114 
Dr. Hoernle— Two Copper-plate Grants of Batnaptila. [No. 1 
Alas! for one who is keenly desirous of glory there is truly in this 
world no counting of kinship. 41 
(7.) Then his wise son, Bhagadatta by name, whose shoulder was 
girt with the mantle of far-reaching glory, and who by the multi¬ 
tude of his good qualities won the affections of the (whole) world, carried 
upon himself the burden (of the government) of the country with pro¬ 
priety and much prosperity. 
(8.) Then the mighty Vajradatta, having like Yajrin (i.e., Indra), 
conquered his enemies, being in beauty like a large diamond, and 
enjoying the reputation of having achieved the conquest of the world 
through his own honesty and energy, obtained that kingdom of his 
brother, just as fire (attains) brilliancy on the setting of the sun. b 
(9.) After thus, for several generations, kings of Naraka’s 
dynasty had ruled the whole country, a great chief of the Mlecchas, 
owing to a turn of (adverse) fate, took possession of the kingdom. 
(This was) (JJalastambha. In succession to him also there were chiefs, 
altogether twice ten ( i.e ., twenty) in number, who are well-known as 
Vigraha-stambha and the rest. 
(10.) Seeing that the twenty-first of them, the illustrious chief 
Tyaga Siihha 4 * 6 by name, had departed to heaven without (leaving) any 
of his race (to succeed him), 
(Second Plate: obverse:) his subjects, thinking it well that a 
Bhauina (i.e., one of Naraka’s race) should be appointed as their lord, 
chose Brahmapala, from among his kindred, to be their king on account 
of his fitness to undertake the government of the country. 7 
4 Naraka is said to have been slain by Krsna, who is an incarnation of Visnu 
or Hari. The latter was Naraka’s father: hence the father slew his son. The 
poet represents this as a sort of voluntary sacrifice on the part of Naraka, who 
feeling himself too old for his accustomed warlike exploits, purposely, i.e., out of 
consideration for his father, lived in a careless fashion in order to afford his father 
an opportunity of slaying him, so that his father (Visnu) might have the reputation 
of having slain the much-feared demon Naraka. The poet, however, cannot refrain 
from adding a word of disapproval of Visnu’s conduct in setting aside the claims 
of kinship for the sake of earning a repntation. This explanation was substantially 
suggested to me by Dr. Bloch. 
6 There is here a play on the word vajra, which means both c the thunderbolt 
and ‘ a diamond.’ Indra is called vajrin , or ‘ the wielder of vajra or ‘ the thunder 
bolt;’ and Vajradatta or ‘ the gift of Vajra’ is said to be as beautiful as a vajra 
or ‘‘diamond.’ 
® the meaning apparently is that the whole series consisted of 21 members 
viz., Qalastambha, 19 others, and Tyaga Siihha. It is not clear whether the name 
of the last king is Qri-tyaga or Tyaga. 
1 Verses 10 and 11 are two relative sentences (with yam and yasya) dependent on 
the demonstrative sa in verse 12. 
