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

[Header] KINGS OF KASHMÍRA. 261

in blood, and were killed by the relentless Saidas; and
the ground was filled with fetuses from their womb.
The king was not satiated with killing some animals, he
denuded those hills of deer, and, tired in the evening, he
ordered the forest beaters to occupy the houses of the
villagers. Some of these men, terrible as the servants of
death, passed the night in houses where the owner's
daughter-in-law and daughter and wife were young and
beautiful, and as there were wine and meat and fish.
The Turuṣhkas were powerful, and strong in archers;
they seated themselves in the houses of Brāhmaṇas who
had devoted themselves to the performances of the six
duties; they ate from the vessels of the Brāhmaṇas the
cooked meat of fowls killed as if in sacrificial ceremonies;
and they gave themselves up to the pleasures of drinking.
The inhabitants of the place were robbed of their domestic
animals and rice and wine and other things; and some of
the avaricious servants of the Saidas killed the people in
their own houses. The impotent king heard the people
express their wish that he might not come there again,
and was grieved on account of the oppression of the
people. Hunting is an evil habit, and fie to kings who
do not possess the dignity of kings! Certainly, in the
present instance, it was killing men under the pretence
of killing beasts. If to tie down and kill hundreds of
deer, like beasts of sacrifice, be sport, what then is
butcher's work? The skill in taking aim from horse-
back on running animals is to be coveted, but what