________________
JUNE, 1893.]
TAMIL HISTORICAL TEXTS.
149
Vadas, the fame on the silver mountain (Kailasa), who wears the young crescent on his head, whose throat is dark, and whose ethereal body is of a ruddy hue, who is the supreme luminary amongst gods, who has three eyes, and who is full of mercy. (Then) he distributed large sums of money (to the Bráhmans) and was pleased to send for the (royal) jewels whose magnificence passeth description. On his face, which was the seat of the goddess of Eloquence, and which bloomed like a full-blown flower beset by bees, sparkled fish shaped ear-rings. On his shoulders which bore the broad-bosomed goddess of the Earth, he set epaulets, which blazed with brilliant gems. On his wrists, where the restless goddess of Fame sat, shone bracelets set with precions stones. On his chest, which was the abode of the goddess of Wealth, beamed the priceless jewel which the ocean gave up when churned (by the gods) with the great snake (Vasuki for a rope). At his waist, he placed gracefully his sacred sabre on which lay the great goddess of Victory. Having put on rich and rare ornaments of exquisite beauty and arrayed himself gorgeously, he issued out of the palace, appearing so enchantingly handsome, that it seemed as if 'Siva had bestowed on him, while he bowed his wreathed crown to the god, all the heavenly charms of which he had deprived Kama (Cupid) when the latter had once bent his bow on the god. There stood before him the huge and fierce royal elephant which would not brook to hear the roar of other elephants, and if it heard the thunder of the clouds, would sweep (with its trunk) even the sky, and finding no trunk or tusks opposing it, would be appeased; which would alone bear the heavy war-banner, and with its death-dealing tusks batter and break down even hard rocks; which, being unaccustomed to the smell of other rutting-juice but its own, - when Akalanka (i.e. the Spotless) had, with his swelling victorious shoulders, removed from the neck of the ele. phants which guard the eight points, the burden (of this earth), which they had borne with silent angaish, and made them forget the aching pain of their forelegs and discharge rut in floods,scenting their rat, followed up the current of the floods, and pacified by the sounds of the celestial elephants, rejoiced that they were gladdened by the favour of its royal master; which would trample under foot and lay waste the enemies' lands and furiously devote to death the dear lives of the princes who face it on the field of battle. On such an AirAvata (or white elephant) he mounted step by step, and sat under the shade of a superb umbrella. A pair of thick chauris fanned cool and gentle puffs of wind; the deep sound of the great sea-shell swelled; bands of pipes made shrill music; the silambu and the big drums thundered; the well-drilled bodyguard of swordsmen appeared ; high above all waved the banner of the conquering tiger ; and there crowded warrior kings, such as: - the Tonqaiman, who in a single campaign scattered the armies of Malainadu and defeated the Tennar (Pandyas), Maluvar, Singalar, Konkaņar, and other kings of distant lands; and of the ministers of Anagha, whose sounding anklets rest on many a crowned head, the Munaiyar-köŋ, who with his headgear winds the wreath of victory in besieging enemies' strongholds; and the Chola-kon who, whenever his sovereign is displeased with the Udukkar, Kangar (Gangas), Maraftar, Kalingar, Kongar and other Western nations, bends his bow on them with a frown; and the Brahman Kanpan of the town of Kanjam, the high walls of which pierce the clouds, who daily superintends the royal gaard, treasury, palace, sword (or armoury), tiger (standard) and council; and the Vanan, armed with the bow bound with leather, who offers the lives of rival kings to death, their stinking carcasses to demons, and compels their fond mistresses (who have become widows) to remove their ear-rings (and other ornaments); and the Kalinga king, who with his victorious banner has put to flight many a prince in Văngai, Vilinam, Kollam, Kongam, Irattam and Oddam; and the Kadavan, who rides the gay elephant, king of the hill-fort of Benji, which, crowded with battlements, resembles the unassailable red mountain (Mêru); and the king of Venadu who drove the rogue elephant, which canged people to tremble by its great fury; and Anantapalan, who performed deeds of great charity and spread his fame from Kumari to the Mandakini; and the Vattavan, whose huge elephant broke down the three walls of Northern Mannai, where the Årgas had fought hard for their town; and the prince of the sacred Ohodinadu, who levelled to the ground the strong fortifications of Kadi; and the chief of Apaikkaval, who, when he ties the sounding anklet on his leg, never fails to compel the foes whom he encounters, to tie up the hair
