द्वितीय राजतरङ्गिणी (जोनराज - कल्हणोत्तर मध्यकालीन कश्मीर का प्रामाणिक इतिहास)

delight, and remained in his own house but sent his
spies around, even as the sun sends out his powerful rays.
Royal Fortune now favoured both the uncle and the
nephew, as if in doubt which of them to select. At
this time the minister Ahmada held a consultation
with the other ministers, and went to Bahrāmakhāna,
and spoke to him these words of reason :—"To-day
your brother king Haidharashāha,- whose name is
auspicious, having wished you a long life, has come
to the end of his career. Now you are the
eldest of the family, do you therefore ascend
the throne, and give Hassanakhāna the post of the heir-
apparent. This city was protected by your father with
great care, and to-day this alarmed town should be pro-
tected by you, even like a chaste woman of good family.
What more need I say ? Let the plunderers of the city,
who are like greedy crows, turn back as they came,
with their dark features and their cries of evil. When
Bahrāmakhāna heard these words he replied in lan-
guage harsh on account of his anger. "Did I, in
disregard of my self-interest and of the future world,
separate myself from my father, mild and bounteous as
the kalpa tree, and did I oppose Ādamakhāna by
various devices, in order to serve this brother who was
never himself ? Who does not know how I obtained
the kingdom for him ? Who is my brother's son to-day,
and what is his worth ? Who beside me is worthy of
my father's kingdom ? He is younger, I am older in age