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

186 KINGS OF KASHMÍRA.
sorrow in secret. Thieves, immoral men, and the ene-
mies and oppressive servants of the king were like
jackals in the kingdom, they wandered about during
day time in fear.
After the death of king Shri Jaina the king's officers
again harassed the people, even like serpents deprived
of their head jewel. Even the full moon, which illumines
all sides and becomes worthy of the enjoyment of the
gods, has its stain, and the king likewise had one stain
in his character. The courtiers of the king combined
among themselves, and urged by the fear that the king
would kill all of them when he would hear of their faults,
they plotted to bring in a stranger. A barber by the
name of Riktetara* became the favourite of the king.;
he advised wicked deeds, was full of vices, and accepted
unfair bribes. Men addicted to enjoyments cannot
leave off evil habits, and thus the present sovereign,
though daily reproached by the late king, could not
cast off this barber who had become his favourite. This
wily barber, who had accumulated riches through the
toil of the people and who was skilled in devices for ac-
complishing his purpose, now became widely known by
his gifts of money. The cunning man kept concealed by
the sweetness of his tongue the hardness of his heart
which led him to oppress the people. Having thus attained
to power he wickedly harassed the subjects who had been

• This man is subsequently called Pūrna.

KINGS OF KASHMÍRA. 187
protected by the king, as if they had been his sons. The
wise and renowned Bherabhokhāra, who was devoid of
all angry feelings, became the minister of the king,
and through the king's favour Machuryyā was made the
accountant, but the latter appropriated money which
belonged to the king, from all the offices.
The cloud which produces water and is the delight
of the pea-fowl, which causes a plentiful crop to grow in
cultivated fields and drives away heat, also afflicts the
people by discharging the thunder-bolt. The king re-
mained in a state of insensibility through wine, and
instigated by wicked ministers, did unwise acts, and caused
the misfortune of the subjects. He wished to build an
edifice by the side of Shekandharapurī, and ordered the
lofty trees in the Amṛita park to be cut down. The bees
saw the trees with the flowers cut down and left them,
and raised a hum as if in lamentation. The people did
not sympathise with the king's attempt to build the
edifice ; it was like the desire to light a lamp under
the sun. He was surely drunk when he did this. We
say this because he did many things that were harmful
to him. The barber obtained the orders of the king,
when he was drunk, and mutilated many men. The
relentless and sinful barber cut off the Ṭhakkuras and
courtiers of the king's father by the saw. Five or six
persons were going to their elder brother for the purpose
of performing the rites of svāvana, but the barber arres-
ted them in the way, impaled them, and thus caused

188 KINGS OF KASHMÍRA.
them to be killed. They lived for a few nights, their
sufferings were narrated by their relatives, and they were
seen by the citizens fixed to the pales with tears in their
eyes. The barber knew Vaidūryya the physician to be a
calumniator, and a partisan of the enemy, and he releas-
ed the physician from arrest after cutting off his arms,
his nose, and his lips. Similarly, Nonadeva, Shikhajāla,
and others, five or six persons in all, had their tongues,
noses, and a hand cut off. By such outrageous acts as
mutilation and impaling, the barber Pūrṇa became
the butcher of men. Jayya the son of an āchāryya, as
also a Brāhmaṇa named Bhīma were maimed, and they
struggled and threw themselves into the Vitastā.
In this reign, owing to the prevalence of drunkenness,
wine came to be prepared from molasses as from grapes,
and this wine became as common here as the wine
prepared from sugar is in other countries. When the king
became addicted to wine and averse to all other kinds
of enjoyments, molasses and candies and other things
prepared from the juice of sugar-cane became scarce.
Mallāḍaudaka was a great master of music, and his
pupil Khujyābdolkāḍira taught the king to pay on the
lute. He acquired proficiency in the music of the
lute and other instruments from us and he spent all his
life to the music of the lute, without a moment's intermis-
sion. The king understood the art of playing on the lute
and was well skilled in it, so that he gave lessons even
to the professors. Vahlala and others played on the

KINGS OF KASHMÍRA. 189
ravāva, and what did they not earn thereby through the
favour of the king who showered gold on them. Every
man was afraid of the king who was always under the in-
fluence of the wicked even when he was in his private
apartments or among his women, and the wicked were
like demons well skilled in dissimulation.
Once upon a time the ministers sent the barber Pūrṇa
to the king, and when the king was alone, the barber
asked him what he intended to do with the former
ministers. "These your father's ministers" he said "des-
troyed your party, and yet you have made them power-
ful now that you have obtained the kingdom. These
men, Hassana the treasurer and others, are loved by
your youngest brother, and cunning as he is, he is trying
to win them over by his wiles. Your body is frail and
you always confide in your brother, so that it will not
be long before the destruction of yourself, your sons, and
your servants is effected." When the king heard this he
said :— "It is true that my youngest brother dislikes my
son, but I will tell you the reason why nevertheless I
give protection to this wily man. My youngest brother is
violent in temper, and my eldest, who is active in his pre-
parations to usurp my place, is cunning, I intend to quell
my eldest brother by means of my youngest, even as a
thorn is extracted by a thorn. It is for the sake of this ser-
vice that I am giving him shelter, not out of respect for
him." When the barber heard this he made two or three
great men acquainted with the intention of the king.

190 KINGS OF KASHMÍRA.
In the meantime the king's haughty elder brother
arrived at Parṇotsa with his army from the Madra
country, with the intention of usurping his brother's
kingdom. When the king heard of this, he became
angry; he caused his father's officers to be brought
before him and asked them what should be done. They
replied :— "Your elder brother has come, but we will go
and cut the bridge over the narrow river, otherwise
should he arrive here he would be irresistible. O master !
order us so to do." When the king heard their request;
he misunderstood their motive, and suspected that they
were deserting him to go over to the side of his brother ;
and he replied "so will it be."
The king then left them, and at night called before
him his ministers Phiryyadāra and others, who had be-
come cruel in the prosecution of their work. They in-
formed the king that it was owing to the conspiracy
of Hassana the treasurer that his elder brother had
come, and that if Hassana were destroyed his brother
would retire, otherwise he would enter the capital.
They advised that Hassana should be brought by some
artifice, and killed in the morning. Accordingly the
king concealed his anger and gave orders to his ser-
vants. On the morning Hassana the treasurer and
others, being summoned by the king, left their at-
tendants behind and come out of their homes. The
affrighted horse, as if it knew the purpose of the summons,
remained motionless and began to tremble, and it was

KINGS OF KASHMÍRA. 191.
after much urging that, with tears in its eyes, it came to
the yard of the palace. Hassana the treasurer, Mera-
kāka, and others, five or six in all, then seated themselves
on a valuable carpet, and were anxious to learn what
the work of the king was which had to be performed,
As ordered by the king, Jaṁsara and other servants
first won the confidence of the party by dissimulation,
and then killed them within the room in the palace.
The treasurer rose and exclaimed against the treachery,
but with one stroke of a hatchet he was deprived of his
life. Struck by the weapon, and on the point of death,
Merakāka blessed the king and then expired. Ahma-
damera, a man of merit, a lover of learning, and the
delight of the people, was murdered while engaged in
writing, and every one was grieved for him. While
alive these men had lived united, and when cut off by
the hatchet, their blood mingled. Just before their death
they had been seated on a colored blanket, and when
dead, they were seen on it as if in sleep. The death
by the hatchet which they met, all in a moment, inside
the palace, was such as is unattainable by others, and
it was a glory to them. Thus were they killed, and at
their last moment neither riches, nor wife, nor servants,
nor tombs were of use to them.
The fear of the king was more distressing than the
fear of death ; the people were chastised or imprisoned
for debts, and the friends of a debtor deserted him
through fear lest the debt might devolve on them.

192 KINGS OF KASHMÍRA.
Even one’s own wife deserts a man on such an occasion
not to speak of servants. It was more dangerous to
serve the king than to embrace fire, or to go before an
angry cobra, or to fall into the ocean. The Chaṇḍālas
at night took the bodies as of men who had no friends,
and buried them in a hole in the ground at the foot of
the Pradyumna hill, and covered the place with bricks.
The Mausulas always take care about the structures over
their graves and pay money to the architects. They do
not think that no one can know, except God, when or
how one may die. He alone is fit to build a tomb who
knows the period of his life, and to whom Death is obe-
dient as a friend. This practice of building tombs among
the mlechchhas is but a foolish one. This is my view.
Vaishravaṇabhaṭṭa and others had built their tombs, but
when in the end they died in a village, they were laid
there on the ground. An ordinary man carefully en-
closes a hundred cubits of land and prevents others from
entering it ; should he not be ashamed of this ? It is said
in the [Mahomedan] shāstra that if a small stone be
laid on the grave that stone becomes a source of joy to
the man who has gone to the other world. Alas ! the
strength of cupidity ! Even the dead, like the living,
keep possession of the ground under the pretence of
having a tomb ! Great men seem to enjoy their life in
taking pains over building tombs, but how many men
there are who go hungry ! Admirable is the practice
enjoined by the other [Hindu] shāstra, for tens of mil-

lions of dead are burnt on one cubit of land and the
land remains the same in extent. All these unworthy
censures have been passed in the course of this narration,
and they should be pardoned by the Mausulas, for the
words of the poet are not under his control.
Those who acquire wealth, even if as great as of a king,
by oppression, and do not spend any portion of it in
charity or in enjoyment, they by their sinfulness earn
misery which is the fruit of sin. All objects belonging to
such men depart from their houses and become the pro-
perty of the king, and their indigent relatives do not get
even a shell. The treasurer had amassed vessels of silver
filled with gold, and when the king saw them he spat on
the ground exclaiming, "Fie to the miser!" Every thing
which Vahmarāga and other partisans of the treasurer
had hoarded, was taken away, and with the exception of
Saida Hossana, they were all thrown into prison.
Others received the punishment of death from the king,
for the guilt of their father, even as the Kṣhatriyas did
of old from Parashurāma. The king remembered the
injury he had formerly received from the worthy and
able councillors of his father and got himself rid of
them. He remembered too the affection which Habhe-
bha and his five or six friends had borne towards him
and towards his father, as well as their services rendered
to him, and he maintained them in great dignity.
When Ādamakhāna at Pārgotsa heard the news of
the death of the treasurer, a message that bore the true
27

194 KINGS OF KASHMÍRA.
import of his name,* he was struck with fright, and re-
turned in the same manner as he had come. Bahrāma-
khāna was also very much alarmed at the death of the
treasurer, but on coming home he received assurance
from the king who understood business. In the mean-
time the fine army under Māņikyadeva was destroyed in
a battle with the Turushkas, in the Madra country. In
this battle Ādamakhāna had went out to fight, with his
maternal uncle, and he was killed, his face being pierced
by an arrow. Some said that he was there killed by
men of his own party who were afraid of him ; while
others said that he died of a wound in a vital part by
a lance. When the king heard of his death from the
messengers he was very much grieved, and caused his
body to be brought from Madra country and placed
before his mother. Though he was the eldest of the
brothers and a hero, and though he had an army under
him, and possessed wealth and the part of the country
where he was born, yet he did not, in spite of endeavours,
obtain the kingdom which was his due. An object
wished for is not attained unless it is so decreed by
destiny; or was it in him that his father's curse came
to be realized? For though he returned to his own
country he died in a foreign land.
Signs of great calamities and of alarm appeared in
*Admi khun ?

KINGS OF KASHMÍRA. 195
the sky, in the air, and on the earth, each striving to
come foremost. First, when the king went to Maḍa-
varājya, to indulge in the festivity of flowers, there
occurred a great earthquake. The buildings, as if
perceiving the misery of their builders, began to tremble
like men. Then there appeared a comet, a sign of
calamity, extending over the sky with its tail towards
the east. It was first seen by Vahrāmakhāna. Its tail
was like the bearded lance of death, and its wide ex-
tending form was seen even in the day time, towards
the west. A mare in the king’s stable gave birth to
twins, and the king, in order to remove the animal from
the country, gave it away to the Yavanas. Lions and
other animals of the forest wandered about during the
day in Shrīnagara town, and a bitch gave birth to kittens.
The Sadānandi tree, which had been barren, bore
fruits, and flowers grew on the roots of pomegranate
trees near the palace. A rain of blood fell on the
clothes that were in the garden, and when men saw
this, they felt as if salt had been sprinkled on a wound.
In the meantime the Hindus, excited to anger by Pūrṇa
the barber, were guilty of severities on Saidakhāna
Āgāha and others who were residing in the town. When
the Yavanas heard of this, they became angry, and
went to the king and lamented aloud, and the king
ordered a persecution of the Brāhmaṇas. In his fury
the king cut off the arms and noses of Ajara, Amara,
Buddha, and others, and even of those Brāhmaṇas who

196 KINGS OF KASHMÍRA.

were his servants. During this time of the pillage of the
property of the Brāhmaṇas, they gave up their caste and
their dress and exclaimed, "I am not a Bhaṭṭa, I am not a
Bhaṭṭa." There were in the city many rich and principal
gods, and the king ordered the plunder of their images at
the instigation of the mlechchhas. King Jaina had
given them lands after he was satisfied as to their excel-
lence, but the officers of the present king robbed them
of their estates without any reason. The month of
Samāhisaphara is celebrated in the religion of the mlech-
chhas, that month now came for the destruction of
religion ; to whom did it not appear terrific ? When
the king was seen in an intoxicated state day after day,
when the ministers became subservient to the king, and
the king’s friends took bribes, were fickle minded, and
oppressed the weak, then the people thought of the
many virtues of king Shrī Jaina. All the old men in
the country, who had held high posts for a long time,
were now in danger, as the king had ordered them to be
disgraced, and they gave vent to their grief in cries and
lamentations. The curse pronounced for the sins of
men, as described in the Persian poem, was verified in
the country of king Shrī Jaina. Wicked men had wished
for the death of the wise old king ; expecting to
obtain money from the son ; but even these servants
who were dissemblers and had so long lived in joy
now came to be greatly oppressed, as if through the
curse of the late king ; and they lamented with tears

KINGS OF KASHMÍRA. 197
in their eyes and with loud cries, saying, "why has Fate
destroyed our protector the old king?" 'This short
reign became intolerable and appeared long, even as an
evil dream that is dreamt in a summer night. The
king's servants felt happy in amassing wealth by plunder,
in purloining household articles, and in oppressing the
people, even as owls are happy in darkness. The king
lay drunk with wine, and did not perform his duties
towards his subjects, but spent his time rolling on his
bed within the palace. He listened day and night to
songs sung by a potter, and did not give audience even
to men of merit who were worthy of a king. 'The
beautiful palace in Lakshmīpura,* which was completed
in the reign of Shāhābhadena, was burnt down by fire.
The great row of buildings in the neighbourhood of
Balāḍhya maṭha was also consumed together with the
wealth of many citizens. When men saw the destruction
of houses and witnessed other calamities in the country,
they said that the disasters would cease only with the
death of the king. The king ascended the palace and
saw his own five chambered house in flames ; he felt
happy and sank into the pleasures of drink.
In the meantime Neyadhīshaṇa sent the king's
son on an expedition into foreign countries. At the
sight of the army the kings of the foreign countries

• This perhaps refers to the city of Shrinagara.

198 KINGS OF KASHMÍRA.

disappeared, even as stars fade away in the day when
they see the rays of the sun. First, Jayasiṃha, king of
Rājapurī, gave handsome presents to the prince, and
his sister pleased (married) the prince. When the prince
approached the river Kālidhārā, which looked like the
blade of his sword, every one there trembled in his
house out of fear of him. The troops, the dispellers of
fear, that were at Dinnārakoṭa came to that river and
made offerings to it, even as offerings are made to the
goddess Maṅgalā enshrined on a high ground. The kings
of Madra, Gakkhra, and Chittā came to him with atten-
dants dressed in shinning white, even as swans come to a
clear lake. Even his maternal uncles the Suhlaṇas brought
presents ; they were assiduous in their duties towards
the sovereign, and behaved like cranes. The Māhilas,
when they saw the destruction of Kaumāra town, lost
their firmness, though still possessing an army, even
as women lose their composure at sight of the man
on whom they have bestowed their favours. As the
prince's army crossed the river Kālidhārā in a line
and proceeded to Jyalamī, it looked like the bridge
which Rāma had built over the sea. The army, still
unwearied, then arrived at Kuṭipāṭīshvarī, and looked
as if issuing out of the navel of Nārāyaṇa. The houses
in the city of Bhogapāla, which had long been peopled
by the Madras, were burnt and the hearts of the men
were afflicted. The prince's army, with its prancing
horses, reached the Unnāḍa lake, and arrived at the

KINGS OF KAṢHMÍRA. 199
foot of the Vālyeshvara hill. The gallant army with
its prancing horses, seemed to shake the roads on which
they passed. As the army marched, the ground became
shorn of grass, the pools were drained of water, and the
forests bereft of wood. At this time I was honored
by the king and was sent to the prince. I explained
the Vṛihatkathā to him and became his reader. The
prince who had reduced kings to the state of tributary
chiefs had stayed for six months out of the country, but
at the end of Chaitra became anxious to return to
Kashmīra.
In the meantime Vahrāmakhāna, who knew that the
king was addicted to vices, attacked the ministers and
the leaders of the army and moved unchecked and un-
opposed. The king's constitution became weak by
constant drinking, his strength and beauty faded, and
he was attacked with gout and the spitting of blood. The
king received Hassanakhāna who had arrived, and as
the full moon dries up the lotuses, so did he reduce
the ministers. But instigated by the wicked, the king
became angry with his son because he had not brought
Rāja the Gakhvara bound. When Vahrāmakhāna heard
of the coming of the prince, whose arrival he had as
little expected as the coming of the eastern hill to the
west, his exertions became lax. The king did not show
his affection towards his son even when he had attained
greatness ; the intellect of those whose end is nigh
departs from them as if in fear. Entreated by the

200 KINGS OF KASHMÍRA.
ministers and the leaders of the army, the king merely
gave an audience to the prince who had returned from
the expedition. Surely the king was then afraid of
his youngest brother, or why should he make only
gifts of robes to his son? Surely he thought that
Vahrāma would oppose his son, and like the Shami
tree, he kept the fire of his resentment hid within him-
self.
Meanwhile, as if urged by death, the king, with his
servants, ascended the top of the palace in order to in-
dulge in drink ; and there within the apartment named
pushkara, in the glass room, the king fell down while
running about in sport, and bled from his nose. The
servants stretched their arms and carried him to the
bed room of the apartment, but he fainted away and
lay on his bed, and was like a mirror that did not reflect
any image on it. The trusted physicians of the king
were neglected, and a certain yogi tried on the king
his medicine which was strong on account of its poison,
and caused him pain. The king's body became exces-
sively heated, through the administration of the medi-
cine, and day and night he longed for death, nor wished
to live for a moment. The prince accompanied by the
minister Ahmada remained for three days within the
palace near his father. When the prince learnt that the
nobles had come to see his dying father, he placed
soldiers at the gate in order to prevent their going out.
The king's youngest brother was agitated both by fear and

delight, and remained in his own house but sent his
spies around, even as the sun sends out his powerful rays.
Royal Fortune now favoured both the uncle and the
nephew, as if in doubt which of them to select. At
this time the minister Ahmada held a consultation
with the other ministers, and went to Bahrāmakhāna,
and spoke to him these words of reason :—"To-day
your brother king Haidharashāha,- whose name is
auspicious, having wished you a long life, has come
to the end of his career. Now you are the
eldest of the family, do you therefore ascend
the throne, and give Hassanakhāna the post of the heir-
apparent. This city was protected by your father with
great care, and to-day this alarmed town should be pro-
tected by you, even like a chaste woman of good family.
What more need I say ? Let the plunderers of the city,
who are like greedy crows, turn back as they came,
with their dark features and their cries of evil. When
Bahrāmakhāna heard these words he replied in lan-
guage harsh on account of his anger. "Did I, in
disregard of my self-interest and of the future world,
separate myself from my father, mild and bounteous as
the kalpa tree, and did I oppose Ādamakhāna by
various devices, in order to serve this brother who was
never himself ? Who does not know how I obtained
the kingdom for him ? Who is my brother's son to-day,
and what is his worth ? Who beside me is worthy of
my father's kingdom ? He is younger, I am older in age

202 KINGS OF KASHMÍRA.
and better in qualifications. Where is the place now for
conciliation in this world which the powerful is always
destined to enjoy ?" When he had said these unworthy
words, they left him. Bahrāmakhāna did not after this
expect to get the services of those with whom he used
to consult before, and to co-operate in the administration
of the country, and he therefore fell into despair. * *

• • When destruction is nigh men's intellect wanders
    the wrong way, even as the water in a tank does when
    the embankment gives way. If he had wisely dis-
    tinguished reasonable advice from unreasonable, if he
    had gone out and secured the horses which belonged
    to him, if he had killed his confiding nephew, and had
    taken possession of the treasury in his father's palace,
    or if he had gone out of the country and then return-
    ing to Kramarājya, had leisurely attacked the kingdom,
    then he would not have sustained the loss which ensued
    on account of his vacilation and the unreasonable
    advice of his childish and foolish servants. He might
    have secured every thing in good time; but owing to
    inexperience, alas ! what did he not lose ?
    Now the minister Ahmadamalla thought to himself
    that no one possessing intelligence should hold the
    kingdom from him for any length of time. He would
    rather give the kingdom to the ignorant son of the king
    *Blanks in the text are thus indicated by asterisks.

KINGS OF KASHMÍRA. 203
and be at ease. Accordingly he applied to a powerful
favourite of the king, and held a council with other
ministers, and he proposed to bestow the kingdom on
the king's son. Abhimanyu the Pratīhāra, in his pride,
proposed to attack Vahrāma, and determined to march
out with his troops. When Bahrāmakhāna heard of
this, he immediately joined his son, but being without
support, he went out of the city. He alone, who is
ambitious, can dive into the sea and can fearlessly quell
the monsters of the sea, in order to find invaluable gems
and pearls and corals. Bahrāinakhāna, who had his son
with him, heard strange accounts of his brother's son ; his
army was greatly alarmed, and he went by the road leading
to Dhvāra. The same circumstance under which he had
caused Ādamakhāna to flee from the city, now befell him
at night. Sin does not take long to bring forth its fruit.
On the fifth day of the bright moon, in the month
of Vaishākha, in the year 48, the king went to
heaven ; having reigned for one year and ten months.
Some said that a sprite had taken its abode in the
room adorned with pillars and high poles, and enraged
by the wicked actions of the king, tore him to pieces.
Others said that the yogi administered a strong
medicine with an unskilful hand, and the king lost
his appetite and died. Others again said that his
wicked brother urged the physicians to adopt a bad
treatment in order to remove the king, as the king's son
was not then attending on his father. Some said that the

204 KINGS OF KASHMIRA.
king died because he had killed the chiefs of Sauṭāla
and other places after swearing good faith towards them
on the veda of the Mausulas, and inspired their confi-
dence, and also because he had killed those minis-
ters of his father who had placed the mark of
royalty on his forehead at his coronation. Surely
within a short time he melted away like a mass
of snow in the heat, on account of the curse of his
father and because of his many crimes. The prince
believed that there was no enemy within the city, and
entertaining no apprehensions, he carried his father's
body on a litter to the grave-yard. There he took out
the corpse from the coffin, and covered it with a single
piece of cloth, and placed it within the womb of the
earth at the feet of the deceased's father. All the people
considered the body as a handful of dust, looked at its
face, and threw a handful of dust on it. When the
hollow of the grave was filled, they placed over it a
stone of moderate height ; and it seemed to proclaim
to all men that the late king had a heart of stone in his
battles. His servants remembered the favours they had
received from their master, and they smote their breast,
and gave vent to loud lamentations, and wept. His
servants who had received favours from him thought
his short reign to be happy and glorious, as if they had
obtained the heaven in dream. The king had com-
posed a book of songs in the Persian language and in
the dialect of Hindusthāna, and who does not praise

KINGS OF KASHMÍRA. 205
him for it ? The king used to keep up nights in listening
to the Purāṇas, the Dharmashāstras, and the Saṃhitas
which lead to salvation.
Owls and other birds are anxious for the approach
of the night, and work mischief in the houses of men.
They hate the rising sun, and live in caverns or wander
in the woods in sorrow when the sun rises in glory.
The wise but sorrowful prince knew that Mereptakāra
and others who were living in the city were wicked
men, and he threw them into prison the next day. He
performed expensive ceremonies for his deceased father,
and in sixteen days made preparations for assuming
the government of the kingdom. Owls and other birds
that bring harm to people, and fly about at night
without difficulty, frequent the sky as long as the power-
ful sun does not rise and illumine all sides by its bright
rays.
Here ends the second book named the account of
the reign of Hājyahaidarashāha of Jainarājatarangiṇī
composed by paṇḍita Shrīvara.
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