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On the Text
101
which records and illustrates it as one of the meanings of the causal form of hisi. 8 Nor is there anything wrong with the construction, the new text admits of.
We are constrained to feel that a part of ambiguity sticks to the line because both Prof. Agrawal and Di Pandey, in their wisdom, have chosen to read it in isolation of the earlier part of the verse If treated as a composite whole, the verse is bound to unfold the true import and provide sure clue to restoung the correct text of its last quarter, The preceding lines speak of Skandagupta's humility in spite of his multiple equipments. The last quarter is intended to strengthen his qualiteis of anutseka (modesty) and avismaya (absence of arrogance), set forth, in some detail, in the earlir part. The text of the line, as restored by Prof Agrawal and which adds up to be the sole cogent reading in the context, performs precisely the same function and is in perfect accord with the spirit of the verse, as a whole. It also serves to knock out the basis for Dr. Pandey's fanciful interpretation of the verse.
Foot Note
1 Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum (CI), III, 55-56 2 Vishveshyaranand Indological Journal (VIJ), XX, 185 3 VIJ, XVII, 194; XX, 186 4 VIJ, XVI, Pt I, p. 78 5 Bhitari Stone Pillar Inscription of Skandagupta (BSPI) C II, op. cit, V. 2-8 6 VIJ, XX, 185-186 7 Bhāratı-Bhāpam (Dr. K. V. Sarma Felicitation Volume, Hoshiarpur, 1980),
p. 437. 8 V S. Apte The Student's Sanskrit-English Dectionary, 1963, 644. 9 यो बाहुभ्यामवनि विजित्य हि जितेष्वात षु कृरवा दयाम् । नोरिसक्तो न च विस्मितः प्रतिदिनं संवर्धमानयुतिः ॥
BSPI, V 7
.
