406 ON ANCIENT MONUMENTS 



yet thirsting to taste, by practice of austerity, that 

 which alone confines the fleeting thoughts* ; sympa- 

 thising with other living beings, an unrivalled theatre 

 of virtue, practising good deeds, andj in private, only 

 a contemplative saint, this auspicious D'had'i alone 

 rose, as a luminary of joy above the earth. 



5. Superior to the world was the delight of this! 

 pre-eminent sovereign of the earth, the happy Rana- 

 RANCA Mall A, whose officer-)- he was ; for the deity, 

 who has a hundred eyes;}:, is obscured, even in his 

 own abode, by the dazzling glories of that [monarch], 

 which traverse the three worlds, in all directions. 



6. *May the twenty dronas § of land, in the village 

 oi Ijachand'a, granted to him by that generous prince, 

 continue as long as sun and moon endure, yielding 

 the ample harvest of unsullied praise ; for it is land se- 

 cure from invasion, delightful, like a pleasant painting, 

 and appears like a crest in the assemblage of cities. 



,, 7« * This land, with definite boundaries has been 

 given by the liberal prince himself, the range of whose 

 glory therefore extends, as is fit, in all directions. 



8. *0 FUTURE kings; understand this inscription 

 on copper, by which that officer || humbly now solicits 



• Here again the sense is obscure j and more than one reading 

 niay be proposed. The praise is evidently grounded on the union 

 of practical virtues, with religious contemplation. 



t As'joanihand' h'lca. 



§ A measure of land, still used in the eastern pafts of Bengal y 

 originally as ftiuch as might be sown with one Drona of seed : for a 

 Drona is a measure of capacity. (As. Res. vol. 5. p. 9^.) The 

 Drona, vulgarly called Dim, varies in different districts. It may, 

 however, be reckoned nearly equivalent to eight Big/ias, or two 

 acres and two thirds. 



il Aszaaiiiband' hica. 



