In the year of the Śaka-king acceptedOr, emending aṅkīkr̥te: numbered
. by (4) revealed texts, (5) senses, (6) aromas (i.e., in 654 Śaka), on Monday the thirteenth of waxing (fortnight) in Kārttika, under (the lunar mansion) Uttarabhadra, with Aquarius as the ascendant, the king Śrī Sañjaya established on the hill known as Sthirāṁśa, in order to make peace, a liṅga endowed with the (prescribed) characteristics.The inverted compounds vārendau and bhadrottare are both highly idiosyncratic. It is not certain at all that sthirāṅśavidite qualifies parvvate rather than the dating formula or a part thereof.
May Bhava, whose crest-jewel is the Moon in the crown which are His piled locks is illumined by the high rising waves of the Gaṅgā; the radiance of whose serpent-chief necklace is shining on His body whose ash is of gleaming brightness; and tu who is praised by the gods having their soft hands (folded together) in the bud that is an añjali — may He, who is a Sun against the darkness of existence, give you an excellent marvel!
Repeatedly called upon by the best of sages,Cf. the Khmer inscription K. 263 C (10th c. CE), stanza XIXd: nityan dhyānāmr̥tārdrair asakr̥d abhinuto veda-vedāṅga-vidbhiḥ. stooping low out of devotion, for the sake of heaven and release; kissed by the gods, beginning with Lekharṣabha (Indra),This name for Indra is taken from the Amarakośa (1.1.102). It seems to be very rarely attested outside lexicographical texts (the only example I know is in the Buddhacarita, 7.8). who have their crowns bent down, resembling bees; whose reddish petals are his toes; the lightly colored ends of whose filaments are the flashing beams (reflecting) on his toe-nails --- may the impeccable pair of lotuses which are the feet of the Three-eyed (Śiva) give you eternal bliss!
A treasury of marvels, due to the emergence of excellence of power, even (in the eyes) of the very great, He continuously sustains the wonder of yogins, single-mindedly devoted as He is to renunciation; He nourishes the world with his eight manifestations out of compassion, not out of self-interest — may that Tryambaka (Śiva), the Lord of Bhūtas, whose pile of hair is adorned by a slice of the Moon, protect you!
Bearing a golden body, with a rising pile of locks that is as it were the flame burning his own body, He is the origin of dharma, artha and kāma, having firmly established the rules of the world to the (four) pillars of the Veda; the Yogin Lord among Yogins, the pair of whose lotus feet are praised by the gods; reverend teacher of the world — may the immanent Svayambhū (Brahmā) give you success!
Having seen the beauty (śrī) of her own reflections fallen on the surfaces of the gems on the hoods of the serpent-chiefs, surely Śrī, whose leer is accompanied with a frown, is angry,The image here is of Śrī being tricked by her own reflection into thinking that her husband Viṣṇu is dallying with another woman. The subject of the subordinate clause built with dr̥ṣṭvā is that of the logical subject of the passive construction kupitayā \ldots vīkṣitaḥ in the main clause. The particle nūnam indicates the stylistic figure of utprekṣā. when she regards him, who sleeps on the surface of the bed of water, with the petals of his water-lily eyes reddish due to the [sleep of] yoga (yoga[nidrā]),The utpala, a species of water-lily (see ), normally has blue petals. who is praised by the gods for the sake of protection — may He, Śrī's husband (Viṣṇu) give you fortune (śrī)!
There was this excellent island called Yava (i.e., Java), abundant in grains such as rice, endowed with gold mines,It is a convention of Sanskrit poetry to describe landscapes as rich in gold (see ). No factual conclusions with regard to the availability of gold mines in the landscape known to the poet may be drawn from a statement such as this. Likewise, it is a convention of Sanskrit poetical narrative to mark transitions with the verb āsīt which, even though formally an imperfect tense, has no specific preterite implications (see in this reader the inscriptions Kāñjuruhan, st. I and Pucangan, st. V, XI, XXIII). These points were rather spectacularly ignored by Waruno Mahdi in his study (). as though procured by the immortals from heaven, and (tu) where there was the most heavenly astonishing sanctuary of Śiva, situated in the illustrious land of the Elephant's tusk (kuñjarakuñja), surrounded by bathing places such as the Gaṅgā, bringing prosperity for the people.On the interpretation of this stanza, see who refers back to .
On that fine island called Yava, which was a great mark of the foot of Puruṣa (Viṣṇu), for a long time a king of mighty and lofty birth, of extensive and great fame, due to the proper [application of policies of] pacification and donation, who ruled all subjects, like a father [disciplines] a son from birth, out of tenderness, called Sanna, to whom enemies bowed down (sannata), ruled the earth with righteousness, like Manu.Here (pāti) and in the following verses, the present tense forms have to be interpreted as praesens historicum.
When the moon in his own lineage called Sanna, who ruled the royal fortune (i.e., the earth) in this manner, had passed his time, and had proceeded to the happiness in heaven, accumulated by those born in his own family, the shattered world roamed under grief's reins, being bereft of a king.
Then was born [a king] who was, by the profusion of his numerous qualities, like Meru: the radiance of his fair complexion was like the gold (on Meru) molten by flaming fire; he was very high by the lower slopes that were his great arms and lofty by the peak that was his head; the elevation of his high feet (or: lower reaches) was underpinned by the kings (kṣitidhara) that were the principal mountain ranges.
The illustrious king called Sañjaya, to be honored by the multitudes of wise men knowledgable in the subtle meaning of the teachings; endowed with the qualities of wisdom, heroism and so forth, having, like Raghu, conquered the circuit of numerous vassals;This hemistisch alludes to cantoes 3 and 4 of the Raghuvaṁśa, dealing respectively with Raghu's education and his digvijaya. being, by his fame, renowned in [all] the cardinal and intermediate directions, as is the Sun; the son of the sister of the king named Sannāha, he justly rules the kingdom.
While he rules over the Earth, whose girdle are the sea's waves, and whose breasts are the (two) mountains,This is probably an allusion to Raghuvaṁśa 4.54 (ed. ): sa nirviśya yathākāmaṁ taṭasvādhīnacandanau | stanāv iva diśas tasyāḥ śailau malayadurdurau. people sleep on the royal road without being frightened by thieves and other dangers, and dharma, artha as well as kāma are all the time sufficiently obtained obtained by men, who are rich in fame. Surely this Kali weeps and weeps, for it is now bereft of any remaining share.Kali is the personification of the present kaliyuga, the age of decadence of dharma. It seems likely that a sophisticated poet such as is at work here intended nāstyaṁśaśeṣa as a compound, for a compound of similar meaning is attested in the kāvya work Naiṣadhīyacarita, whose style is very similar, at 8.29: na manmathas tvaṁ sa hi nāstimūrtiḥ you are not Manmatha (Kāma), for he is one without physical appearance
.