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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
(VOL. XXX
On the 14th (of the bright half of Māgha'), he perforried the preliminary rites of a suvarnatula and & Saptasāgara mahādana. The two mandapas erected for the purpose were beautifully decorated with flower garlands, flags, etc. The worship of the Earth-goddess, as well as of Hari, Ganēsa and Vāstu was conducted, the election of the priests made, the recitals of the Vēdas commenced and hömas performed. All this was done preparatory to the consecration ceremony of the lake.
Slab XVIII ; Canto XVII The subject of the seventeenth canto is the accomplishment of the consecration of the Rājasamudra lake along with the ceremonies of the Saptasāgara gift and the gold tulā gift.
On the fullmoon day the king took his seat in the auspicious mandapa, accompanied by his priests and relatives. The latter included his brother Arisimha, sons Jayasimha, Bhimasimha, Gajasimha, Surajasimha,' Indrasimha and Bahădurasimha, grandsons. Amarasimha (son of Jayasimha), Ajabasimha, Manoharasimha and Dalasimha. There were other princes and Thakkuras, the priest Ranachhöda and the minister Bhikhū, also present at the ceremony. He performed the pürnähruti, that is, the last rite, of the dedication of the lake which was to be for the benefit of the public at large. By this act Rājasimha equalled Dilipa, Rāma and Yudhishthira who bad respectively performed the Asvamēdha sacrifice, constructed a bridge across the sea and celebrated the Rājasūye yajña.
Similarly he performed the final rites of the gold Saptasāgara' great gift, the prominent features of which were the seven vessels filled with different contents and representing different deities, each representing a sägara : filled with salt, Brahman; with milk, Krishna ; with ghee, Mahesa : with guda, Sürya; with curds, Mahendra ; with ghee and sugar, Rāma; and with water, Gauri.
Afterwards he entered the tula-nandapa accompanied by his people and there performed the gold tulă ceremony, weighing himself along with his grandson Amarasimha, the weight of the gold being 9,000 tolas.
The canto ends with the two verses, describing the lineage of the poet Rapachhoda, that are found also in some other cantos.
Slab XIX ; Canto XVIII
This eighteenth canto records certain gifts by Rājasimha and others, made on the occasion of the consecration ceremony. The latter half contains mostly the conventional praises of the king, the lake, eto.
Rājasimha gave the following twelve villages to his chief priest Garībadāsa : Ghāns, Gudho, Sirathala, Sālāla, Alidaka, Majjhēra, Dhanēriya, Jhādimdikā, sādadi, Ambēri, Sarola and Mānasana. To other Brāhmaṇas he gave away villages and land, measuring many halas.
The chief queen of Rājasimha (i.e., Sadākumvari) performed a silver tulā gift. The priest Garibadása and his son Ranachhödarāya performed gold and silver tula gifts respectively.
1 Both Jayasimha and Bhimasimha were sons by the chief queen Rämarasadē. It was the popular belief that they were twins and Bhimasimha was actually born first but as the news of the birth of Jayasimha reached his father first he was considered elder, Ojha has, however, shown from several sources that Bhimasimha was younger by at least 7 months and 4 days. Jayasimha's date of birth, according to the Rajaprasasti (Canto VI, vv. 4-6) was v. 1710, Pausha vadi 11 which Ojha takes a correct. See Ojha, op. cit., p. 882, n. 2.
1 Indrasimha, Gajasimha, Bahadurasimha, Sultansimha and Sardársinha (last two not named here) were born of Chandramati, daughter of Raval Sabalasimha of Jaisalmer.
• Ojha gives the name as Suratsimha whose mother's name is not definitely known. See ante, Canto XIII, note 3.
