Captain Tod's Comments on a Sa?iscrit Inscription. 147 



which is beautifully embodied by Gray (in his bard^) from the Edda. So 

 Chand says, " My poem shall be a sea ; and' my verses, like waves, shall 

 " course each other. It shall be an ocean, that I may enjoy the bliss of 

 " knowledge. Whoever reads it, will find it to be as a vessel to cross him 

 " over the difficulties of life. Its meaning lies not deeply concealed, nor 

 " yet altogether displayed, but as water whose transparency is hid by the 

 " sea-weed. My words I shall cull and place therein ; but they shall be 

 " as the necklace^ the breast of bashful beauty, veiled to the sight." But 

 we need not follow the strain of hyperbole of the poet, in lauding himself. 

 He sometimes runs quite riot in the exuberance of his genius ; and I recol- 

 lect on one occasion, when almost raving, he checks himself, and asks in a 

 very ingenuous manner, " but surely the bard has got intoxicated with his 

 " own verses." Chand also lays claim to prophetic powers : hence his title 

 of Tri-cdla.* 



The actions of Prithwiraja and his heroes, afford fine themes for the 

 bard ; for, in peace, this monarch was never idle, and always engaged in 

 some pursuit which led to war : and in those days, when the princesses of 

 India chose their own lords, there were abundant opportunities. The er- 

 ratic bards made him the general theme of their songs ; and his personal 

 appearance and actions, were sounded at every court in India, and he 

 became the beau ideal of every princess of the time. Chand has em- 

 bodied, or composed for her, the stanzas sent by the Princess of (Cana- 

 wqjja) Catiouj, inviting him to come and bear her away from the princes 

 assembled as suitors for her hand ; and, in the true spirit of chivalry, he 

 went and bore her off in open day, from her father's court, in the face of 

 the whole of his rivals : but it caused ultimately his own destruction, and 

 that of the monarch of Canatvajja, though, as Chand says, " it gained him 

 " immortality in the song of the bard." At least five of his grand battles 

 arose from similar daring acts. He married none of his many wives, whom 

 he did not win by the sword. It was enough to hear of beauty being be- 

 trothed, to hazard every danger ; and this barbaric chivalry obtained him 

 abundance of support. These daring adventures gave him so much cele- 

 brity, that every young and valorous Rcyput enrolled himself under the 

 banners of Prithwiraja. He had one hundred and eight great leaders, 

 or Sdmants, some of whom were independent, and many tributary princes. 



• As. Res. ix. 77. 

 U 2 



