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

66 KINGS OF KASHMÍRA.
he therefore ordered all the guards on the roads not to
allow passage to any one without a written passport.
Then as the fisherman torments fish in an enclosed
river, so this low born man tormented the twice-born
in the country. The Brāhmaṇas burnt themselves in
the flaming fire through fear of committing sin, and
through fear of him who was like the heat of the fire ;
and thus they escaped. Struck by fear some Brāh-
maṇas killed themselves by means of poison, some by
the rope, others by drowning themselves in water,
others again by falling from a precipice, and others
burnt themselves. The country was contaminated by
hatred, and the king’s favourite (Sūha) could not pre-
vent one man in a thousand from committing suicide.
This wicked man disliked the weight of the kingdom
which was hard to be borne, but he delighted in the
cries of the twice-born, which gave him pleasure. A
multitude of Brāhmaṇas who prided on their caste fled
from the country through bye-roads, as the main roads
were closed, even as men flee under ground when the
doors of their houses are closed. Even as men depart
from this world, so did the Brāhmaṇas flee to foreign
countries, the son leaving his father behind, and the
father leaving his son, to the Death like Sūha who sor-
rowed at the escape of the Brāhmaṇas. The difficult
country through which they passed, the scanty food, pain-
ful illness, and the torments of hell during life time re-
moved from the minds of the Brāhmaṇas the fear of hell.