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112
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
[VOL. XVIII
(Verse 8.) The primeval man was againl born to him, and, being far-famed, and possessed of elephant hosts, was called Nāgabhata (II).
The kings of Andhra, Sindhu, Vidarbha and Kaljnga succumbed to his youthful energy as moths do unto fire.
(Verse 9.) Who, desirous of the great growth of virtuous acts enjoined in the Vēdas, performed a series of religious ceremonies according to the custom of the Kshatriya families; and, after having defeated Chakrāyudha, whose lowly demeanour was manifest from his dependence on others, he became eminent, although he (lit. his body) was humble through modesty.
(Verse 10.) Having vanquished his enemy, the lord of Vanga, who appeared like a mass of dark, dense cloud in consequence of the crowd of mighty elephants, horses and chariots, Nägabhata, who alone gladdens (the heart of) the three worlds, revealed himself, even as the rising Sun, the sole source of manifestation of the three worlds, reveals himself by vanquishing dense and terrible darkness.
(Verse 11.) Of him, whose mode of life was beneficial to all mankind, the incomprehensible royal qualities (like eloquence, statesmanship, etc.) became manifest in the world, even from boyhood, by his forcible seizure of the hill forts of the kings of Anartta, Málava, Kiráta, Turushka, Vatsa and Matsya.
(Verse 12.) (The great Rāma), the protector of virtue, after having forcibly bridged over the oceans (lit. the lords of rivers), full of exceedingly cruel animals, by means of continuous chain of rocks placed by the best monkey force, looked bright by having killed the evil-doers who served as obstacles and as he thereby) got (lit. was joined by his wife and renown. His (Nagabhata's) son, Rama by name, also shone forth like this (homonymous) predecessor, by similar worthy deeds ; for he, the defender of religion, too, had the haughty and cruel commanders of armies forcibly bound down by his subordinate) kings who had the best cavalry under their charge, and looked radiant by having .destroyed the obstacles caused by the evil-doers (as he thus) attained the fame which was unto him even as a consort.7
(Verse 13.) That lord of prosperity, who had overpowered the points of compass by means of valour (alone), unsupported by the other expedients (such as sāma, dāna, bhēda), was yet
1 The phrase punar-api denotes either that the primeval man who was once born as Nagabhata (cf. v. 4) appeared again, or that Nagabhata, the first man in the family (adyah puman), was again born as such.
? There is pun on the word kaumára-dhamani. Kumára means fire as well as youth.
8 [In verse 9 bali-prabanda) must mean the collection of taxes as Mr. Hirananda Sastri interprete. A king has to collect taxes if he has to perform Vedic sacrifices and protect the Dharma. Rid of all alankara, the verse means that the King collected taxes only as per prescribed law for increasing Vedic merit; and conquered king Chakrāyudha who had joined the enemy. With alankara it means "he excelled Vishnu-though like him ho also imprisoned Bali, since he was not loto like Våmans nor proud like Trivikrama, but was full of cinaya. -Ed.]
There is an implication in this verse to the effect that Nägabbata excelled Vishnu (Chakrayudha). Both were Trayy-aspadasya rikritasya samriddhimrichchhuh, but Vishnu could not, like Nagabhata, be mid to have been Kshattra dhama-vidhi-baddha-bali-prabandha as he could not subdue Bali by Kshatriya rites. Then, Visha was par-äfraya-krita-aphufa-nicha bhava. This refers to the Vámana incarnation in which Vishnu took the body of a dwarf. Again, whereas Nagabhata was namra-ta puh only through vinaya, Vishnu's body was actually namra inasmuch as he was a dwarf.
There is an implied Glasha in this verse. The adjective tricjagad-ika-vikarako-applios both to Nagsbbata and the Sun, and both vanquish darkness, in the one case literally, apd in the other, figuratively.
Pandit Hirananda translates atma-vaibharam by "greatness of winl." It is better to take it, as suggested by my friend Mr. J. C. Ghatak, M.A., as equivalent to the technical term at ma-apat meaning a group of royal qualities as explained in Kamandakiya Nitisara, Ch. IV, vv. 14.JR.
1 The phrase sa igatah kirtti-daraih seems to be a significant one. The ovidont mening is, that ss in the cro of Ramachandra, he was joined by his wife after she had been in enemy's stronghold for some time, Ramabhadra, too, regained the fame which was so long in his enemy's possession. This seems to show that Rāmabhadra's power was overshadowed by his enemy till he defeated him and captured his commanders.
