594 Notes on the preceding Inscription. [Jult, 



his brothers and kinsmen ; but this account, (though most amply confirmed, 

 as we might imagine, by the sequel of the history as told by Ferishta him- 

 self,) is discarded by the worthy historian in favour of the more exciting ac- 

 count of the elevation of his hermit, " Da'bsheli'm the Wise," to the royal- 

 ty that he afterwards so deservedly lost. To the other warlike Da'bshelim, 

 whom the more sagacious minister of Akber correctly calls Durlabha, 

 Ferishta seems to think (p. 77) that the characters of crueltyand ambition 

 more truly apply, notwithstanding the evident justice of his cause at the 

 close : and it is of him that he had shortly before (pp. 70, 71) recorded the 

 formidable but unsuccessful attack uponMAHMUD when besieging Somanath. 

 The great objection to the identity of this warlike prince with the 

 Durlabha of the inscription is, that it involves the supposition of hig 

 being 70 years old at the period of this attack on the Musulman invader, 

 and 89 at the close of his own reign in Guzzerat ; but this is perhaps not 

 very improbable. 



XXIX. iT^rT^«ffff^T^T^f. What is this Panchdrthala or Quinquarti- 

 cular tribe of brahmans, to which a particular dmnaya or rule of discipline 

 is ascribed, I have not been able to discover. It is evidently conti-asted 

 with the contrary rule of a Sdnsdrika or worldly tribe ^pjTf^TgPffl^Rj: 

 mentioned in ver. XXXI. 



XXX. ?fTW^ : Tollata is a most singular name for one descended of a 

 pure race of brahmans : but it is so clearly written on the stone as to arlmit 

 of no conjectural alteration. The word f^x twice is also clearly marked, 

 with the exception of the easily erased r, (whose insertion is necessary to 

 prevent the^hemistich ending with a triple Iambus, a thing absolutely inad- 

 missible) : and to this I have affixed what appears the only possible inter- 

 pretation. The third quarter of the verse offends against a rule which 

 is scarcely ever found violated in classical writings, by giving two short 

 syllables t\ft after the first syllable in the quarter : the proper name 

 Vargatika being perhaps the justification of the license. (See note on 

 verse II.) 



XXXII. It is a favourite practice of the Hindus to represent their 

 great religious teachers as incarnations of particular divinities. Sankara 

 Acha'rya, as it is well known, is considered as an Avatar of Siva himself, 

 incarnate for the purpose of maintaining Vedism in its spiritualities 

 against the Buddhists and other adversaries, after preceding incarnations 

 had maL>t;Jned it in the exterior points of caste and ritual duty. And 

 his principal disciples and commentators are equally represented in the 

 3rd chapter of the Dig~vijaya.Sanxc.pa, that commemorates his conquests, 

 as incarnations of other minor Deities ; e. g. the scholiast A'nanda-giri of 

 this same attendant god Nandi', Siva's chamberlain, (or according to 

 another account, of Brahma',) si. 6, 8. &c. &c. 



XXXIII., XXXIV. In these two verses, the long Srag-dhard measure 

 of verses III., V., &c. is resumed. 



In the latter the epithet '^'^■(^r applied to the mountain, refers to some 

 symbol of the worship of the great Goddess Devi there. In rendering 



