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No. 13.]
THE GWALIOR PRASASTI OF BHOJA.
111
Mléchchha king, the destroyer of virtue, he shone with four arms brilliant on account of the glittering terrible weapons.
(Verse 5.) His brother's son, who added to the renown of the family and had the wellknown name Kakustha (Kakutstha), but who, on account of his (habit of) saying welcome things in an inverted manner, was known in the world as Kakkuka (i.e., one who always laughs), was a paramount king.
(Then) was born his illustrious younger brother, Dēvarăja who performed the same task as the great Wielder of thunderbolt (Indra); (for) he curbed a multitude of kings (bhübhrit) by having destroyed their powerful allies (paksha”) and caused them to cast off their (free) movements (gati); Indra also curbed a multitude of mountains (bhubhrit) by having destroyed their powerful-wings (pakshab) and thus caused them to cast off their movements (gati).
(Verse 6.) His son, king Vntearāja, who was compassionate towards the entire world he had subdued, and resembled the Sun in prowess, revealed himself by attaining his own kingdom which rivalled the mountain Udaya.
His riches, too, highly fragrant by reason of the flavour of the wine of elephant ichor, and shining in company of the needy, appeared exceedingly beautiful, having eclipsed the lotuseyed women, who too became exceedingly merry by having tasted wine which was like ichor of elephants and appeared charming in the fond embrace of their lovers.
(Verse 7.) With strong bows as his companion he forcibly wrested the empire, in battle from the famous Bhandi clan, hard to be overcome by reason of the rampart made of infuriated elephants.
Having successfully wielded a position weighty with renown, he, the foremost among the most distinguished Kshatriyas, stamped the noble race of Ikshvaku with his own name by virtue of his blameless conduct.
Both Dr. Kielhorn and Pandit Hirananda take the fourth line of the verse to mean that Lakshmans was Ráma's door-keeper since be repelled the enemies (pratibaranavid beh). This mesning does not seem satisfactory for there is no connection between the repelling of enemies and acting as a door-keeper. One of the well-known meanings of pratiharana is to avoid,'shnin,' etc., and vidhi also means a commandment, * precept, which enjoins gomething for the first time. In the well-known incident of the Ramayana, quoted above, Rāma enjoined for the first time that all persons should be excluded from his private interview with the ascetic, and appointed Lakshmana As the door-keeper to accessfully accomplish this purpose. This makes it quito clear why Lakshmana is described so the inscription as pratihara owing to pratiharang-vidhi. In other words, the poet implies that Lakshmana was not an ordinary door-keeper, but served as such on account of the particular commandment laid down by Rama
The fourth verse of the Jodhpur inscription of Pratihåra Bauka also traces the origin of the name of the Prutihin dynasty to this incident, and it cortainly well deserves the dignity, because literally as well as figuratively, it was the last act of self-sacrifice on the part of Lakshmaņa, whose whole life was one of sacrifice for his brother.
The derivation of the name Pratihara which is given here is evidently not the same as that indicated by the word prátibarya in the Jodhpur Prasasti of Bauka. Here the poot suggests that the pratiharanavid Mi displayed by Lakshmana in his fight with Meghanada, is the origin of the family name Pratihárs and not the traditional prätiharya-door-keeper's place This is a grammatically possible derivative since Charana-hara-depriving or taking away or destroyinr.-Ed.]
The obvious implication le, that the terrible weapons glittering in the two hands of Nagabhata made it appear mif he had four hands, and he thus resembled, although in a strango manner, the old tago Narayana who possessed four hande too.
Pandit Hirananda translates "khyata-Kakuatha-nama” as celebrated the names of the descendants of Kkkurth and gives K its as the only name of the king. But the two expressions kayata.Kakutha-nama and löki gitah placed side by side on to indicate that he had the well-known name Kakutstha, but was popularly known as Kakkuka. The root bakke means to laugh and Kakkuka was a At appellataon of one who laughed api mado peoplo laugh by his inverted way of saying things.
