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

338 KINGS OF KASHMÍRA.
quality and fortunate in having bathed at the shrine
of BhagavatI on the Ganges, composed his Rājāvalipatākā
in the reign of king Phatiha, giving an account down
to the year 89. Then the poet did not write the ac-
counts of kings, owing to the tumults in the kingdom
and on account of the fear of the wicked and the avari-
cious, even as swans do not feed on the moss in the
Mānasa lake for fear of the fowlers. I, Shuka, son of
Buddhyāshraya, am giving an account of kings in this
book form that date. I heard of the admirable deeds
of fame of past kings who enjoyed great prosperity ;
and I write this book not because I felt a desire to
become a poet, but to lighten my mind of the mass of
accounts of by-gone kings of great prosperity about
which I had heard. What a difference there is between
the description of former poets and of my own, I who
am of little sense ! How can a fragment of brass be
taken for gold simply because of its colour ? My
account of kings is like a desert, but let good men
hear and understand my words, and favour me by
showering amṛita in that desert.
King Phatāha was like a sprout of the dynasty of
the great king Jainashāha, and he became the ruler
of the country of Kashmīra. The subjects were happy
in every way during the time that he ruled ; they were
given to pious acts, and were graced with the virtues
of kindness and simplicity. The king was not addicted
to evil habits regarding woman, dice, or wine ; and his