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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
(JUNE, 1893
stern sire who drove his chariot over his son to soothe a cow in dire distress. Then the mighty monarch who made the timid fawn and the fierce tiger drink together in the same cool springs. Then the king who rode an sërial car and mounting to the skies) saved Bhogapuri. Then the Sembiyan (i.e. the Chola) who by a solemn sacrifice created a wondrous man and won his cause, satisfying the rathless god of death. Then the sovereign who shared the grey beard of elders and drove Yama out of his sight. Then the Chola who stormed the castles of his foes which hung in the air. Then he who let into the Eastern bay the swelling waters of the Western sea. Then the prince who bravely went down a cavern, and by his radiant beauty won the hand of the noble daughter of the Naga race. Then that generous man who is known to all the world as having joyously entered the scales to be weighed), to save a little dove. Then he who brought the river Ponni (Kaviri) whose rushing current cats its way through the rocky ridges of high Kudagu. Then the king who set his tiger (banner) on the mountain whose summit gleams with crystal waterfalls, and formed high banks to control the floods of the Poggi. Then the sovereign who heard the lofty lay of Poygai and graciously struck the fetters off the feet of the Villavan (i. e. the Chöra king). Then that conqueror whose person was covered with scars (gained in battle), twice three and ninety in number. Then that guardian (of the world) who, with pions love, covered with sheets of gold the roof of the hall where Siva (literally, pare honey) dances. Then he who, to avenge his envoy, obtained of old, in a day, the heads of twice nine princes and conquered Malainadu. Then he who sat on his throne while his armies seized the Ganga and Kadaram. Then that matchless soldier who broke the power of the king of) Vanga and thrice attacked Kalyana. Then he who, riding on a single tusker, killed his enemies in a fierce fight at Koppa and took a thousand elephants. Then he who, with gems of many kinds, made a coach in the shape of a hooded serpent for the god (Vishņa) of the Southern Rangam (Srirangam) where ancient (Vèdic) hymns are sung. Then he who cut down countless majestic rutting elephants, and won a great victory at Kapal-sangams. Then he who after the above watched and protected the earth. After all these kings had ruled the whole compass of this earth, came the Abhaya whose shoulders were adorned with garlands of ár; who, with his army which had chased the sél (a fish, the flag of the Pandya) and broken the bow (the flag of the Chóra) and twice cat the rebels at Salai, annexed Konkanam and Kappadam (and all the land) up to the shores of the Western sea; caused the death of the proud king of the Maraţtas; rid the country of all evils and tolls; and ruled with mercy the whole of this sea-girt earth up to the bounds of the Northern mountain. His illustrious son Vikrama-Chola assumed the diadem amid the thundering of the three drams, and governed the three worlds, extending his righteous dominion in all directions, the cool shade of his umbrella removing all evil (or unhappiness) and gladdening (the hearts of the eight celestial elephants (which guard the eight points). Kings took off their glittering crowns, which were wound with wreaths of flowers, and bowed their heads at his pair of feet. He brougat under his own martial sway the seven swelling seas and the seven continents. While thus he reclined on the shoulders of the goddess of the Earth, like the broad and bright girdle on whose hips are the chains of mountains, and on the bosom of the beauteous and chaste virgin (the goddess of Victory) who is the sole mistress of the seven worlds, and in the presence (literally, long eyes) of the goddess of Wealth who dwells in the (lotus) flower, -one morning, he rose brightly from his bed which was all white as the moonlight, under a canopy of pearls, and to which he had retired overoight, wearing the choicest pearls paid as tribute by the Southern (Pandya) princes; his person perfamed with the paste of the sandal of their (the Pandyas') mountain; his feet wooed by the southern breezes at their bidding; accompanied by the empress" Mistress of the seven worlds," who, with bright large eyes and swelling bosom, her tresses twined with fresh blossoms, and her shoulders wound with strings of fragrant flowers, was gracefal as a goddess and gay as the playful swan, and served by a group of women whose glances wound like sharp swords. (Having risen) he bathed in the river Ponni whose current never dries up, and put on his wrist å bracelet made of the tender shoots of the arugu grass, handed to him by his priests, and offered his prayers to him (Sive) who is the light of the ancient
