2023-02-23 18:49:21 by ambuda-bot
This page has not been fully proofread.
INTRODUCTION
the Asiatic Society of Bengal. The inscription is in Sanskrit,
and is metrical, consisting of 23 stanzas. Its purport is the grant
by Madoli, minister of a certain prince Jayāditya, of the village
of Dummuddumāka to Durgā (Candi), the intent of the donor
presumably being that the income derived from the village should
be applied to the support of that goddess's worship. The invoca-
tion, consisting of four stanzas, is addressed to several deities,
and the fourth of these stanzas, the one which invokes Pârvati,
runs as follows:-
namo 'stu nirjitāśeşamahişāsuraghatine
pārvatipadapadmāya jagadanandadãyine¹
253
Salutation to the lotus foot of Parvati (Caṇḍī), which gives joy to the
world,
And which destroyed the demon Mahişa by whom all had been overcome.
The other inscription, in Sanskrit, and metrical, but undated, was
discovered in 1785 A.D., cut in the rock near the entrance to a
cay of the Nägar Hill in the Gaya District of the Bengal
Presidency. It records the installation in the cave, by the Mau-
khari chieftain Anantavarman, of an image of Candi under the
name of Katyayanī, and the grant of a village to the same
goddess. The opening stanza, in the śärdūlavikriḍita meter, is as
follows:-
unnidrasya saroruhasya sakalām ākṣipya śobhām rucā
sāvajñam mahişăsurasya tirasi nyastaḥ kvaṇannapuraḥ
devya vaḥ sthirabhaktivadasadrsim yuñjan phalena 'rthitam
disyad acchanakhāṁśujālajațilaḥ padaḥ padam sampadam ²
The foot of Devi (Candi), [which] excels in splendor the entire beauty of
a full-blown lotus,
Was, with its tinkling anklet, disdainfully placed on the head of the
demon Mahişa;
And it endows with a [suitable] reward [that] state of supplication which
is such as bespeaks firm devotion.
May [this] foot of Devi (Candi), fringed with the rays of [its] pure nails,
point out to you the path to prosperity!
1 Edited, with text and translation, by H. T. Colebrooke, Miscellaneous
Essays, 2.220, 222, 225, London, 1873; edited later by Prof. Kielhorn, IA,
vol. 21 (1892), p. 169. Kielhorn believes the inscription may be dated as
belonging to the beginning of the tenth century A.D.
Text, translation and comment in CII, vol. 3 (Gupta Inscriptions),
p. 226-227.
the Asiatic Society of Bengal. The inscription is in Sanskrit,
and is metrical, consisting of 23 stanzas. Its purport is the grant
by Madoli, minister of a certain prince Jayāditya, of the village
of Dummuddumāka to Durgā (Candi), the intent of the donor
presumably being that the income derived from the village should
be applied to the support of that goddess's worship. The invoca-
tion, consisting of four stanzas, is addressed to several deities,
and the fourth of these stanzas, the one which invokes Pârvati,
runs as follows:-
namo 'stu nirjitāśeşamahişāsuraghatine
pārvatipadapadmāya jagadanandadãyine¹
253
Salutation to the lotus foot of Parvati (Caṇḍī), which gives joy to the
world,
And which destroyed the demon Mahişa by whom all had been overcome.
The other inscription, in Sanskrit, and metrical, but undated, was
discovered in 1785 A.D., cut in the rock near the entrance to a
cay of the Nägar Hill in the Gaya District of the Bengal
Presidency. It records the installation in the cave, by the Mau-
khari chieftain Anantavarman, of an image of Candi under the
name of Katyayanī, and the grant of a village to the same
goddess. The opening stanza, in the śärdūlavikriḍita meter, is as
follows:-
unnidrasya saroruhasya sakalām ākṣipya śobhām rucā
sāvajñam mahişăsurasya tirasi nyastaḥ kvaṇannapuraḥ
devya vaḥ sthirabhaktivadasadrsim yuñjan phalena 'rthitam
disyad acchanakhāṁśujālajațilaḥ padaḥ padam sampadam ²
The foot of Devi (Candi), [which] excels in splendor the entire beauty of
a full-blown lotus,
Was, with its tinkling anklet, disdainfully placed on the head of the
demon Mahişa;
And it endows with a [suitable] reward [that] state of supplication which
is such as bespeaks firm devotion.
May [this] foot of Devi (Candi), fringed with the rays of [its] pure nails,
point out to you the path to prosperity!
1 Edited, with text and translation, by H. T. Colebrooke, Miscellaneous
Essays, 2.220, 222, 225, London, 1873; edited later by Prof. Kielhorn, IA,
vol. 21 (1892), p. 169. Kielhorn believes the inscription may be dated as
belonging to the beginning of the tenth century A.D.
Text, translation and comment in CII, vol. 3 (Gupta Inscriptions),
p. 226-227.