IN00040 Mandasor Stone Inscription of the Silk Weavers

1) Luck!

Verse 1) May that (Sun) Light-giver (bhāskara), the cause of the destruction and prosperity of the universe, protect you, who is worshipped by hosts of gods for fortitude (of mind)—by the Siddhas, being desirous of supernatural powers—by the yogins, who being desirous of liberation, are occupied with the one end, namely, meditation, and have sensual attractions under subjection—and, with devotion, by sages, riches in rigorous austerities and who are powerful enough to curse or to bless.

Verse 2) Obeisance to (the Sun) Generator (savitṛi), whom the Brāhmaṇa sages and others, exerting themselves, cannot fully comprehend, though they are conversant with the knowledge of Truth—and who nourishes all the three worlds with (his) spreading rays—who, when he has risen, is praised by Gandharvas, gods, Siddhas, Kinnaras and Naras—and who grants the devotees (their) desires.

Verse 3) May that (Sun) Illuminator (vivasvān), whose ornament is exquisite beams, protect you, who, with (his) mass of rays dropping down from the wide and lofty summit of the Rising Mountain, every day looks intensely red like the cheeks of intoxicated women!

Verses 4-5) From the province of Lāṭa, which is lovely in consequence of choice trees, bowed down with the weight of flowers, temples, assembly halls, and vihāras, (and) the mountains of which are covered with flora, there came to (the town of) Daśapura those (people) of well-known craft, first with their mind full of regard (for it), and afterwards (bodily) in a band, together with children and kinsfolk, disregarding the unceasing discomforts of journey and so forth, being manifestly carried away by the good qualities of the ruler of the country.

Verse 6) In course (of time) this (town) has become an excellent forehead beauty-mark of the earth, which is adorned with thousands of mountains, the rocks of which are besprinkled with the drops of rut trickling down from the sides of the temples of intoxicated elephants, and the ear-ornaments of which are the trees bending down with flowers;

Verse 7) (The town)—where the lakes shine with waters, on the bank, being variegated with many flowers fallen from trees growing on the margins, are adorned with full-blown lotuses—(and) are full of ducks;

Verse 8) Where in some places the lakes shine with swans, become tawny with the pollen falling from the lotuses set in motion by the tremulous waves, and, in some, with water lilies bent down with the weight of their filaments;

Verse 9) Where the woods are adorned, with lordly trees, bowed down with the burden of their flowers—with the humming of the swarms of bees become bold through intoxication—and with the women-folk of the town strolling unceasingly;

Verse 10) Where the buildings, with moving flags, full of women, intensely white, (and) extremely lofty, bear resemblance to the peaks of white clouds variegated with forked lightening;

Verse 11) And (where) other (buildings) resemble the lofty summits of Kailāsa, with long terraces and rail mouldings, resounding with the notes of music, with works in painting set up and adorned with waving plantain trees;

Verse 12) Where the buildings, being decorated with rows of terraces, resembling lines of gods’ palaces (and) as pure as the rays of the full-moon, (appear) to have risen up as if by tearing open the earth;

Verse 13) Which (town) being enclosed by two charming rivers of tremulous waves, shines like the body of the God of Love, clasped in private by (his wives) Prīti and Rati, possessed of (prominent) breasts;

Verse 14) Which, with the Brāhmaṇas who are endowed with truthfulness, forgiveness, self-control, quiescence, religious vows, purity, fortitude, study of Veda, proper conduct, modesty and understanding, and who are stores of knowledge and penance (and yet) free from conceit, shines like the sky with glowing planets;

Verse 15) Then having come in contact with constant meetings, and with cordiality augmenting day by day, (and) being honourably treated like sons by kings, they lived in the town in joy and happiness;

Verse 16) Some are intensely attached to music (so) pleasing to the ear—others, being proud of (the authorship of) a hundred excellent biographies, are conversant with wonderful tales—(others), filled with humility, are absorbed in excellent religious discourses—and others are able to say much that is pleasing, free from harshness, (and yet) salutary;

Verse 17) Some excel in their own religious rites—likewise by others, who were self-possessed, the science of (Vedic) astronomy was mastered—and others, valorous in battle, even to-day forcibly cause harm to the enemies;

Verse 18) Likewise, others are intelligent, possessed of attractive figures, with renowned and long-extended lineages and adorned with deeds befitting (their) lineage—others, with the vow of truthfulness, are expert in (conferring) obligations on favourites, and are firm in friendship accompanied by a sense of trust;

Verse 19) Likewise, with others who has overcome attachment to worldly objects, who are disposed towards piety, who are gentle, who are of abundant inherent stuff, who are engaged in worldly affairs, who are the forehead-mark of their own clan, who has cast away passion, who are magnanimous with such-like (members) the guild shines gloriously;

Verse 20) Womankind, though saturated with youth and complexion (and) decorated with golden necklaces, betel leaves and flower-dressing, does not attain to transcendent beauty until she has put on a pair of silken garments;

Verse 21) By whom this whole surface of the earth has been adorned with silk cloth, agreeable to the touch, variegated with different colours and arrangements (of parts), (and) pleasing to the eye;

Verse 22) The mind of these has (turned) towards (spiritual) welfare, they having then reflected that the world, the human body and the accumulation of wealth are as very unsteady as the charming flower-sprout ear-ornaments of the Vidyādharawomen, set in motion by the breezes;

Verse 23) While Kumāragupta was ruling over the Earth, whose waist-girdle is pendulous with the waters of the four oceans, whose plump breasts are Sumeru and Kailāsa (and) whose smiles are the beautiful and full-blown flowers on the outskirts of the woods;

Verse 24) There was king Viśvavarman, the protector (of men), who was equal to Śukra and Bṛhaspati in understanding, who was the ornament of the kings on earth (and) whose deeds were like those of Pārtha in battles;

Verse 25) Who was compassionate to the poor—who gave consolation to the helpless and the distressed classes—who was excessively full of tenderness—who was a protector of the forlorn—who was the wish-giving tree to the supplicants—and who granted freedom from fear to the frightened—and who was the friend of (his) subjects;

Verse 26) His son (was) king Bandhuvarman possessed of firmness and statesmanship—beloved by (his) friends—a friend, as it were, to (his) people—who removed the afflictions of (his) friends—the only one skilful in destroying the haughty partisans of (his) enemies;

Verse 27) He is handsome, young, fit for battles, and possessed of modesty—a king though he is, he is not accessible to such intoxicants as self-conceit and others—he shines like the incarnation of Erotic Sentiment, even when without decoration—in point of beauty he is as it were a second God of Love;

Verse 28) Even today, when the long-eyed beautiful women of (his) enemies, afflicted by the fierce calamity of widowhood, remember him, a tremor springs up through fright causing torture to (their) compact breasts.

Verse 29) While that same Bandhuvarman, a bull among kings, the magnanimous (and) the high-shouldered one, was protecting this (town of) Daśapura which was abundantly prosperous, a lofty and peerless temple of the bright-rayed (Sun) was caused to be made by the weavers of silk-cloth formed into a guild, with stores of wealth acquired through (their) craft;

Verse 30) (The temple) which has broad and lofty spires, which (thus) resembles a mountain, is pale-red like the mass of the rays of the moon just risen, and, being charming to the eye, shines like the tucked-in lovely crest-jewel of the western ward (of the town);

Verse 31) (In the season) which is pleasant in consequence of the interiors of the houses being crowded with young women (and) in consequence of the rays of the sun, (and) the warmth of fire, during which the fish lie deep in water—and which is destitute of the enjoyments (caused by) the rays of the moon, flat roofs of houses, sandal paste, palm-leaf fans, and garlands—and when the water lilies are bitten by the frost;

Verse 32) In the season which is charming on account of the swarms of bees exhilarating with the juice of the full blown flowers of the rodhra (and) the priyaṅgu trees and the jasmine creeper, when the solitary branches of myriads of the lavalicreepers dance with the winds violently cold with particles of frost;

Verse 33) When the falling of frost and snow is derided by the fast clasping of the massive, lovely and plump thighs, breasts and hips of the beloved women by young men, fallen into the power of sexual love;

Verses 34-35) When four centuries, increased by ninety-three, had elapsed, according to the reckoning of the Mālavas, in the season when the massive breasts (of women) are worthy of enjoyment, on the blessed thirteenth day of the bright half of the month of Sahasya, this edifice was consecrated with the performance of auspicious ceremonies;

Verses 36-37) When considerable time had passed away and one part of this (temple) was shattered, hence now,  for the augmentation of their own fame was again renovated most munificently by the magnanimous guild, this whole edifice of the sun.

Verse 38) Which is very lofty, burnished, as it were touching the sky with (its) attractive spires, (and) has become the receptacle of spotless rays of the moon and the sun at (their) rise;

Verse 39) When five centuries of years increased by twenty and nine years had elapsed, on the second lunar day of the bright fortnight of the charming month of Tapasya;

Verse 40) In the season when (Kāmadeva), whose body is purified by Hara, displays (his) arrows, having verily attained to (his) identity, with the distinct and fresh bursting-forth of the flowers of the Aśoka tree, the Ketaka, the Siṃduvāra, the pendulous Atimuktata creeper and the Madayantikā;

Verse 41) In the season, when the solitary large branches of the Nagana are full of the music of the swarms of bees delighted with the drinking of honey, when the lovely and exuberant Rodhra (trees) are over strewn with flowers newly bursting forth;

Verse 42) As (is) the pure sky with the moon, the breast of Śārṅgin, indeed, with the Kaustubha jewel, so is this whole extensive town decorated with (this) best structure;

Verse 43) As long as Īsa (Śiva) bears a mass of tawny matted hair covered with the spotless digit of the moon, (and) as long as Śārṅgin (Viṣṇu) a garland of full bloom lotus flowers clinging to (his) shoulders, so long may this stupendous structure remain eternal.

Verse 44) By Vatsabhaṭṭi was caused to be made this edifice of the Sun through the order of the guild and in consequence of (his) devotion (to the god), and was composed with care this detailed description;

24) Hail to the composer, engraver, reader and listener! May there be luck!