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130 EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
(VOL. XXIX cipation (from the bondage of this world), having pierced through the frontal diso of the orb of the sun in the heaven.
(Verse 7) From him (Chodaganga) was (born his) son, king Anangabhima, a very parasol of piety, who was not touched by the spurtings of billows of the ink of sins of the Kali age. What A wonderful) magic trick was that, leaving aside the array of rutting elephants, (and depending rather) on the one-legged bull (i.e., dharma), adopting merely that (magic), he had secured the empire ?
(Verse 8) In the family of the Brāhmaṇas belonging to the) Vatsa (g8tra) there was born an excellent Brāhmaṇa, called Govinda, who was voluntarily adored by the hymns and chants of (all) the three Vēdas. What an astonishing) greatness was this of the king that he made him (Govinda) the bull-at-the-yoke for carrying the burden of (his) empire ?"
(Verse 9) Then, from him (Anangabhima) was born a king, named Rajendra, the swans (in the form of toe-nails, the house holders (80 to say) of lotuses (in the form) of whose feet, rest? on the top of mossy weeds (in the shape) of locks of hair of all the hostile chiefs who bowed to him).
(Verse 10) He (Rājēndra) begot that king Anangabhima whose manner of disporting himself by giving charities far excels in fulfilling desires (of the suppliants), even if the mountain of gold (i.e., Sumēru) gets melted by the blasts of the flames of the fire of his prowess, and the clouds, having taken it (molten gold), shower it in milliard streams day and night for filling (alls the quarters (of the space).
(Verse 11) If his fame purifies (all) the three worlds, in vain is there the celestial Gangā! If his utteranoes roll about in the neck (of the people), fie upon pearl necklaces! If the purpose
All this means that the enemies fought and fell. Seeing no escape from the sure death, thoy made a virtaa of necessity, hoping to be rewarded in the world hereafter with the reward of a happy warrior. And that reward consists in the attainment of perfoot bliss in the solar region, as the tradition has it, which only two can reach, & yogin and a warrior. Compare the couplet: Dvduzimau purushau loké surya-mandala-bhldinau pariurid-yogeyuktab-cha rant chabhimukhó halah. There are those two mon in the world who burst through the disc of the sun, (one is) a peripatetic yögin perfocted in meditation, and the other is he) who is killed in the battle without turning his back (upon his opponent)'. (Subhashitaratnabhanddgara, Nirpayasagar Press, Bombay, 6th edition, 1929, p. 161, verse 106.) Mr. N. Lakshminarayan Rao, kindly informed me that this couplet is met with in certain Kannada hero-stone inscriptions. See B. Lewis Rioe's Mysore and Coorg from the Inscriptions, London, 1909, p. 172. It may be rooalled that, among the duties of a kshatriya, & noteworthy one is yuddha chadpyapalayanam, 'not running away in the battle field' (Srimadbhagavadgita, XVIII, 43), which is echoed in the rape ch-abhimukhó hatah of the couplet quoted abovo.
* This means that the pious people enjoyed special protection and soourity under Anangabhima.
• Mark the use of the word fuddha in the sense of kēvala in the present oontext. The English word pure offers a parallel inasmuch as this likewise is oocasionally used in the sonse of sheer or mere. See remarks above, p. 122.
The implication is that Anangabhima was & peace-loving and righteous king. Though he possessed war elophante, he never went to war. The bull, symbolio of dharma, stood on all the four legs in the Krita age, on three legs in the Tretă age, on two legs in the Dväpara ago, and in the present Kali age, he stands only on one leg, mythologioally speaking. Again, mantra-kala apparently denotes here 'magic trick' or the like, but in reality it stands for mantra-bakti, the expedient of wise counsel, which is one of the three expedients well-known in the lore of statecraft, the other two being prabhu-Sakti and wedha-takti, referring to the personality of the king himself and the enthuisa.sm of his forces respectively. The poet astutely tells us in the present verse that Anangabhima's FOODS as a ruler was due to the wise counsel he used to receive from his ministers, one of whom is described in the vorso that follows.
. In other words, he easily acquired proficienoy in the Vedic lore.
. Another of the poet's pot conundrums! Being a calf (Vatsa), a great favourite of the cows (gavi), Govinda must indood have made a fine bull of himself to drag the great burden! Shorn of the poetic embellishment, the oiroumlocution means that Govinda was Anangabhima's chief minister.
Mark in this verse and in the following ones the historio present tense, referring to the past ovento. • It need not be pointed out that the Sanskrit word kastha means both "throat' and 'neck'."
