds.
(V.9) A son, a literary composition and a tank, (hidden) treasure, a Siva temple, a forest(-grove), a Brahmana-village: (these) seven (kinds of) offsprings are the best.7
(V. 10) A performer of these and other meritorious works was the earth-ruler Bhaskara, surnamed Bhavadura. His lineage I shall narrate.
(V. 11) The Moon (was) born from the Ocean of Milk. Saumya (was) the son of the Moon. In his race were born Pururavas and Nahusha; from the latter king Yayati. His son (was) Yadu. In this race of the Yadavas (was born) the azure-robed (Balarama) and the blessed Hari. In (the age of) Kali was born in his family the illustrious king Samgama.
1 Probably in his capacity of Vighnesvara.
2 What is meant is that the exploit of Vishnu is quite insignificant when compared with the sinking of a reservoir, such as the one sunk by Bhaskara, the patron of the poet.
I.e. the Sun and the Moon.
In the sequence of creation, as described in the Upanishads, Water comes after Fire; hence the latter is fancifully represented to be the father of the former.
This is a reference to the legend of Siva slaying the demon Tripura.
Rohana is the name of a mountain in Ceylon. It is not unlikely that a divani of the sense arohaṇa (hip") is also intended.
In the Ganapesvara Inscription of Gana-pati (Ep. Ind., Vol. III, pp. 88 ff.) the seven" offsprings" are thus described:
Sampaditair yatha vat sutakritinidhamaviva hasura gihaiḥ! satatakair yaḥ sasaptabhir Staiḥ samtänavan bharati ||
The Vanapalli plates of Anna Vems (Saka 1300) also allude to them as sapta-samtati (Ep. Ind., Vol. III, p. 61).
In Himadri-kriti-märgēna (1. 89) we have again the word kiti used in the sense of composition.'
As remarked by Dr. Hultzsch in the report on Epigraphy for 1902-3 (see p. 6, para. 15), Bhavadūra seems to be a Sanskritised form of Babädür.
