________________
156
TILAKAMANJARI OF DHANAPALA
'शंके चात्र निष्पाद्यमाने त्रिदिवशिल्पिनामभीक्षणमतितीक्ष्णकोटिभिष्टांकिकाभिस्तक्ष्यमाणाभ्यः समन्ततः समुच्छलितानि यानि स्थूलशकलानि तैरेष लम्भितो रत्नाकराभिधानं लवणसिन्धुः । ""
"Lavanasindhu has been made to bear the name Ratnakara through those very thick slabs splashed aloft from all sides from the bejewelled rocks on the peak being chiselled with hoes of extremely sharp points, (employed by) the divine sculptors when it (i.e. the shrine) was being built up.'
as
This makes it clear that Lavaṇasindhu is a repertory of gems on account of its being called Ratnakara. It became so i.e. Ratnakara because huge slabs chiselled out from the rocks on the peak or peaks (of a mountain) were thrown into it by the ravages of the weather. It also makes it apparent that it i.e. the Lavanasindhu is quite distinct an ocean from Purvärnava as also the Aparamava which are bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea. It is distinct from the Indian ocean, this fact has been observed already. Hence Lavaṇasagara or Lavanasindhu or Lavaṇārṇava etc. is quite distinct from the three oceans, the Eastern, the western as well as the Southern ones (Pürvāparadaks inārṇavas). It may signify the fourth of the four oceans. Dhanapala has categorical added arṇava, sāgara, sindhu, jalarāśi, abdhi, jalanidhi, jaladhi to Lavana and has prefixed Pūrva, apara or paścatya and Dakṣina to the arnava, abdhi, udadhi etc. and has even generalised the term Samudra or Sāgara for these. He has even called Lavanasagara 'bhagavantamambhonidhim' but it is a word or adjective of rare occurrence. It cannot, however, refer to either the Purva Sagara or the Dakṣiņārṇava by any stretch of imagination. An ocean can be spiced by the variety of gems, stones and other mineral materials getting suffused into its water after having fallen from the mountains. The Lavanasindhu may be called so because of its water getting suffused with the mineral materials from the Himalaya bearing the name Tarim basin beyond the Himalaya and Lavansāgara as it flowed beyond the Tarim basin and close to Lanka etc. Kusumaśckhara had the expanse of his army camp stretching on to the groves on the shores of the Southern ocean like the mount Malaya having its extensions into the Eastern and the Western quarters.2 This also proves the distinctness of Lavanarnava from the Dakşinodadhi. Meghavahana had the groves situate to the shores of the Southern, eastern and the western oceans. trampled by the hooves of the steeds of his army. Both preclude the possibility of their contacts with the Lavanasindhu which may in all
1. TM. Vol. II p. 323.
2. Ibid. Sm. ed. p. 176.
