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

KINGS OF KASHMÍRA. 425
ordered, and when the Yavanas saw the boats in flame
they became almost dead with fear. Any Yavana who
would so lose his sense as to oppress the people of
Kashmīra would soon obtain the fruit of his guilt.
Now the saffron shoots sprang from the ground, as
if the king of the serpents had reared his heads in rows
in order to behold the season of autumn. The buds
of saffron flowers issued slowly, as if through bashful-
ness, from the spotless cover of their rinds ; and when
the people saw the village of Padmapura rich with the
beauty of these saffron flowers, and with grapes and
walnuts, they deemed even heaven inferior to it. The
cultivators, who in the month of Shrāvaṇa had sown one
khārī of saffron seed in the ground, now plucked half a
khārī of flowers, and they plucked them morning,
noon, and evening, and at each time they collected them
in the same quantity. From the time that Takṣhaka
nāga taught the cultivation of this flower, there had
not been such a plentiful crop as now. People had
no rest at this time on account of the large crop of
saffron. Some were busy in plucking flowers, some
were conveying them in carriages, the heads of some
were bent with their weight, some were sleeping in boats
[laden with saffron,] some were constantly occupied in
weighing, and some were guarding the crop.
This is the account of the saffron harvest.
When eight years had passed away, king Jyallāladīna
took the country from Yosobha Khāna and bestowed it on