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SEPTEMBER, 1877.]
THE RAJATARANGIŅI.
271
Någas gleaming with the splendour of various jewels, chief among whom are Sankha and Padma, and thus resembles the town of Kuvera, the depository of the nine treasures (chief among which are Sankha and Padma. Auto shelter, forsooth, the Nagas, who came afraid of Garuda, it stretched its arms out behind its back in the guise of a wall of mountains. "There (worshippers) touching the wooden image of the husband of Uma at the Tirtha called Påpasadana obtain heavenly bliss and final liberation as their rewards. "Tbere the goddess Sandhya produces water on an arid mountain, and shows the presence of merit and the absence of sin. "There self-created fire, rising from the bowels of the earth, receives with numerous arms of flame the offerings of the sacrificers. There the goddess Sarasvati herself is seen in the form of a swan swimming on a lake situated on the summit of Mount Bhed a, which is sanctified by the source of Gangå. There, even now, drops of sandal-ointment offered by the gods are to be seen in Nan dikshetra, in the temple, the habitation of the immortals. There, after looking on the goddess Sårada, (the worshipper) at once reaches the river Madhumati and Sarasvati who is worshipped by poets. In that (country) which is adorned by Keśava-Chakrabhfit, and by Siva-Vijayesa and other (deities), there is not a space as large as a grain of sesamum which has not its Tirtha. The country may be gained by the strength of spiritual merit, but not by armies of soldiers. Hence people there are chiefly anxious about the next world. There the rivers are free from dangers and aquatic monsters, provided with warm bath-houses for the winter, and comfortable places (for descending) into the current. "Out of respect, as it were, the Sun
does not fiercely shine, during summer even, in that country, which has been created by his father, as he knows that it ought not to be tormented.
Things that elsewhere in the three worlds are difficult to find, viz. lofty halls of learning, saffron, icy water, and grapes, are common there. "In these three worlds the jewel-producing region of Kuvera is (chiefly) worthy of praise ; (next) in that (region) the mountain range, the father of Gauri; and (thirdly) the country which is enclosed by that (mountain).
"Fifty-two princes, beginning with Gonanda. who in the Kaliyuga were contemporaries of the Kurus and of the sons of Kunti, have not been recorded. "In consequence of the demerit of those rulers of the land of Kasyapa, no poets of creative power, who produced their bodies of glory, existed in those times. "We pay reverence to that naturally sublime craft of poets, without whose favour powerful princes are not remembered, although the earth that is girdled by the oceans was sheltered under the protection of their arms as in the shade of a forest. "Without thee, O brother composer of true poetry, this world does not even dream of the existence of its chiefs, though they rested their feet on the temples of elephants, though they won prosperity, though maidens, moons of the day, dwelt in their palaces, --without thee the universe is blind : why (praise) thee with a hundred hymns P
68-*Some (authors) have given this following) calculation of the years wrongly, as they were deceived by the statement that Gonanda and his successors protected Kasmir during twenty-two hundred and sixty-eight years in the Kaliyuga, (and) that the Bharata (war) took place at the end of the Dvâpara yuga. S'If the years of the kings,
1 Kasmir is here personified and supposed to face Ga. ruda, who chased the Nigas through the Gate of the Valley at Baramala. Under this supposition it becomes intelligible how the mountain-chains surrounding the country can be likened to 'arms stretched out behind the back The story of the Nigas' flight to Kasmir occurs in the Nfld. matapurana.
The locality intended is the Pápasu dana Naga or Ka. patesvara Tirtha, said to be in the Kotahari pargan near Islambid-Kapalesuana, Koihirdgrame Kofahardkhya. vishaye, G. Comp. skanthachar. iii. 14, where the other name of the Tirtha, Kapateśvara, is given.
33 Bhrangandmavishye devalagramasamipasthale, G. The story how certain Mayavagu, son of Bhadre varkvaļu, brought the goddess Sandhy-Ganga to his Asrama near Deval, in the Bhring pargani, is told at length in the Sanhdhyamahatmya.
**The Svayambhd Agni here mentioned is the burning naphtha spring in Kamraj or Kramardjya, near Sopur. So also G-Kramardjye svaimiti prasiddhak, and Sahebram, Tirthasarhgraha."
» Bhadagiri-bhedabhranda iti prasiddah, G'.-The Ganga mahdinya, No. 56, mentions the hill.
Nandikshetri ndrandmagrame, G'. It is situated in the Lar porgan, not far from the HaramukutagangA, and is a station on the pilgrimage to the latter : 100 alao Jour. As. Soc. Beng. vol. IIIV. p. 226. So also SAhebram's Tirthasarhgraha. Burda prelda may be a noun proper.
Srisaile harel iti prasiddhe sthale daraddesasamipa. vartini, Gʻ. Hðrilis found on the Survey map in the pargana Khuyahám, to the north of the Vollar lake, into which latter the Madhumati falls, as marked on the native map. Sahebrâm (Tirthasariigraha) places these tirthas in Lolab.
35 Chakrabhrit kesal chakradhara iti prasiddhah vijayesa sana bijyabrir iti prasiddhah, G'. The ancient fane of Vishnu-Chakradhara lay on a low hill, situated about a mile below Bijbror, on the left bank of the Vitasta, and is now called Chakdhar. See Report, p. 18. Bijbror or Bijbih &r is too well known to need any further notice. But compare Vigne, vol. II. p. 28.
13 The father of Gauri, i.e. the Him Alaya.
** Kuvers is the regent of the North, and the possessor of the nine treasures.
**--* In the text read T. : not 14 is the form which the Sárada MSS. give everywhere. The two verses form & yugala ka for yugma, and v. 48 must therefore be taken as depending on the words iti varttaya vinohitah, which occur in the second half of v. 49.
so I am unable to make anything of this verse, except by taking tad in tad vivarjitat to refer to bharatam in v. 49. For with any other explanation the figures must come wrong, and the verse must be taken as part of the paruapa. ksha, which it is not, as the opinion of the some' bas been done with in the preceding verses.
