94 Translation of an Inscription, No. 2, [Feb. 



mities of the branches (of the vedas) loudly reciting (those scrip- 

 tures), not knotty, not crooked, upright, handsome — proportioned, 

 exalted above all. — 5. Bhava-deva appeared, the jewel of the crest 

 of that line, a giver of tribute* like the sun, the producer of science 

 and mystic formula, like Bhava (Shiva.) — 6. He was born between 

 two brothers, an older and a younger (named) Maha-deva and Atta- 

 hasa ; just as Vishnu is between Brahma' and Siva. — 7. He obtain- 

 ed from the king of Gaura a grant embracing the choice land of the 

 territory set apart at Sri Hastini (Hastini-puri) . Moreover, he saw 

 his eight sons, Rathanga, &c. like the eight forms of Mahesha| 

 (Siva). — 8. From Ratha'nga sprung Atyanga, like the moon from 

 the ocean of milk, the delighter of men, the abode of the undivided 

 god of love. His son Budha, the lustre of whose wisdom was 

 resplendent, was as famed in every quarter by the name of Sphurita, 

 as the planet Saumya (Budha or Mercury). — 9. From him arose 

 Sri' A'di-deva, the sole seed of the prosperity of his family, the 

 principal root of the great tree of unfeigned manliness, like the god 

 A'di-mu'rtti (Vishnu), wishing with a mortal form to adorn this 

 earth. — 10. Who was minister during the stability of the fortune of 

 the kingdom of the raja of Banga, the pure, the great counsellor, 

 the great minister, the profitable, the disposer of peace and war. — 

 11. He (A'di-deva) begat a son, Govardhana, conceived in the womb 

 of Devaki', equal to (preserve) the stability of the world, wedded to 

 Saraswati', wonderful in the worlds. — 12. Who advancing in fields 

 of battle, and in the assemblies of the possessors of divine truth, both 

 his territories and the ait of speaking, by the deeds of his arm and 

 the cunning of his eloquence, made his name justly applicable to his 

 character in two senses of the wordj. — 13. He took to wife Sa'ngoka', 

 the venerable, the virtuous daughter of a brahman of the race of 

 Vandya GhaU'§, the jewel of women. — 14. In her, announcing his 



* The word here rendered " tribute" looks most like f%W'>r in the original ; 

 but that reading makes no sense. It is here translated as if it were Wf^T^f for 

 3^^ (S and ^l being interchangeable), which word meaning also a " ray of 

 light," the resemblance to the sun may, by a play on the word, be established. 

 It appeared, on first observation, not unlike ^^TTW ; but on considering the 

 metre, this reading proved inadmissible. The measure of this verse is the 

 AryA of 30 instants in the first line and 27 in the second. 



t The eight forms of Mahesha, viz. water, fire, the instituter of a sacrifice, 

 the moon, the sun, the ether, the earth and air, are enumerated in the intro- 

 ductory benediction of the Drama of Sakuntala. 



% Govardhana means " increaser of land or territory," and " promoter of 

 speech or eloquence." TT " the earth, speech," and "^[T "increasing." 



§ Name of a family of R&dhiya brahmans. 



