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10
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
(JANUARY, 1884.
14. Whose second name was Pukala vi- Ppa vaganda, unbearable to his enemies; the cloud-like elephants cleft asunder by his sword in battle rained forth their blood like water.
15. Of him a son was born named Vikra maditya Vijaya bÅhu; who followed the path of righteousness, and was a chief lamp of the Bâņa dynasty ; before whom a crowd of enemies humbly bowed down; the dear friend of Krishna Raja; he had great riches; and the distress of sin fled away from him;
16. The dust of whose feet was tinged by the lustre of the precious stones in the crest of the diadems of all kings; whose arm was covered with great glory acquired by cutting off the arms of the troops of many hostile kings of all classes.
17. When he had first of all poured water out of a beautiful golden water-pot held in the palm of his hand, on which was a bracelet set with many kinds of wonderful precious stones; to the distinguished Brahmans who dwell at U day end u-mangala, whose special duty is the study of the whole of the Vedas and Vedáigas and the sciences of logic and reli. gious philosophy; who are expert in communicating the knowledge stored up in their own minds, thus.... [The remainder of the grant is wanting.)
The odd plate begins with part of verse 11 above, “whose mind was intent, &c.," and proceeds in the same words down to verse 16; the second name of Vijay aditya II, however, in the 14th verse, being Pukalappavaraganda here, instead of Pukalavip pavaganda. The 16th and 17th verses of this plate are as follows:
16. On whose broad breast VijayaLakshmi dwells, won thither by victories obtained in many battles; the sun which makes manifest the clear sky of the B &ņa roce; whose lotus feet are tinged by the rays of the rubies set in the margins of the coronets of many prostrate hostile kings.
17. When he had first of all made the water oblation poured out of a beautiful large golden water-pot held in the palm of his hand :
to certain Brâhmans, Veda ...... (The remainder of the grant is wanting.]
Remarks. The mighty Bali, to whose race the line of kings commemorated in the present inscription claims to belong, has left a well-marked impression upon both the mythological and the legendary history of the whole of ancient India, Ascending up to the earliest periods of the incarnations of Vishạn. The Purá nas mention two ancient kings of this name; namely, Bali, the son of Virochana,' the redoubtable king of the Daityas, and Bali, the son of Sutapas,' of the lunar race, the father of Anga, Vanga, Kalinga, Suhms, and Pundra. The sixth of the nine Ardha-chakravartis of the Jainas also bore this name;' as did also one of the three brothers of Vikramaditya, king of Ujjain, the rival of Salivahana.* The Bali of the present inscription is identified, through his son B & ņa, with the first of these four princes. He is therefore that Mah & bali who is the hero of innumerable legends belonging to every portion of India; the once lord of heaven and earth and hell; the leader of the hosts of the Asuras in their unsuccessful attempt to wrest the nectar of immortality from the gods; whose hundred arms were cut off by thunderbolts hurled at him by Indra while engaged in single combat with him; who, nevertheless, subsequently succeeded in driving the hosts of Indra out of the city of Amaravatt, and in seating himself on the throne of that capital city of the gods; and who was at last overcome by Vishnu, but only through stratagem, in his incarnation as the dwarf Vâmana, and was then degraded to the throne of the subterranean region of Patala. Festivals in his honour are to this day celebrated in different parts of India,' a temple is dedicated to his worship at Gokarna'; he is supposed to visit this earth annually on the anniversary of his incarnation in the infernal regions ;' and he is expected to reappear on the earth before the close of the present dispensation to inaugurate a general moral renovation of the world, at which time Bharoch is ... Wilson's Vish. Pur. p. 265, note 22, or Hall's ed. vol. II, P.-911.
Rottler's Tamil Dictionary, Part II, p. 887; Mad. Jour. Lit. and Sc. vol. I, p. 22; 18. Res. Vol. III, p. 265.
Taylor's Catalogue of the Madras M8S., vol. III, pp. 240, 254 and 737.
Mad. Jour. Lit. and Sc. vol. I, PP. 22-23.
1 Wilson's Vishnu Purana, p. 147, or Hall's ed. vol. II, pp. 69, 311, vol. III, pp. 19, 23 ; vol. IV, pp. 128, 250; vol. V pp. 6, 108: 116.
rbid. p. , Or Hall's ed. vol. IV, p. 122. • Asiatic Researches, vol. IX, p. 246. • Ibid. vol. IX, p. 180. - See verse 4.
