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

126 KINGS OF KASHMÍRA.
of villagers wherever that sinful man passed through,
like a dire calamity. Like the course of a dreadful
planet, his course was marked by the confiscation of
lands which had been previously given away as marks
of favour, although the title deeds were clear. The
covetous Ādamakhāna plundered the people of their
riches in some places by the usual methods, in other
places by threat, or craft, or by deceiving them with
false hopes, and in some places by force. Like a
common man he pretended friendship with the several
Lavanyas, came to their houses, and out of covetous-
ness, robbed them of their wealth. His servants
oppressed timid women, made insulting proposals
to them ; and as the women refused compliance, they
cruelly treated the villagers, and took care to avoid
courts of justice. Ādamakhāna was invincible to the
people of the kingdom, even like a clever logician,
and his shameless servants forcibly entered into houses
where there were handsome women ; — wives, daughters, or
daughters-in-law of citizens, and ravished them. In wine
shops, these servants drank in fishpots, and when they
became intoxicated, they began to blow the earthen pots
like jesters. In their violence, they consumed rice from
the barns, got drunk with wine from the casks, and exacted
enhanced rents. What more need I tell of their un-
lawful acts ? At night these wicked men besmered the
villagers with ghee, and made lamps of them at the
junctions of roads by placing them in vessels full of oil

KINGS OF KASHMÍRA. 127
and setting fire to them ; and the flame rose as if in
laughter.
The king became distressed on being informed of
these heinous acts, and could not leave his house in his
sorrow. When the king's messenger's asked the servants
of Ādamakhāna not to oppress the people, they replied,
—"Let the king cry in his illness." When a man op-
presses the good and nourishes the wicked, when he
hoards riches instead of spending them in gifts and on
his own comforts, and when he tyrannises over defence-
less villagers without cause,—then surely his end is near,
and his wealth becomes a curse and a misfortune.
Ādamakhāna collected his army at Kuddadenapura, and
came to Jainanagara against the king. On that day the
king had heard evil reports, and collected his army in
fear of his son. The king had constructed a bridge on the
Vitastā, named Jainakadali, with four towers made of
stone and wood, and it was the tenth bridge on the way
from the Darad villages to the city. This same bridge,
constructed by himself, now caused alarm to the king,
and he apprehended that [his foes might take advantage
of it] and thus cause him harm. The king also appre-
hended commotion within the town and was struck down
with fear. With great difficulty and through the council
of his advisers, he succeeded in dislodging his son from
the city.
The sun's passage towards the north brings heat to
the world, and the sun, as if conscious of this, retreats

128 KINGS OF KASHMÍRA.
southwards, and thus causes cold. I bow to the sun
who thus brings relief to men, and who again moves
northward to remove their sufferings caused by cold.
Ādamakhāna reached Kramarājya, and the king fearing
that his state would be divided into factions wrote a
letter with his own hand thus, and sent it to Hājyakhāna.
"O son ! Calamities have befallen me which I find it
difficult to surmount; my life is in danger, and I have
no other help but in you. As soon as you read my
letter, sit up at once if you were sleeping, stand up if
you were seated, run if you were standing. What more
need be said in this matter? If you come without
delay, and without minding the trouble which this bad
news may cause, truly your desire will be realized in full.
But if you do not arrive here speedily while I am yet
alive though distracted, there will be no use in your
coming to me after I am dead." Now prince Ādamakhāna
had crossed over to Svayyapura, and engaged his force
in a fierce encounter with the royal army. The contest
between the two armies soon became a general confused
battle, marked by great ferocity. The battle in this
year, 35, like that in the year 28, was caused by wicked
people ; they created enmity between father and son, and
caused harm to them both. The people of Darad and
others drowned themselves in the water of the river
through fear of Ādamakhāna, and the lake became full of
corpses. The three hundred men of Ādamakhāna, fierce
as death, slaughtered men in the field that day and then

KINGS OF KASHMÍRA. 129
tore up the bridge of boats, and crossed the river. As the
king went out of the city he saw citizens in the streets
with their feet burnt and suffering from the agony ;
and he heard them crying and lamenting thus :—"Fie
to the cruel man who instead of subduing foreign
countries oppressed his father’s dominion which he should
have protected. The vicious Shikhajāda and others
who accepted pay from both father aud son and harassed
the king are now suffering the punishment of their
treachery. The wicked planet saturn believed himself
to be as great a benefactor to men as the matchless sun,
and aspired to equal him ; but then the peerless sun
arese, brightening everything, and by his greatness des-
troyed those whose ways were tortuous. Ādamakhāna
has been deserted by his wicked followers who have
brought misery on their country and destruction on
the people, and he has also been deserted by fortune
and prosperity. The people survive other calamities
like excessive rain or drought, or the destruction of
crops by mice, locusts, or birds ; or even a foreign
invasion ; but let not the king have sons bent
on destruction or divided by mutual enmity ; or if
he has only one son, let it not be a wicked son
who causes misery. The two sons of the king, cruel
destroyers of the people, were to him even as the
rising of the Saturn and Yama is to the sun. Where
can such another king be found, lenient even to
those who caused trouble, forgiving to fallen enemies,

and liberal in the appreciation of merit ? It is owing
to our misfortune that the king was put to trouble by
his wicked son." When the king went to Svayyapura
he heard villagers on the road censuring his son for the
slaughter of men, saying :—" When the king saw the
birth of his son, he felt happy, for he thought that his
son would bear the burden of the kingdom ; and the
king raised him to prosperity out of his affection, even
against the dictates of policy. But the king now knows
his son to be as powerful as himself, and fears him, and
though surrounded by joys, he can never sleep on
account of his anxiety. There was a great slaughter of
men owing to the animosity between brothers, and king
Ālishāhi was bound and killed by the son of Mallika.
Similarly what calamity has befallen king Jaina, ou
of the jealousy of his sons ? Let not many sons, the
destroyers of the country, be born therefore into a king’s
house !"
. The armies of the father and son were now encamped
on either bank of the Vitastā ; they were now near each
other and each was eager to overcome the other. In
the meantime Hājyakhāna who had reached Parṇotsa
without delay, approached, like Gaḍura, the neighbour-
hood of the Saḍvarṇa country. When the king heard
of the arrival of the prince with his army at the out-
skirts of Varāhamūla, he sent Vahrāmakhāna to greet
him. Hājyakhāna, who was expecting him, greeted and
embraced his youngest brother, who was gratified with

KINGS OF KASHMÍRA. 131
the reception. On the following day, when Ādamakhāna
found that his younger brother was welcomed by his
father, he retired in fear, deserted by his guards ; and he
arrived with his army and distressed followers in the
country of Sindhu by the way of Shāhibhanga after
crossing the Sindhu river. Thus in the year 33,* the
happy king expelled his eldest son by his wisdom and
entered the capital, joined by Hājyakhāna.
The bee which has spent the long winter in a hollow
in the ground overpowered with grief, comes out in the
spring season with trembling wings to the garden bright
with blooming creepers, and roams about in joy, fond
of the young sprout. Even so after a long time, Hājya-
khāna now obtained from his Janaka like father the rank
of heir-apparent which he had once held. He obtained
his father's love which was as a bright jewel, and in
his affection towards him, he never cast it away, even
as Kṛishṇa never cast away the Kaustuva gem. He was
of fair complexion, spirited, and courteous to all, and
he bent down in humility, sitting behind gods and
elders. He was graceful as the letter Ha which bends
itself, as if in humility, after the god-like letters which
precede. It is a good alphabet of the Ushṇa group,
even as he was of good and bright complexion ; and the
last of all the alphabets. There was not a shrine where
the king went, not a journey which he undertook,

• There is some discrepancy in the dates. The year given here is
  33, but just before it was said to be 35.

132 KINGS OF KASHMÍRA.
not a festive performance which he attended in which
he was not accompanied by Hājyakhāna. What man
does not admire Mahādeva, who is attended by his two
sons, the benefactor of the universe, who is in the en-
joyment of pleasures, and is surrounded by hundreds of
spirits beaming in the excess of their devotion, who
spends his time in listening to hymns accompanied
with dances, and who is the object of adoration, the
possessor of superhuman power, and the dweller of
Kailāsa ?
Here ends the third chapter of Jainarājatarangiṇī,
entitled the account of the banishment of Ādamakhāna
and alliance with Hājyakhāna.
CHAPTER IV.
In the meantime, Spring, the friend of Cupid,
passed away. What the moon is to lustful kumuda
flowers, what the sun, the dispeller of darkness which
is like woman's anger, is to blooming creepers, what
the beauty of budding youth is to women, that is
Spring to Cupid. At the Chaitra festival, the king em-
barked on a boat, accompanied by his son, and with a
view to enjoy the sport of flowers he went to Maḍava-
rājya. The line of the king's boats on the Vitastā
looked like the row of Indra's charriots on the milky
way. He started from Avantipura, and stopped at royal
palaces at Vijayesha and other places inorder to witness

KINGS OF KASHMÍRA. 133
dancing. The king was a part of Mahādeva, and his
courtiers who attended on him were like Cupid, who
had multiplied into many persons inorder to overcome
him. The spectators and the singers knew literature,
rhetoric, and philosophy, and appreciated merit. Young
women, proficient in music, possessed of sweet voice,
and with a genuine ardour for song, graced the place.
The men were learned and dignified; and fond of
enjoyment ; and they displayed their taste and their in-
telligence on the stage. The renowned Tārā and the
actors sang various songs to the nārācha tune, and to
every kind of music. And the songstress Utsavā who
was even like Cupid's arrow, charming to the eye and
proficient in dance, both swift and slow, entranced
every body. The actresses, who displayed the forty nine
different emotions seemed even like the ascending and
descending notes of music personified. As they danced
and sang, the eye and the ear of the audience seemed to
contend for the kneenest enjoyment. The scene was in-
deed beautiful, the songs of the actresses were like the
voice of the kokila, the stage was like a garden where the
lamps on it looked like rows of the champaka flower, and
around them were men intoxicated with wine, like bees
around flowers. Rows of lamps surrounded the king, as if
the gods pleased with his government had come to witness
the dance, and had thrown a garland of golden lotuses
round him. In some places, the rows of lamps were
reflected on the water, as if Varuṇa had out of favour
12

134 KINGS OF KASHMÍRA.
towards the king illumined his court with lights from
the Nāga world ; and the lines of lamps shone like
jewels on the heads of the Nāgas who had come to
witness the dance. Those who were at a distance
doubted if the lights were really lamps, or the spirits
of former kings assembled to view the present sovereign,
or stars and the moon descended from the sky to attend
on the king, or the spirits of holy men who had attain-
ed emancipation, or if they were the great gods as-
sembled there in their grace and beauty. The spectators
seemed to view Indra himself in the king ; the poets
and paṇḍitas beside the king were like demigods, his
servants were like the attendant gods, and the yogis
around him were like holy men who had obtained
salvation ; the actresses were like apsarās whose charms
were heightened by their emotions, the singers were
the Gandharvas, and the stage was heaven itself.
Fireworks of various colors made by the mixture of
charcoal powder, sulphur, and saltpetre pleased the
men. Tubes were filled with saltpetre, and the thick
sparks of fire which issued out of them looked like a
creeper of gold ; and the spectators were filled with fear
and wonder on beholding a flame issuing out of water
like a serpent. From the tubes rose balls of fire to the
sky, beautiful as silver, and looked like the planets
Jupiter and Venus. A tube filled with saltpetre was
tied to a string ; it went off to a distance like a flame,
and when pulled, it returned in flames. Such flames shot

KINGS OF KASHMÍRA. [Page] 135

from the king and returned to him like bright shooting
stars; and the spectators fixed their eyes on them in
wonder and joy. These flaming tubes of saltpetre were
held by the actresses in their hands, and they shone
like golden stars of beautiful colors, falling from heaven.
The king was skilful in manufacturing fireworks, and
he instructed Habhebha to display them. It was diffi-
cult to obtain powder before, but the king showed how
it could be manufactured, and so it became easily
procurable. He gave his instructions to Habhebha in
the Pārasī (Persian) language, in the form of questions
and answers, and many others began to write books
after this example. Where can now be found one like
king Jaina in the greatness of intellect or in the art of in-
vention, in fondness for song and music, or in capacity for
rhetorical discussion, in writing books, in listening to holy
shāstras, or in composing new works?
Sujya, the pupil of Abdolkādara, was possessed of all
accomplishments and he pleased the heart of the king by
his proficiency in music. One Mallājālaka came from Khu-
rāsāna and received inestimable favours from the king by
playing on a lute made of tortoise shell. Another named
Mallājjamāla, a singer in the mlechchha language,
pleased the king even as Nārada pleases Indra. I, who
am versed in all kinds of song, and who hold a lute
made of gourd, displayed my skill in exhibiting a part
of a new song of infinite variety; and Jāpharāna and
others sang with me the difficult Turushka metres

136 KINGS OF KASHMÍRA.
before the king. We sang songs in twelve different
modes, in the court, and as the sound arose from the
string, the voices accorded with it harmoniously, as if
in joy. Paṇḍita Utthasoma versed in vernacular and
Saṁskṛita literature, composed a life of Jaina in the
vernacular, and approached the king. Yodhabhaṭṭa,
a poet in the vernacular language, composed a drama,
pure like a mirror, called the Jainaprakāsha, in which
he gave an account of the king. Bhaṭṭāvatāra who had
perused the Shāhnāmā, vast as the sea, composed a
work named Jainavilāsa, as the counterpart of the
king’s “Instructions.” The king was pleased, and caused
the lute, the gourd instrument, the ravāva, and all
other instruments of music to be set with gold, silver,
and jewels, and they looked very handsome. When
the people saw the stage effulgent with decorations and
beheld the play distinguished by the excellence of sense,
gestures, and feelings, they called the stage a four faced
god. Thus it was that the king who was possessed of
the three cardinal virtues, whose fame was spread over
the three worlds, and who like the gods was subject only
to three stages of life [not to old age], spent the three
watches of the night in witnessing the three kinds of
dance.
The king repaired to a house bedecked with jas-
mine flowers, and full of merriment and laughter, even
as a full moon appears in the sky bedecked with stars;
and he began to drink from stainless vessels, attended

KINGS OF KASHMÍRA. 137
by his son and friends. The respectful Hājyakhāna
filled with the love of his father, as with amṛita, extolled
him thus, under the pretence of describing the spring.
"Like an expert actor, Spring the king of the seasons
teaches the humming black bee the art to sing, and
instructs the breeze the art to make the creepers dance.
O! king, who appreciates song, has the Spring come to
serve thee? The beauty of the stars is destroyed by
clouds covering the sky, and during the day they are invi-
sible; and even moon waxes and wanes. Humbled by
such mishaps, the stars have come to serve thee O! Lord
of men, in the shape of flowers in the garden. May the
flood which fills the country with mud, annoys the people
in the midst of their ease, and destroys roads, remain con-
fined to the basins of the lakes and beautify thy country.
The floods are disappearing through thy power at this
pleasant time of spring, this season of pleasure, even
like a city of snow at the rising of the sun." When
the king heard this he was glad, and gave Hājyakhāna
a matchless dagger of gold. The king bestowed lands
in the Ghosa country on those who served the prince.
These servants had once been repremanded, but now
they received silken clothes the emblem of favour, even
as men who falling into the waves of the Sindhu are
ferried across in a boat. The king shed tears of joy
for having got back his son; and showered gold on the
learned, the singers, and the servants. He paid the
travelling expenses of his subjects who came to witness

138 KINGS OF KASHMÍRA.
the performance, and they were made happy by being
honored and clothed in silk. King Jaina saw the houses
and gardens, beheld his boat filled with flowers, and
after praising the inhabitants of Maḍavarājya, reached his
own capital.
Here ends the fourth chapter entitled the account
of the festivity of flowers, of Jainarājatarangiṇī.
CHAPTER V.
The king had his son by him and was at ease, and
being disposed to do good work, engaged himself in
excavating new canals and consecrating them. I have
not described those works of which the poet Shrī Jonarāja
has written in his book through fear of enlarging my
work. Surely there is but one city about the construc-
tion of which nothing is known. That city is Amarāvatī,
but the gods live not there, but wander about in aerial
chariots. This king has built hundreds of new cities
where the Brāhmaṇas live with dignity, and are like
Indra on earth. In Shrī Jainanagara, a new lofty
palace was built in the year 15 on the Devagaha [hill ?];
the king built a new palace near it of bricks and wood,
in the year 40 ; and the top of the palace was adorned by
a bright and beauteous golden dome, like a lotus thrown
down by the renowned Indra. Men were employed at the
gate of the palace, serving in various ways according to the

KINGS OF KASHMÍRA. 139
directions of the king. The king left his capital and lived
here till the end of his life. The swans in the lakes of this
place drew near the singers as they sang, attracted by
the sweetness of their voice, and seemed to praise their
song by their twitter. It was here that the king, now
that his foes had been quelled, enjoyed, like Indra, the
pleasant songs of the singers all day long. Within his
palace was the audience hall adorned with the three
cornered throne, and wide spacious walls lined with
glass ; and here were many columns of victory in the
palace, and here the breezes blew pleasantly in the
morning.
Once when he had gone to visit the fort of Lohara,
he repaired a dilapidated palace and made it new. He
built many villages shaded by trees, along the margin
of the Mahāpadma lake, from Samudrakoṭa to Shrī
Dvārakā, and marked with the name of Jaina, and
there were many houses, beautiful like the palace of
Indra. At Tripureshvara, the king fed the beggars
with rice, until their stomachs were full, and it was
thus that the king who was abstemious became like
Gaṇesha. At Varāhakshetra, the king held his feast of
rice, and the head of Ananta was bent with the weight
of rice, and Indra's head was also bent down in shame.
At the confluence of the Vitastā and the Sindhu, he
daily fed small fishes with rice, and afforded them protec-
tion. It was at the request of the mendicants whom
he fed that the king planted trees at Shrī Shaṅkarapura

140 KINGS OF KASHMÍRA.
which gave shade but bore no fruits. At Āshramā, the
king held the feast of rice, until flavour of the curries
overcame the scent of the saffron. The inhabitants
of Vijayeshvara were continuously fed with rice, and
they became full, until it became difficult for them to
bow to the king. After the king had fed the people
with rice, he loaded the wayfarers with food at the toll
bar on the road to Sūrapura. There was no man in
Kashmīra who was not fed with the king's rice, be he
learned or dunce, wicked or good, a Yavana or a twice-
born. Mahādeva, Nārāyaṇa, Brahmā, Jahnumuni, and
Bhagīratha of the solar line, had laboured before,
and by their united efforts, the Ganges descended in
earth, and their selfish object was fulfilled. But this
king, guided by his own intelligence, excavated many
rivers (canals) in the country, for the benefit of others,
and led them by diverse courses. Everywhere were seen
houses high as hills, and full of rice lately grown on
extensive fields. These granaries were indeed like the
breasts of the earth from which the people derived their
nourishment and throve day by day. Like Samuyya, the
king grew crops in places where lands could be obtained
with difficulty, or where they seldom yielded crops before
on account of calamities. There was not a piece of
land, not a lawn, not a region, and not a forest where the
king did not excavate a canal, and where he did not
build houses marked with his name. There was not a
river, not a field, not a village, not a town, not a piece of

land which the king did not mark with the name of
Jaina. Wherever the ground was low, the king caused
a tank to be formed by means of canals, and it was
adorned with birds, lotuses, and water-nuts. Praise
is due to cloud which benefits the earth with water
which it lifts from the sea where the water lies useless,
and showers it upon fields ; such showers make the
grains grow, and men, whose wealth is grain, are made
happy.
In this country there is an unfathomable lake known
as the Ḍala, a brief account of which will be given.
There the large lake of Sūreshvarī [another name of
Ḍala] extends to the capital; and the king went over
it every day in a boat, even as the moon travels over
the clear sky. The king's boat adorned with fluttering
banner, floated on the water like a young bird, with its
oars which were like wings, and was manned by crew
who understood the weather. The river Tilaprasthā issu-
ing from Tripureshvara, joins the Saṭāṅkā at this place,
as if anxious to visit Laṅkā where the hill of Shrī,
extending over six kroshas, meets the river and bathes
in its water day and night, as if wishing to obtain
the merit of bathing in a shrine. There reflected in
the water, trees look like mosses, hills like tortoises,
and towns seem like the realms of the Nāgas. There
the waving shāli crop stands on the ground, and
bends down as if to smell the perfume of the lotus.
There Laṅkā is situated, and the sun courses north and

142 KINGS OF KASHMÍRA.
south to view this town and the other Lankā in the
south. On the side of this lake stands the shrine of
Sūreshvarī, adorned with many holy spots, affording both
enjoyment and salvation, and outshining Vārāṇasī. The
king made this place seem like heaven by adorning it
with Vihāras, and villages given to Brāhmaṇas, with
monasteries which help in the performance of pious
acts, and with hermitages where the inmates have not
to labour. There the people saw from a distance well
nourished and agreeable siddhas with long four stringed
beads in their hands. The palace of the king was named
Siddhapuri, and was constructed like rows of chariots
of the siddhas, so as to be true to its name. Within
the palace, the king repaired the delapidated temples
by props, or rebuilt them. He made floating islands
fruitful by depositing grass and earth on them. When
the hermits of the Shrī Jaina monastery celebrated the
worship of vessels, the king forgot his high rank and
helped them in their worship. There the moon was
reflected in the Yogichakra in the middle tank, as if
he came there to drink its sweet water. The king fed
thousands of hermits, until they closed their eyes in
peace and joy and perfect repose. The renowned queen
Shrī gratified the people there with food and feasted them.
The rice prepared and heaped for the feast looked like a
white elephant or the white colud of autumn which is mis-
taken for talc. There was heard the sound of horn and
hunting, mixed with the cries of the cranes, and the sound

KINGS OF KASHMÍRA. 143
indicated the death of the forest deer, like the destruction
of sins. The king rejoiced to see the sinless hermits
feasting on savoury cakes until they were satiated; and
the curd which they quaffed with their busy fingers was
strewn on their seats, and looked like the crescent of
the moon melted by the power of their Yoga.
The river Mārī flowed from this place into the Vitastā,
and was used by the citizens for the purposes of drinking
and bathing; and the king joined it at Hastikarṇa with
Shāli canal which was extended to the confluence of the
Vitastā and the Sindhu. This junction of the Mārī with
the Vitastā is known in the city as the Mārī confluence;
and is used for the cremation of the dead, and it is the
way to heaven. Previously, the owners of the land,
the servants of the king, and the Pañchavārikas used
to levy a rate at this place every day from the citizens
for the cremation of the dead. When my father died,
I informed the king of the tax, and the king punished
the Kirātas and abolished the rate on the cremation
of the dead. From that time the common people on
their death are cremated on that spot, to the grief of
the mlechchhas who are averse to witness cremation.
'The bhūrjja makers [who burn the dead] danced with
their umbrellas, and played on musical instruments on
this exemption from the tax. Here, according to the
custom of distant countries, females immolated them-
selves in the pyres of their beloved; and were not
forbidden by the king.

144 KINGS OF KASHMÍRA.
It was for the benefit of the poor of the city that
the virtuous king built an extensive Vihāra on the bank
of the river, near the Mārī confluence. This Vihāra,
and the one on the opposite side of the river at Hājya
were like the centre jewels amidst the jewel-like houses
of the two cities. The king was then at peace with
others, and he built other buildings. [A line appears
to be wanting here in the text].
When Shrīharsha became king in the realm of poetry,
every one became a poet. What more need be said ?
Even women, cooks, and porters were poets ; and the
books composed by them exist to this day in every
house. If the king be a sea of learning, and partial to
merit, the people too become so. The meritorious king,
for the purpose of earning merit, built extensive lodging
houses for students, and the voice of the students
studying logic and grammar arose from these houses.
The king helped the students by providing teachers,
books, houses, food and money ; and he extended
the limits of learning in all its branches. He was
a shelter for all, and belied the saying of Munis that
learning and pleasure, like light and darkness, cannot
exist together. He made the country happy by his
good government, favoured learning, and desired to
promote the prosperity of the country as of his own
son. He esteemed learned men, and valued them for
their merits above all the various productions of his
country. Even the families, which never dreamt of

KINGS OF KASHMÍRA. 145
learning, produced men, who through the favour of
the king, became known for their erudition. Learning,
like the kalpa plant, shot into many branches, thrived
by means of scholarships, and bore heavenly fruits.
There was not a branch of learning or arts or literature
or fine arts which did not become celebrated in the
world during the reign of king Shri Jaina. Feudatory
kings saw that the king befriended merit and respected
learning, and they diligently applied themselves to it.
The heat of the earth consumes much of the grass
and shrubs in the summer season, but the pleasant
rainy season revives them. Thus in times past, king
Shekandhara had, through the influence of the Yavanas,
burnt all books of learning, even as fire burns grass.
At that time all learned men had fled precipitately
to distant countries, owing to the oppression of the
Mausulas, taking their books with them. What more
need be said ? There were the Brāhmaṇas in the
country, but all their excellent books were known only
in name, as lotuses are at the advent of winter. But
the king who now graces the land and is dear to
the learned, restored the books, even as the spring
revives the black bees. He caused the Purāṇas, books
on logic, the Mīmāṁsā, and other books to be brought
from distant lands, and distributed them to the learned.
The king heard me recite the Vāshishṭa Brahmadarshaṇa
composed by Vālmīki which is known as the way to
salvation ; and when he heard the annotations pervaded
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