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

376 KINGS OF KASHMÍRA.
tears in their eyes, thus spoke to him :—"It was owing
to oppressions caused by us O king! or owing to the
misfortune of the subjects, that you are afflicted with
this bodily torment, even as the soul is afflicted for the
sin of being born." When the king heard their words
he said :—"You should always protect our children, we
are now going by a road which is remote from here."
When the men heard these words of the king there
arose cries of lamentation in the palace. That day the
king gave one koti of coin to be spent for religious pur-
poses, for when the month of spring had arrived, the
liberal minded king, oppressed with pain, believed that
he would die in a dark fortnight. On Thursday, the
first of the month of Jyaiṣhṭha, in the bright fortnight,
this virtuous sun among men set after having reigned a
second time for five years.
When the king had ascended to heaven, the people
lamented for him, and thus said in their grief;—
"Whose protection should we now seek when thou
hast gone to heaven? O beautiful like the moon,
and powerful like Kārttikeya! O king! without thee
who shall protect us in our times of difficulty? Where
wilt thou go O king Mahammada! leaving this earth?"
Thus loudly the people lamented as they stood at
the gate of the palace, and it seemed as if the tears
from their eyes served the last offering of water to
the deceased sovereign. The ministers then placed
the corpse in a litter, and bore it on their shoulders