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MAY, 1891.]
MISCELLANEA.
The pretended king was now quite sure that the old beggar was no other than her fatherin-law, and asked him what he meant by the above saying, upon which the patêl related the whole story, from the time his youngest and seventh son was married, to the moment he was speaking; and, concluding with many grateful expressions for the kindness shewn him by the supposed king, was about to go away. The king, however, stopped him, and told him to go and fetch his youngest son, who, he said, was resting himself not very far from the palace. The old man promised to do so. When he came to the spot where his son was, his son could hardly recognise his father, and asked him where he had got such nice clothes. The patel told his son how the king saw him and sent for him, and gave him meat and drink and all the clothes he saw. He then mentioned that he was ordered to bring his son also to the palace. The son was at first reluctant to go, but after much persuasion he consented. When he arrived his wife treated him in the way she used to do at home, and he too said: -
"Oh good king, you put me in mind of my wife, who always treated me in the kind way you did to-day."
The king asked him also to relate his story, which he did just as his father had done. At the conclusion of the story, both the father and the son burst into tears, and our heroine, too, could no longer control hers, and for two reasons, first, for the sufferings of her husband and father-in-law, and secondly, that she had seen them and that she was in a positi. to make them happy. At last she went to her room, and, having changed her clothes for those of a woman, she sent for her husband and father-in-law, who, on seeing her, at once recognized their lost wife and daughter-in-law, and fell on her neck and embraced and kissed her.
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Our heroine then went with her husband, father-in-law, and the king's daughter, to the king's palace, where she told the king everything, and asked his pardon for thus imposing upon him so long. The king was astonished at the story and more so at the bravery of a woman, and not only pardoned her, but gave his daughter in marriage to the patel's son and made him heir to his throne. When the king was dead, the patel's son took upon himself the government of the country, and lived with his two wives in happiness.
MISCELLANEA.
AN HISTORICAL ALLUSION IN THE BHAGALPUR PLATE OF NARAYANAPALA.
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Mr. Fleet has presented me with an excellent impression of the Bhagalpur plate of Narayapapala, an examination of which has shewn me, what indeed did not require such proof, how well that inscription has been edited by Dr. Hultzsch, ante, Vol. XV. p. 305. There is in fact, in the poetical portion of the inscription, only a single verse for which the impression suggests a better reading than the published one; and my reason for writing of this publicly is this, that the same verse contains an historical allusion, hitherto overlooked, to which attention should be drawn. In the published version the third verse, in lines 7-8, together with Dr. Hultzsch's translation, reads thus:
Jitv-Endraraja-prabhritin-aratin=
upârjjité yêna mahôdaya-ériḥ datta punah sâ valin=&rthayitrê Chakrayudhâyânati-vamanaya || "This mighty one (balin) again gave the sovereignty, which he had acquired by defeating
Indraraja and other enemies, to the begging Chakrayudha, who resembled a dwarf in bowing,
just as formerly Bali had given the sovereignty (of the three worlds), which he had acquired by defeating Indra and his other enemies (the gods), to the begging Chakrayudha (Vishnu), who had descended to earth as a dwarf."
I believe that most Sanskrit scholars who may read this verse will be puzzled by the compound anati-vámandya, with which the verse ends. For, admitting that this expression may convey the meaning who resembled a dwarf in bowing,' they will probably be slow to adopt the suggestion that the poet, in applying the compound to Vishnu, should have taken the liberty of using the word anati, the meaning of which is at once clear and transparent, in the sense of avatára which means quite a different thing. And referring to the impression, I find that the difficulty is removed in a much simpler way. For the impression shews that the sign for the vowel i of the word dnati has been struck out in the original, and that the intended reading therefore is anata-vamandya.
