Gaudavaho

Author(s): Vakpatiraj, Narhari Govind Suru, P L Vaidya, A N Upadhye, H C Bhayani
Publisher: Prakrit Text Society Ahmedabad

Page 51

(xxxiv)
paths for heart's emotions now going out every day, as they came ( before)” (999). “ The bodily stoop, bending the whole body, shows by its gray hair the fact of the whole body soon turning into an alms-bowl in old age " (1000). “The old man's body gets bent in all places, bowed and pulled by the tendrils of skin-folds, the face now turned down towards the earth ( soon to be its burial place)” (1001). “Such is this selfish, sordid world full of vanity. It would be rewarding to you all, if you hear our King's sacred virtues being dilated upon.” Our King's Greatness :
To test his superhuman strength, even god Siva entered into an encounter with him, assuming a lion's forms ” ( 1007-1010). Along with heroism, he also combines in himself virtues of religiousity and benign, benevolent rule. For instance,“ The creeper-like columns of smoke from his sacrificial performances looked like the dark path of the thick fluid of ichor of the heavenly elephant of Indra, who is invoked on the earth) by his good deeds” (1013) and “ Although abiding strictly by the code of controls and restrictions ( imposed ) under his legal authority, he rules the world with their opposites (viz. love and sympathy)” (1015). He is an incarnation of Vişnu and even to-day he carries over his chest the goddess Lakşmi (1039), a gift from the ocean, when it was, in ancient days, churned by the gods and the demons to obtain nectar and Vişnu took the form of the Tortoise (1016-1038).
. 5. “ It is possible that this self-imposed metamorphosis of
Siva into a lion refers to some fancied or true encounter that Yašovarmā had with a lion ".
Pandit- Gaüļavaho '-Introduction. P. XXXVIII.