1837.] of the Inscription on the Bhitdri Ldt. 1 



May he who is like Crishna still obeying his mother De'vaki, after 

 his foes are vanquished, he of golden rays, with mercy protect this my 

 design. 



Whatever prince in this place perpetually worships this sacred image, 

 is considered by Rudra (Siva) himself as one whose understanding is 

 ennobled and rendered praise-worthy by this affectionate devotion, even in 

 the land of Arha (Indra) and the other celestials. 



Remarks on the above Inscription. 

 The parentage of Samudra-gupta son of Chandra-gupta, which 

 closed the Allahabad inscription, forms in nearly the same words the 

 beginning of the present ; and his panegyric which pervaded the 

 earlier monument, is the leading subject in the prose part of this. 

 The first new fact is the designation of his son and successor, 

 Chandra-gupta the second : whom it seemed most obvious on the 

 first reading of the names* to identify with the expected son and 

 heir of the 18th line of the pillar of Allahabad, the offspring of 

 Samudra-gupta and his principal queen the daughter of the proud 

 princess Sanharica. This identification, however, is removed by 

 the terms of the inscription itself: this son does not succeed by right 

 of primogeniture, but as peculiarly selected (parigrihita) on account 

 of his eminent virtues from the rest of the family or families of the 

 polygamist king, and is the offspring not of Sanhahica's daughter, 

 but of the daughter of a prince named Mahadaitya. The son and 

 successor of Chandra-gupta II. is Cuma'ra-gupta, who is represented 

 as having been a very unprincely character at the time of his father's 

 adoption as heir to the throne ; but having been disciplined by some 

 unnamed fortune, becomes on his own accession to the throne, 

 an emulator of the mild virtues and the Vaishnava devotion of his 

 parent. The next king is Scanda-gupta, who may be most pro- 

 bably supposed to be the son of his immediate predecessor Cumara- 

 gupta : but on this point, the verse which here takes the place of 

 the more narrative prose, is unfortunately silent. We only hear of 

 his distinguished fame as a warrior : and that his piety, congenial 

 with his acts, does not take the same turn with that of his two 

 nearest predecessors, of devotion to Vishnu the Preserver, but attach- 

 ed itself to the opposite system now so prevalent in this part of 

 India, the deep, mysterious and sanguinary system of the Tantras. 

 After the conquest and slaughter of many opposing kings, we hear 



* See p. 614 of volume V. 



