274 Notes on Gupta Inscriptions from Aplisar and Behar. [No. 4, 



Lauhitya, with open beaming eyes, sang in praise of his wide-spread- 

 ing fame, — that fame which was inscribed by the praises of his victory 

 over S'ri Yarma, and which to this day is adorned by garlands of well 

 blown wild jessamins and water-lilies, as with a necklace of moons. 



15. Of him was born S'ri Madhava G-upta, the highest essence of 

 valour, even as Madhava was born of Kamadeva. His two feet rested 

 on the greatest heroes. 



16. In war he was the foremost among the praiseworthy, and, 

 as the receptacle of goodness and bestower of all he acquired, he 

 was the greatest among the great. He was the family abode of wealth 

 (Lakshmi), truthfulness (Satva), and learning (Saraswati), and the 

 steadfast bridge of virtue. There was none above him to respect, for he, 

 the meritorious, moved foremost among the meritorious on the earth. 



17. Like Madhava (Krishna) he bore the sign of the thunderbolt on 

 his palm,* and carried a bow made of horn; while the sabre by his side 

 was for the destruction of his enemies, and the good of his friends. The 

 j e wel Nanda ha 



(About a dozen letters at the end of the line and over three-fourths 

 of the next line are missing. Three lines then follow naming a 

 Hashka Deva and his son Aditya Sena. Next, there are eleven 

 lines, so full of lacuna? that no connected meaning can be made out of 

 them : then the concluding line of a s'loka) : his son, who owned the 

 illimitable earth for his dominion, and was a protector of mankind. 



In battle the two arms of the king shone resplendent, having ripped 

 open the orbs of maddened royal elephants ; the halo of his fame 

 was lustrous with the glory of his numerous conquered foes ; his feet 

 rested on the heads of innumerable kings ; the fire of his majesty was 

 vast ; fortunate was he, and in warfare pure and of renowned action. f 



By that king, who in his attempt to make his noble and most 

 wonderful Glory, which was as white as the light of the autumnal 

 moon, and wide spreading as the earth, dwell with his Fortune,}, had so 

 irritated her that she, from a feeling of rivalry, went to live for ever 



* An emblem of royalty according to Indian Palmistry. 



t The word idem at the beginning of this sloka is not construable. 



% In Sanskrit the words glory, Kirti, and fortune, Lalcsmt, are in the feminine 

 gender. The poet represents them as the two wives of the king, and then by 

 a pretty conceit makes them quarrel from a feeling of rivalry and separate, 

 Fortune, to live with her lord, and Glory, to go to the farthest limits of the earth. 



