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NOVEMBER, 1875.]
A man should reverence the sage,
Not only when he gives advice,The random words of prudent age,
If rightly weighed, are pearls of price.
SANSKRIT AND OLD CANARESE INSCRIPTIONS.
The good man, like a bounding ball, Springs ever upward from his fall; The wicked falls like lump of clay, And crumbles into dust away.
What though by some untoward fate no lotus on the lake be born,
The swan will ne'er, like barndoor fowl, rake in the dust for grains of corn.
'Tis like the cheeks of elephants splitting with thunder-sound,
"Tis like the neigh of battle-horse that frets and paws the ground,
'Tis like a strong man roused from sleep with trumpets, fifes, and drums,
When justice robed in heavenly might, intent on vengeance, comes.
The heart of the contented man enjoys perpetual peace,
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From nature comes the lotus' rosy hue, By nature good men others' good pursue, And cruel men have cruel ends in view. Truth is the ornament of all mankind, Slim elephants delight the keeper's mind, Learning and patience are a Brâhman's boast, Each creature's highest good becomes it most. Better to fail from mountain height, And dash thy life out on the plain, Better th' envenomed serpent's bite, Better the death in fiery pain, Than once to swerve from virtue's path, Which they who lose ne'er find again. Abandon, fool, thy hope to see The brave man dread calamity; When the great doom shall earth o'ertake Nor seas, nor mighty hills will quake.
A splendid palace, lovely brides, the symbols all of kingly sway,
Are jewels strung on merit's thread stretching through many a toilsome day;
The covetous pine with lust of wealth; their cravings never cease; Not Meru's peak, of gold entire, can captivate my soul, Let him, who likes it, clamber up and carry off Light they disperse, when merit fails, whirled the whole. from us by misfortune's blast.
As pearls are from a necklace shed, when breaks the bond that held them fast,
No. VI.
This is an inscription of the Vijayanagara dynasty, from Plate No. 22 of Major Dixon's work. The original, in Canarese characters approaching very closely to those of the modern alphabet, is engraved on a stone-tablet 5' 8" high by 2' 8'' broad at Harihar. The language is partly Sanskrit and partly Canarese. The emblems at the top of the stone are:-In the centre, a linga and a kneeling priest or worshipper; on its right, a figure of Basava, with the sun or moon above it; and on its left, a standing figure, above which there must be the moon or the sun, though the photograph is cut so as not to show it.
The moon the lord of healing herbs, whose gleaming horn is Šiva's crest,
Is doomed with dim eclipse to pine; none can avoid grim Fate's behest.
SANSKRIT AND OLD CANARESE INSCRIPTIONS. BY J. F. FLEET, Bo. C.S. (Continued from page 280.)
the Salivahana Saka 1452 (A.D. 1530-1), the Vikriti samvatsara, and belongs to the time of king Achyutarâya or Achyutadevaraya. It records that Nârâyanadêva, the son of Timmarasa, divided into three portions the village of Ballôpura, otherwise known as Achyutarâyapara, which had been previously granted to him by the king, and allotted one share to the god Harihara and the remaining two shares to Visvêśvarârâdhya, the son of Râmachandrârâdhya.
Achyutaraya's name is mentioned by Prinsep in his list of the kings of Vijayanagara, but his date is wrongly given there as between A.D. 1490 and 1524. I have previously met with his name in No. 9 of the Gadag inscriptions dated Saka 1461, the Vikâri samvatsara.
The inscription is dated in the year of See the Ind. Ant. for October 1878, Vol. II., p. 298, where the reading should be Achyutamtharaya, and not Avyayaramaharaya as printed.
