राजतरङ्गिणी
प्रथमः तरङ्गः
...
बोधिसत्वश्च देशोस्मिन्नेको भूमीश्वरोभवत्
स च नागार्ज्जुनः श्रीमान्षडहर्द्वसंश्रयी
अथ निष्कण्टको राजा कण्टकोत्साग्रहारदः
अभीर्बभूवाभिमन्युः शतमन्युरिवापरः
स्वनामाङ्कं शशाङ्काङ्कशेखरं विरच य्य सः
परार्ध्यविभवं श्रीमानभिमन्युपुरं व्यधात्
चन्द्राचार्यादिभिरैर्लब्ध्वादेशं तस्मात्तदागमम्
प्रवर्तितं महाभाष्यं स्वं च व्याकरणं क्रुतम्
तस्मिन्नवसरे बौद्धा देशे प्रबलतां ययुः
नागार्ज्जुनेन सुधिया बोधिसत्वेन पालिताः
ते वादिनः पराजित्य वादेन निखिलान्वुधान्
क्रियां नीलपुराणोक्तामच्छिन्दन्नागमद्धिषः
मण्डले विष्ताचारे विच्छिन्नवलिकर्मभिः
नागैर्जनक्षयश्चक् रे प्रभूतहिमवर्षिभिः
हिमान्यां वौद्धवाधाय पतन्त्यां प्रतिवत्सरम्
शीते दार्वाभिसारादौ षण्मासान्पार्थिवोवसत्
तदा प्रभावः कोप्यासीद्द्विलिदहोमविधायिनाम्
नानशन्यद्वराद्धिप्रा बौद्धाश्च निधनं गताः
नीलमुदिश्य देशस्य रक्षितारमहीश्वरम्
काश्यपश्चन्द्रदेवाख्यस्तपस्तेपे ततो द्विजः
तस्य प्रत्यक्षतां यातो नीलस्तुहिनविप्लवम्
न्यवारयज्जगादापि स्वपुराणविधिं पुनः
आद्येन चन्द्रदेवेन शमितो यक्षविप्लवः
द्वितीयेन तु देशेसिन्दुहो भिक्षुविप्लवः
...
हिरण्यकुल इत्यस्य हिरण्योत्सकृदात्मजः
षष्टिं षष्टिं वसुकुलस्तत्सूनुरभवत्समाः
अथ स्लेच्छगणाकीर्णे मण्डे चण्डचेष्टतः
तस्यात्मजोभून्मिहिरकुलः कालोपमो नृपः
दक्षिणां सान्तकामाशां स्पर्धया जेतुमुद्यता
यन्मिषादुत्तरहरिदभारान्यमिवान्तकम्
सांनिध्यं यस्य सैन्यान्तर्हन्यमानाशनोत्सुकान्
अजानन्गृध्रकाकादीन्दृष्ट्वाग्रे धावतो जनाः
दिवारात्रं हतप्राणिसहस्रपरिवारितः
योभूद्भूपालवेतालो विलासभवनेष्वपि
बालेषु करुणा स्त्रीषु धृणा वृद्धेषु गौरवम्
न बभूव नृशंसस्य यस्य घोराकृतेर्घ्नतः
स जातु देवीं संवीतसिंहलांशुककञ्चुकाम्
हैमपादाङ्कितकुचां दृष्टा जज्वाल मन्युना
सिहलेषु नरेन्द्राङ्घ्रिमुद्राङ्ककः क्रियते पटः
इति कञ्चुकिना पृष्टेनोक्तो यात्रामदात्ततः
तत्सेनाकुभ्मिदानाम्भोनिम्नगाकृतसंगमः
यमुनालिङ्गनप्रीतिं प्रयेदे दक्षिणार्णवः
स सिहलेन्द्रेण समं संरम्भादुदपाटयत्
चिरेण चरणस्पृष्टप्रियालोकनजां रुपम्
दूरात्तत्सैन्यमालोक्य लङ्कासौधैर्निशाचराः
भूयोपि राघवोद्योगमाशङ्क्य प्रचकम्पिरे
स तत्रान्यं नृपं दत्त्वा तीव्रशक्तिरुपाहरत्
पटं यमुषदेवाख्यं मार्ताण्डप्रतिमाङ्कितम्
व्यावृत्त्य चोलकर्णाटलाटादींश्च नरेश्वरान्
सिन्धुरानिव गन्धेनैव गन्धेनैव व्यदारयत्
तस्मिन्प्रयते प्राप्तेभ्यः श्शंसुस्तत्पराभवम्
नगर्यो नरनाथेभ्यस्त्रुट्यदट्टलमे खलाः
काश्मीरं द्वारमासाद्य श्वभ्रभ्रष्टस्य दन्तिनः
श्रुत्वा स त्रासजं घोषं तोषरोमाश्चितोभवत्
तदाकर्णनसंरम्भे सहर्षोथ विरुद्धधीः
शतमन्यद्गजेन्द्राणां हठेन निरलोठयत्
स्पर्शाोङ्गानि यथा वाचं कीर्तनं पापिनां तथा
संदूषयेदतो नोक्ता तस्यान्यापि नृशंसता
को वेत्त्यद्भुतचेष्टानां कृत्यं प्राकृतचेतसाम्
धंर्म सुकृतसंप्राप्तिहेतोः सोपि यदाददे
श्रीनगर्यां हि दुर्बुद्धिर्विदधे मिहिरेश्वम्
होलाडायां स मिहिरपुराख्यं पृथुपत्तनम्
अग्रहाराञ्जगृहिरे गान्धारा ब्राह्मणास्ततः
समानशीलास्तस्यैव ध्रुवं तेपि द्विजाधमाः
मेधागमः फणिभुजं प्रथितान्धकारः
प ्रीणाति हंसममलो जलदात्ययश्च
प्रीतेः समानरुचितैव भवेन्नितान्तं
दातुः प्रतिग्रहकृतश्च परस्परस्य
स र्वषसप्ततिं भुक्त्वा भुवं भूलोकभैरवः
भूरिरोगार्दितवपुः प्राविशज्जातवेदसम्
सोयं त्रिकोटिहा मुक्तो यः स्वात्मन्यपि निर्घृणः
देहत्यागेस्य गगनादुच्चचारेति भारती
इत्यूचुर्ये मते तेषां स एव परिहारदः
खण्डयन्वीतघृणतामग्रहारादिकर्मेभिः
आकान्ते दारदैर्भौट्टैर्म्च्छैरशुचिकर्मभिः
विनष्टधर्मे देशेसिन्पुण्याचारप्रवर्तनम्
आर्यदेदयान्स संस्ठाप्य व्यतनोद्दारुणं तपः
संकल्प्य स्ववपुर्दाहं प्रायश्चित्तक्रियां व्यधात्
अत एवाग्रहाराणां सहस्रं प्रत्यपादयत्
गान्धारदेशजातेभ्यो द्विजेभ्यो विजयेश्वरे
क्षुरखड्गासिधेन्वादिपूर्णेयः फलके तदा
वह्निप्रदीप्ते सहसा पर्यन्ते स्वां तनुं जहाँ
इत्येतस्मिञ्जनाम्नाये केचिदव्यभिचारिणि
प्राहुः पुरुषसिंहस्य क्रौर्य तस्याविगर्हितम्
कुलकम्
ये नागेन रुषा पुष्टे नगरे प्राभवन्खशाः
तेषां नाशाय वृत्तान्तं पूर्वोक्तं जगदुः परे
अवतारयतस्तस्य चन्द्रकुल्याभिधां नदीम्
अशक्योन्मूलना मध्ये शिलाभूद्विघ्नकारिणी
ततः कृततपाः स्वप्ने देवैरुक्तः स भूपतिः
यक्षः शिलायां बलवान्ब्रह्मचार्यत्र तिष्ठति
साध्वी स्पृशति चेदेनां निरोद्धुं न स शक्नुयात्
ततोपरेधुः स्वप्नोक्तं शिलायां तेन कारितम्
तासु तासु कुलस्त्रीषु व्यर्थयत्नास्वथाचलत्
चन्द्रवत्याख्यया स्पृष्टा कुलाल्या सा महाशिला
कोटित्रयं नरपतिः क्रुद्धस्तेनागसा ततः
सपतिभ्रातृपुत्राणामवधीत्कुलयोषिताम्
इयं चान्यमते ख्यातिः प्रथते तथ्यतः पुनः
अभव्या सनिमित्तापि प्राणिहिंसा गरीयसी
एवं क्षुद्रोपि यद्राजा संभूय न हतो जनैः
तत्कर्म कारयद्भिस्तदैवतैरेव रक्षितः
प्रजापुण्योदयैस्त ीवैश्चिरात्तस्मिन्क्षयं गते
एकस्तत्प्रभवः पौरैः सदाचारोभ्यषिच्यत
...
River of Kings
The First Wave
...
And a Bodhisattva lived in this country as the sole, supreme ruler of the land,
namely the illustrious Nägärcunä, who dwelt in Şädähärdvänä.
Then, he who was without foes, the donor of the Ägrähärä of Käntäkotsä, the fearless Äbhimänyu became king; he was like another Şätämänyu.
Having founded the city of Äbhimänyupurä, which he named after himself, with inestimable treasure, that illustrious king endowed it with a temple of Şivä as its crowning beauty.
Under his instruction, Çändräçäryä and others spread the knowledge of the Mähäbhäsyä, which was inaccessible at that time, across the land. (They also spread) grammar, which they composed.
During this era, the power of the Buddhists, whom the wise Bodhisattva Nägärcunä had protected, predominated in the land.
These disputants, who were opponents of the tradition, having defeated all the learned men in open debate, brought to an end the (observance of the) rites prescribed in the Niläpuränä.
While the country drifted into confusion about the customary observances, the Nägä, whose sacrificial offerings had been cut off, sent down excessive snow, destroying the people.
As heavy snow fell every year to cause distress to the Buddhists, the king, during winter, resided for six months in Därväbhisärä and other regions.
During this period, owing to some indescribable spiritual power, the Brahmans, who made votive offerings and sacrifices, were not destroyed while the Buddhists perished.
Devoting himself to Nilä, the patron of the country and ruler of the Nägä, a Brahman named Çändrädevä of the Käsyäpä lineage then began to practice austerities.
Making himself visible to him, Nilä averted the havoc of snow and promulgated once more the observances of rites according to his own Puränä.
Çändrädevä I had put an end to the upheaval of the Yäkşä in this country and Çändrädevä II had put an end to the intolerable plague of the Bhikşu.
...
His son, Hiräɳyäkşä, founded a city bearing his own name. He enjoyed the land for thirty-seven years and seven months.
Hiräɳyäkulä, his son, founder of Hiräɳyutsä, and Väsukulä, the son of the latter, were rulers for sixty years each.
Then, when the land was overrun by the Mletçä hordes, his son Mihiräkulä, a man of violent deeds, who was comparable to the god of death, became king.
To the South belonged the god of Death. (But) the North, eager through rivalry to vanquish it, found an excuse and in him brought forth another god of Death.
His approach became known by the sight of vultures, crows and the like, eager to feed on those being massacred by his encircling army, to the population fleeing before him.
This royal Vetälä was surrounded day and night by thousands of murdered human beings, even in his pleasure-houses.
This enemy of mankind (who was of) terrible appearance had no pity for children, clemency towards women, or respect for the aged, none while he massacred.
He, on one occasion, having noticed that the queen was wearing a blouse of stuff made in Simhälä, which had foot-marks on the breasts worked in gold, was inflamed with rage.
“In Simhälä, cloth is manufactured bearing the mark of the king’s foot,” thus he was told by the Chamberlain who had been questioned; whereupon, he gave orders to march.
The southern ocean, when it was swelled by the streams of the juice flowing from the temples of his war-elephants, showed a desire to embrace the Yämunä.
Together with the king of Simhälä, he, by an impetuous attack, rooted out his rage originating in the sight of footmarks on his beloved.
When the demons from the palaces of Länkä saw his army in the distance, they feared another attack of Räghävä and fell to trembling.
Having installed there another king, he, with his fierce puissance, carried away cloth known as Yämuşädevä, marked with the figure of the sun.
Turning back, he dispersed the rulers of Çolä, Kärnätä and Lätä just as by his very smell the tusker in rut scatters the elephants.
After his departure, the cities with the shattered battlements, which were their girdles, complained of the rape to the ruling princes who had returned.
When he reached the gate of Käşmirä, on hearing the distressful trumpeting of a tusker who had fallen down a precipice, his hair stood on end with delight.
In his excitement to hear this, the perverse-minded man, who was in raptures, had a hundred mighty elephants forcibly hurled down.
The various wicked acts of this king have not been narrated. The touch of the sinful is pollution for the limbs, so would it be for speech to describe them; hence, his other inhumanities have not been mentioned.
Who can understand the acts of men of amazing activities and vulgar minds, since even he took to piety for the purpose of acquiring merit?
For in Şrinägärä! the foul-minded man founded the temple of Mihireşvärä and in Holädä a big city named Mihiräpurä.
The Brahmans of Gändhärä accepted from him the gifts of Ägrähärä; they no doubt, too, were of similar character as his own and were the meanest Brahmans.
The advent of clouds with the gathering darkness gladdens the peacock whereas the wild goose is happy with the clear skies of autumn; for the attraction of the donor and the donee towards each other there has to be a very close similarity of tastes.
For seventy years having enjoyed the earth, this Bhäyräväh on earth when his body was afflicted with several diseases entered the flames.
“Here is this slayer of three crores liberated who even towards himself had been pitiless”—thus had a voice, at the time when he relinquished the body, announced from the firmament.
Thus those who say this, in their view he alone is the liberal donor who had broken through cruelty by (the gifts of) Ägrähärä and such other works.
When overrun by the impious Däräd, Bhäuttä and Mletçä, this country had lost religion, he had promulgated the observance of religious conduct by settling the people from the land of the Äryä; having determined on a terrible penance he had made the burning of his own body an act of atonement; for this very reason he had given one thousand Ägrähärä in gift to the Brahmans born in the Gändhärä country at Viyäyeşvärä; then eventually upon an iron platform studded with razors, swords and knives, red hot with fire, he had boldly given up his own body; thus others state, on account of this unadulterated popular, tradition, that the cruelty of that lion-like man is irreproachable. When upon the burning of the city by the wrath of the Nägä, the Käşä had become dominant, there occurred for their destruction the incidents narrated above—so say others.
While he was diverting the river Çändräkulyä, a rock in midstream which was found impossible to remove, caused obstruction. Then to the king, who had practiced penance, the gods spoke in a dream: “a mighty Yäkşä who is a Brähmäçäri resides here in the rock; were a chaste woman to touch the rock the Yäkşä would not be able to obstruct.” The following day he caused to be done what he was told in the dream.
After numerous ladies of high family had endeavored in vain, on being eventually touched by a potter woman named Çändräväti the mighty boulder moved.
For this sin the wrathful king had thereupon slaughtered, together with their husbands, brothers and sons, three crores of women of high families.
This legend is true according to some; nevertheless the slaughter of living beings on a large scale, even though for a cause, is a felony.
Thus although wicked that the king had not been assassinated by the people in an uprising, was because he was protected by the very gods who had urged him to do that act.
When owing to the dawn of the superior merit of the subjects’ good actions the king at last perished, his son, Bäkä the righteous, was crowned king, by the citizens.
Even in his case, owing to past experience, the people remained in a state of terror, as in a pleasure-house built on a cemetery, before the royal throne.
Born from the great oppressor he became the delight of the people like the pouring rain after a day of excessive heat, dark with the clouds.
People deemed that the Law had arrived as it were from some other world and that Order had returned from a perilous journey.
...
Important Transcriptions:
Nägärcunä (नागार्जुन): Name of a bodhisattva.
Şädähärdvänä (षडहर्द्वन): A place name.
Ägrähärä (अग्रहार): An endowment of land conferred upon Brahmans.
Käntäkotsä (कण्टकोत्सा): A place name.
Äbhimänyu (अभिमन्यु): A Varxuna ruler.
Şätämänyu (शतमन्यु): a name of Indra.
Şivä (शिव): The name of a god.
Äbhimänyupurä (अभिमन्युपुर): Name of a city.
Çändräçäryä (चन्द्राचार्या): The name of a grammarian.
Mähäbhäsyä (महाभाष्य): A commentary on selected rules of Sanskrit grammar.
Niläpuränä (नीलपुराण): Name of a purana.
Därväbhisärä (दार्वाभिसार): A tribal name.
Nilä (नील): A king of the Nagas.
Çändrädevä (चन्द्रदेव): A Brahman.
Käsyäpä (कश्यप): The name of an ancient lineage.
Yäkşä (यक्ष): A class of spiritual entities.
Bhikşu (भिक्षु): A son of Bhoja.
Hiräɳyäkşä (हिरण्याक्ष): An Indic ruler.
Hiräɳyäkulä (हिरण्यकुल): An Indic ruler. Etymologically from Sanskrit hiräɳyä (हिरण्य) "gold" + kulä (कुल) "family, tribe, clan."
Hiräɳyutsä (हिरण्योत्स): A city founded by Hiräɳyäkulä. Etymologically from Sanskrit hiräɳyä (हिरण्य) "gold" + utsä (उत्स) "spring, fountain."
Väsukulä (वसुकुल): An Indic ruler. Etymologically from Sanskrit väsu (वसु) "light, radiance; riches, gold" + kulä (कुल) "family, tribe, clan."
Mletçä (म्लेच्छ): A generic term for foreigners.
Mızrağul, mentioned here as Mihiräkulä (मिहिरकुलः): A Varxuna ruler. Etymologically from Avestan miɀra (𐬨𐬌𐬚𐬭𐬀) 'Mithra' (cognate to Sanskrit mihirä (मिहिर) "sun") + Turkic oğul (कुल) "son." Possibly a calque of Tianzi (天子) "son of Heaven" and/or Mihrään (𐭬𐭨𐭥𐭠𐭭) "of Mithra" / Mihrpuur "son of Mithra" / Mihrzääd "born of Mithra."
Vetälä (वेताल): A name for an evil spiritual entity.
Simhälä (सिंहल): The island of Ceylon.
Yämunä (यमुना): The name of a river.
Gändhärä (गान्धार): Place name.
Yämuşädevä (यमुषदेवा): A type of woven cloth marked with the figure of a sun that has gone below the horizon.
Çolä (चोल): Name of a state.
Kärnätä (कर्णाट): Place name.
Lätä (लाटा): Place name.
Käşmirä (काश्मीर): Place name.
Şrinägärä (श्रीनगर): Name of a city.
Mihireşvärä (मिहिरेश्वर): Name of a temple built by Mızrağul.
Holädä (होलड): Place name.
Mihiräpurä (मिहिरपुर): Name of a city built by Mızrağul.
Bhäyräväh (भैरवः): a manifestation of Shiva.
Däräd (दरद): The name of a people.
Bhäuttä (भौट्ट): A name for Tibetans.
Äryä (आर्य): The name of a people.
Viyäyeşvärä (विजयेश्वर): The name of a sacred place.
Käşä (खश): The name of a people.
Çändräkulyä (चन्द्रकुल्या): The name of a river.
Brähmäçäri (ब्रह्मचारी): A type of Brahman.
Çändräväti (चन्द्रवती): A female name.
Bäkä (बक): Supposedly the son and successor of Mızrağul.
The Racätäräŋgini (राजतरङ्गिणी), literally “River of Kings,” is a metrical, legendary, and historical account of the kings of Käşmirä (काश्मीर) and the surrounding area. It was written in Sanskrit by Kashmiri historian Kälhänä (कल्हणः) around 1150 C.E. It was divided into 8 sections, each focusing on a specific dynasty or time period. It is cannot be considered a wholly, historically accurate account, but it does help fill in or reconcile some of the apparent gaps in the history of the Xuna.