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

68 KINGS OF KASHMÍRA.
the Yavanas, feared that Ratnākara would rise in rebel-
lion, and caused him to be arrested. From the time
that Malānoddīna arrived in the kingdom which was
then without chāmara and umbrella, the desire of
enjoyment did not leave Sūhabhaṭṭa even in dream.
But enjoyments are the fruits of austerities, and the
vain desire of enjoyments was painful to Sūhabhaṭṭa
like the disease of the eye. The ministers attained or
lost rank and honour according to the will of the power-
ful Sūhabhaṭṭa, even as the duration of the seasons
laden with fruits is under the control of the sun. When
Shāhikhāna saw that wisdom and power were centered
in one person, he became alarmed and anxious, and did
not sleep. When he saw the serpent like Sāha, with
his poisonous appearance, he was surrounded by dark-
ness which he could not illumine. Sūhabhaṭṭa spent
three or four years oppressing the twice-born, reviling
the Sāstras, thinking of rebellion, and undergoing medi-
cal treatment for his disease. As if sent by the virtues
of the people, and gathering strength from the sins of
Sūhabhaṭṭa, his consumption, which defied treatment,
withered him up. What could not the sun-jewel have effect-
ed if its fire had not been quenched at the rising of the
moon when the moisture of the moon-jewel allays the
heat of the earth ? Why did he not live for another three
or four years and witness in this world the effect of his
own sins at the time when Shāhikhāna rose to power.
When Sūhabhaṭṭa was living, Laddarāja had fled