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104
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[APRIL, 1873.
Ajayata sutaḥ kântaśchandro dugdhodadhe- just as the moon was produced from the milk
riva 19.
ocean.
10. He begat a son, who gladdened men's hearts, named Jayanta, to whom Sarasvatî, the giver of poetry and eloquence, belonged manifestly as his own.
11. To him, who openly bore as a second name the title 'the scholiast,' was born a son, known as Abhinanda.
Putram kritajananandam sa jayantam ajîjanat Vyakta kavitvavaktritvaphala yasya sarasvati # 10.
Vrittikâra iti vyaktam dvitîyam nâma bibhrataḥ Sanuḥ samudabhût tasmâdabhinanda iti śrutah 11.
Kavyavistarasamdhanakhedâlasadhiyam prati Tena kâdambarîsindhoḥ kathâmâtram samuddhritam | 12. "Praise to Sarasvati!
1. May the steps of Sauri, accomplished with equal labour, both those which first he made when stepping over the (path of the cow), and those which he made when striding through the three worlds, give you prosperity.
2. Glory to the lovely, pleasingly sweet song of my father Jayanta, the teacher of the worlds, (to that song) which is full of sentiment and possessed of true ornaments.'
3. There is nothing more resplendent than good men, who shine through their virtues (guna) just as lamps shine through their wicks (guna), since their faults even serve to adorn the aspect of their works (just as lamp-soot serves to adorn the eye).
4. Small qualities even increase, and great ones even decrease, according as they reside in good or bad men, just as the moon increases or decreases according as she reaches the white or the black half of the month.
5. There was a Gauda of the family of Bharadvaja, called Sakti, who went to Darvabhisara and married there.
6. To him was born a son, named Mitra, whose appearance was worshipped by those who had obtained the true knowledge after destroying their sinful desires (just as the rising sun [Mitra] is worshipped by men after they have been awakened at the end of the night).
7. He obtained a son, learned in the revealed texts, Sakti svå min by name, who was the minister of Muktâpiḍa, a king of the Karkota line.
8. His son was Kalyanasvamin, who, like Yajnavalky a, destroyed the stains of (this) existence by the acquisition of pure Yoga.
9. From that deep-hearted man was born a son, called Kanta, an ornament of the creator,
Ind. Alt. III. 1017.
12. He has extracted from the ocean of the Kadambari the story only, for the sake of those who are too lazy to undergo the trouble of reading that extensive poem."
In considering the several items of information contained in the extracts given above, it will be most convenient to begin with those furnished by the Kádambarikathására. From this work it appears that Abhinanda-for this, and not A b hinanadana, is the form of the poet's name which occurs in my MSS.belonged to a family of Gauda or Bengal Brahmans, who claimed descent from the sage Bharadvaja. The sixth ancestor of the poet, Sakti, emigrated to and settled in Dârvabhisara. Abhisâra, the country of King Abissares, is, according to Lassen,* a province to the south of Kashinir, whilst Dârva lies to the north-west of the same kingdom. General Cunningham† places Abhisára also to the north-west of Kashmir, and the fact that Abhinanda as well as Kalhana (e. g. Ráj. IV. 711) form a compound of the two names, indicates that both regions lay close together and probably formed a political unit. Without entering further into the question of their exact geographical position, it will suffice for our purpose to state that Dârvâbhisara lay on the frontiers of Kashmir, and formed part of that kingdom down to the reign of Utpalapida, the last of the Karkota kings.
S'akti's family must soon have risen to influence in its new country, as his grandson is stated to have been minister to king Muktapiḍa of the Karkota dynasty. The Naga or Karkota family occupied the throne of Kashmir from the beginning of the seventh to the end of the ninth century. The first Karkota king was Durlabhavardhana, who reigned thirtysix years. His son and successor was Durlab h a ka or Pratâ på ditya, who ruled for
† Anc. Geog., Maps V. and VI.
