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

270 KINGS OF KASHMÍRA.
accomplished; with this wicked request she led him
inside the house. Mera Hassana had dreamt a dream
in which he was warned by his father that he would
meet with a mishap on Sunday, and he was told
not go to the palace. But bewildered by Fate he went
there. At the same time Saida Hasana came in from
his own house, and told him that his legs would be
cut off on account of his rebellion, so that he might
not run away. As soon as he had said so, Mera
Hassana's legs were cut at the joint, and he fell from his
horse on the ground. And it seemed, by the dust that
was raised by the Saida horsemen, as if he sighed in
sorrow anticipating that the Saidas would not walk in
the street again.
Now Jonarājanaka falsely informed the Madras that
a letter had arrived that day from Tattārakhāna which
would cause them harm; that the Saidas who had spread
over the kingdom, but who were afraid of the surviving
Madras, had, agreeably to that letter, come to some
determination, and that the Madras would be arrested
the next morning; they should therefore devise some
plan of safety. "We will first destroy them" thought
the Madras. They knew that all the Saidas had met
in a house named Amṛita, and they repaired thither.
Parashurāma and others entered the house armed,
directing Tājaka the gate keeper to keep the door safe.
Tājaka informed the servants of the Saidas that their
masters were engaged in council, and dismissed them

KINGS OF KASHMÍRA. 271
from the place. Tājaka then reported to the Saidas that
their servants were plundering articles of food, and on
this the Saidas sent away their armed attendants to stop
the plunder. At this juncture Jonarājānaka, accom-
panied by some servants of the king, came hastily
from another house by a different route, with the
purpose of killing the Saidas. His trusty door keeper
Tāja also mounted a horse which was before the house,
and went to another part of the house as desired by
Jonarājānaka, with the view to kill the Saidas. The
Saidas were in a room, divided into four compartments,
within the house, and when they saw the Madras they be-
came alarmed. Simhadvija saw them approach and angrily
asked them why they did not go to their own country
when they were allowed to do so; and why they came
there into the room. "No passport has been received,"
they replied, "and why should we go away from you,
verily, we shall be revenged on you to-day." Parashu saw
that no one else was there, so he went forward under
the pretence of asking for travelling expenses, and in
his fury he first killed Simhabhaṭṭa. At the end of the
room, which was divided into four parts, Simha (lion)
fell like a jackal, besmeared with blood which issued
from his body. "What treachery is this? What
treachery is this?" cried the Saidas, and rose from
their seats in alarm. Then all the Madras combined
together and killed the Saidas with their swords. Saida
Hassana was beautiful and stout, he was leaving the room

272 KINGS OF KASHMÍRA.
with no other weapon than his fist, and he perished
at the door stunned with hundred wounds. When
Meya Hasana beheld him in that state, he immediately
ran away in fear, trying to climb over a wall, but his
two legs were cut off. Thus was Meya Hasana killed
by some of the Madras, and with Meya Hasana
perished also Gadayāmīna, Yāsīmamallala, and others,
with their sons and friends, thirty in number.
They raised the cry of 'hāla' 'hāla', but the Madras,
their hands wet with blood, were busy killing them,
and moved about like the servants of Death. As the
Saidas had slaughtered cows in their houses without
any compunction for the sin, even so the Madras now felt
no mercy in killing the Saidas. As the Saidas used
to mutilate deer and other animals, after the termination
of a chase, so they were similarly treated in that house by
the diminutive Madras. They who were accustomed to
lie on costly beds, now lay without any apparel, their
clothes being robbed by their enemies; and in their
helplessness they became the objects of the people's
gaze. Haibhatakhāna and certain other men drew
their daggers, hastily scaled the wall, took to their
horses and fled. The attendants of the Saidas did not
know who were being killed in the thick of the combat,
they forgot their pride in their alarm and fled, and
none of them drew his weapon in the yard of the house.
Called by the son of Malla Jāda, Meyā Mahammada
came from his house and immediately attacked the

KINGS OF KASHMÍRA. 273
king's house. The road keeper Norollāha came to him,
but he thought the man to be a rebel, and in his anger
he soon caused him to be killed on the king's highway.
When Meyā Mahammada saw the newly repaired palace
gates closed, and knew that the enemies were within,
he reluctantly caused them to be set on fire. The
gates thus fell a sacrifice to the fire, as if in grief
for the tumult, and for the death of their protector.
Volumes of smoke rose gracefully and reached the
white-washed building, and it seemed as if the goddess
of Royal Fortune sighed in grief, not knowing where the
wicked people were leading her. In the meantime, when
the armed rebels saw the fire, they issued out of the
house and came to the yard of the palace. The hero
Jonarājānaka came there in his anger, and a certain foot
soldier killed two or three in the yard with his sword.
Then all the Madras united themselves in a body, moun-
ted the king's horses, and reached the skirts of Mūlaka-
nāga, and there they held a cosultation. "We should re-
main here" they said "and fight the Saidas; there are only
a few of the enemies left, and they will not be able to
save themselves." When Jyalāla Ṭhakkura, well versed
ir. politics, heard this, he said to them :—"This is not the
place for fight, let us quickly go by this road and cross the
Vitastā, and then let us remain on the other side with
our followers. There we will devise plans so that the
Saidas may perish of themselves." They appproved of
his advice, and the brave people crossed the Vitastā by

274 KINGS OF KASH MÍRA.
the Juhilāmaṭha road. In the meantime Meyā Maham-
mada having obtained time, killed the doorkeepers,
the brothers Tāja and Pājaka in his anger. They were
pulled by the Chaṇḍālas from the yard of the palace
by a rope tied to the ankle joint, their limbs were bes-
meared with unholy wine, and they were devoured by
dogs. They were miserly from their birth, and had
collected wealth by obtaining bribes from villagers whom
they had oppressed. At the time of their death they
yielded up all their wealth. All that these avaricious
men had hoarded by oppressing villagers and robbing
others, all their fine silver and other metals came to the
king. People cannot recover from a miser the wealth
that once enters his house, like a sepent entering in a
hole, it can only be pulled out along with its life. One
hundred khārīs of rice with sugar cane were taken
away from the house of those who did not give even a
handful to beggars. Beggars had never received wheat
flour from them, enough to make a cake, but now when
their houses were robbed, the wheat flour which fell on
the road lay like snow.
In the meantime Ālikhāna came from his house
and arrived in an exalted state accompanied by soldiers,
and first of all he set fire to the houses in the neighbour-
hood of the Vālikā road in order to occupy it. At this
juncture Edarājānaka and others liberated the son of
Vahrāmakhāna from imprisonment, and he soon issued
through a by-lane. When the son of Vahrāmakhāna saw

the soldiers of the enemies before and the fire behind, he
was, like a young deer, unable either to advance or to stay.
Ālikhāna knew that the son of Vahrāmakhāna had been
released from prison by the enemies in order to do some
harm, and he therefore gave the prince an assurance
of safety, and then killed him, even as a lion kills a
deer. The Saidas blamed Ālikhāna and said that it
was by the advice of Pājabhaṭṭa that the queen had set
the prince free, in order to give him the kingdom. Others
said that the enemies had desired to relieve the prince
from bondage, but contrary to their intention, their
plan to do him good led to his ruin ; for who could out
strip the decrees of fate ? Instigated by Ālikhāna, the
wicked Mīra and others beat the prince until he became
unconscious, as the hunters do hares. When Pājabhaṭṭa
witnessed the calamity, the murder of the prince, he
became as one bewildered. He came in after the
prince, and was also killed, even as a Rākṣhasa is killed
by the people of his own party. The trees, as if in
sorrow at the sight of the murder of the prince, lamented
in the voice of the kokila, wondering why the prince, who
had never possessed anything in the kingdom, was killed.
The plants, moved by the wind, wept, as if in sorrow,
pleading against the murder of the prince who had just
been released after a long confinement. The trees,
moved by the wind, seemed to tremble at those
Turuṣhkas who had done the evil deed and committed
the heinous crime. The mother of the prince received

276 KINGS OF KASHMÍRA.
the dead body of her son who was aged twenty-four years,
and whom she had not seen for a long time ; she kept
the body for three days out of affection and then
performed the funeral rites. This widowed and chaste
mother of the prince, lady Sobāṇa, lived on barley meal,
and to the end of her life resided in the tomb of her
son. As if unable to bear the sight of the murder of
the prince and the massacre of the Saidas and of the
Dvijas, the sun departed to some other land, red in its
anger. The people saw the bodies of those great men
lie naked all around the palace, and none could give
them a piece of cloth to cover them. The frogs in the
tank croaked incessantly all night, as if they lamented
for the dead in their sorrow. Those handsome men
who had entered the palace, clad in fine garments,
causing darkness by the dust raised by their trotting
horses, were now sent out of it on two or three carts,
clad in torn clothes and bleeding. Thus in the year 60,
in the fourteenth day of the moon, in the month of
Vaishākha, ruin came upon the Saidas, and it was the
cause of future calamities. Surely Yama in the person
of Hasana appeared that year before the king's servants,
and from him these men received their death. Rather
let men be born in the house of a common man where
there are many afflictions, than in the house of a king.
Several common people sleep on one small piece of
coarse cloth, but two kings cannot find room in one
extensive kingdom.

KINGS OF KASHMÍRA. 277
Meyā Ālikhāna and others then heard that the rebels
who had raised the insurrection had crossed the river,
they became angry and followed them. Jyallāla Ṭhakkura
and others severed the bridge of boats, and with a view to
overcome their enemies, united themselves with the
Madras and the people of Kashmīra. The Saidas clad
in armour and supplied with the means of conveyance,
pitched their tents of cloth at Viṁshaprastha. They
had nothing but the capital in their possession, but hav-
ing made up their quarrel among themselves, they had
many horses, armours, and swords. Men who never
possessed a cowry before, now became possessed of gold
and silver, and moved .about finely dressed. They
showered riches on all sides so that even mechanics and
cart-men took up arms, and the inferior servants of the
king rode rare and fine horses from the king's stable.
The Saidas then joined Hassana, Rājānaka, and others,
and began to devise plans with a view to subdue the
people of Kashmīra. But having now got themselves
free from all obstacles they gave the management of
their work to their servants, Meyāmattanārācha and
others.
In the meantime the very intelligent Ṭhakkuras
and others who had crossed the river collected an
army at Jāladraga. When the people heard that the
Madras, mighty in their courage, were collecting an
army, they armed themselves and came to the town
from all parts of the kingdom. There was a commotion
24

278 KINGS OF KASHMÍRA.
in the city, and all the people in the city, in village, and
in town became excited and ran about with arms. The
people of Shamāla, Vaṁgila, and other places, and
those who were at Kramarājya, turned Sthāmārtha on
the banks of the Kṣhiptikā into a camp. Vaidūryya-
bhaṭṭa who was at Sthāma, arrayed himself for battle
together with Chakka, Vākka, and others of Darad, and
with the valiant warriors of that country. Pammarājānaka
and others had collected the people of Nīlāshva, and in
order to reach Sthāma near Dugdhāshrama, they
crossed over to the other side of the Sindhu. Heaps of
paddy were brought by boatmen from all places, and
with it the people of Kashmīra paid their expenses of
living abroad for want of money. They went by river
to two of their own towns but treated them as the
enemy's country: some houses they robbed and others
they burnt down. In these two towns, situated one on
each side of the river, five or seven men died
every day in camp by arrows discharged from bows. The
Khashas, the petty chiefs on the frontier, men who
had a few retainers, they who had no houses, and who
had nothing but their name, the Khānas, the strong, the
poor afflicted by their poverty, theives who had committed
theft, men released from imprisonment for life, the
enemies of the king, the wicked who behaved like dogs,
those whose possessions had been confiscated, those
who had ability, and such people were glad of this
commotion in the kingdom.

KINGS OF KASHMÍRA. 279
They who were on the left side of the river collected
all the boats, and those from the bridge of boats at
Maḍavarājya, and used them for their own benefit.
A fowler named Deva was the head of the boatmen ;
he brought about an engagement of boats on the river
and thereby caused the death to many good soldiers.
Upon this, the Saidas sent some new fowlers, who lived
on the shore of the Dulla lake, with boats, to fight with
those who were at Nandapura. But Meyā Vahāka the
superintendent of the town believed two or three of
those men to be thieves and impaled them ; and when
the fact was made known by beat of drum from Samudra
maṭha, the fear of the people of the town on account of
thieves abated.
When the bridge of boats was destroyed, the town
became like a fortification unapproachable by the enemies.
But the Saidas fearing an attack from the temple of
Skanda excavated a moat measuring five cubits in width
in the vicinity of the yard of the temple. Another
similar moat was excavated near the gate where
Rājānaka was besieged, in order to guard against attack
from the enemies. The servants of the Saidas plundered
the houses of their opponents and robbed them of
their riches, and caused a terror among the
subjects by killing cows. The houses of the enemies
were broken into and plundered, and with the wood
obtained from them, as with fuel from Rudravana, they
set fire to Diddā maṭha. The Saidas through their

280 KINGS OF KASHMÍRA.
ignorance needlessly demolished the beautiful houses
of their enemies for trivial ends, even as cows are
destroyed for feeding dogs ! Every day the retainers
of the Saidas rode on horses and proudly entered the
yard of the palace, well armed, and covered with
armour. Rājānaka burnt the houses of Mallāmīna,
of Chunda the Kāyastha, and of Hassana in his anger.
Owing to mutual fear the army of the Saidas and that
of the people of Kashmīra lost their firmness at that
time. and misjudged each other's motives. The fearless
soldiers hastily crossed the river from one side to another,
killed people, cut off their heads and fixed them on
poles. When the cavalry on both sides had perished,
Pirvajakhāna and other Saidas came riding on fleet
horses and plundered Padmapura. Jonarājānaka and
others heard of this event and crossed the river with
their excellent army, and, being angry with the .Saidas,
they raised a tumult all of a sudden at Uvāṇa and other
places. The Saidas became angry with Jonarājānaka
on account of the tumult, and set fire to the rows of
houses in the village in which he was born. When
Jonarājānaka heard of this, he similarly caused fire to be
set in the house of Tājibhaṭṭa in the VaḍavI country.
Supported only by his infantry, Jonarājānaka came to
Lahara, set fire to the houses and caused the people of
Dugdhāshrama, Sthāma, and other villages to flee.
At this time Jyallāla Ṭhakkura and others sent the
following letter to Shrī Jyahāmgīra the Mārgesha who

was in the fort of Lohara;—"Joined by the Madras we
have ventured to attempt the destruction of the chief
through fear of whose power you have left the country
with your relations; and we have laid our plans
accordingly. His sons Meyā Mahammada and others
have posted themselves on the right bank of the Vitastā
with a view to subdue us, and we on the left. We are
trying to secure supremacy and have accordingly spread
ourselves over the country of Kashmīra; and the Saidas
who have only the capital in their possession have been
surrounded. Leave aside, therefore, thoughts of delay,
and come speedily; for when you arrive, we shall be
victorious, and yours will be the glory. In this country
you alone are powerful and loyal to the king, so tarnish
not your renown by failing to come. After a battle
which was not hotly contested, and in which Ālishāha
was captured, Mahammada the Mārgesha the only son
of Malla, formed a plan for usurping the kingdom.
You should therefore come speedily now, and save the
life of the boy king, otherwise the Saidas will not leave
him alive in the kingdom." The Mārgesha took the letter
into his consideration without delay, and anxious for
his country, soon came by the road to Parṇotsa; and
when in two or three days he arrived at Kudmadīnapura,
the Saidas trembled in their camp, even like a lamp in
the wind. They then held a council, and being struck
with fear, they wished to establish peace. They accord-
ingly sent Shikhasahāva and others with the following

282 KINGS OF KASHMÍRA.
letter :—" Ye are the good and principal men in the
country ; but why have you killed the Saidas ? Alas !
that you should do a deed that is hated by men. If
the son of the late king has been, through the will of
fate, established in his place, who among you has lost
thereby, and what has he lost, that you have taken mea-
sures to destroy all ? We are not all against you ; make
over to us, ye people of Kashmīra, two or three of the
foreigners by whom your people have been killed, or
drive them out of the kingdom with their followers, and
be ye the principal ministers in this country as before.
Let each retain the post he had held before, and let all
of us enjoy together. Death is destined for the living,
and what is decreed by fate must come to pass, no one
can prevent it.” The Mārgesha and the other leaders
considered the contents of the letter and they sent the
following reply written in the alphabet of the Yavanas.
“ The king should ever be defended, even like a jewel,
but through wickedness, even such a king was not
spared ! What was the reason for which the prince, the
son of Vahrā:nakhāna was killed ? Who will, after
the murder of Noroloha and others can trust in his own
safety in the country ? The whole wealth of the infant
king of this kingdom has also been robbed. There is
but an iron gong left in the king’s gate, and it seems
to proclaim by its sound that it alone has been left
by the Saidas ! The troublesome Madras should be
removed out of the country by various devices, while
you remain happy in your granᵈ-fathers’ posts !”

KINGS OF KASHMÍRA. 283
When the Saidas heard this, they sent an invitation to
the Mārgapati. He, however, did not go but sent a
messenger who told the Saidas on his arrival that they
should replace in the treasury the wealth of the infant
king that had been purloined, that they should without
hesitation lay aside their arms before they could be
admitted to a conference, that the people of the country
should as before be allowed to perform the work of the
state, that no harm would thereby befall the country,
but that the defects in the administration would be
removed. Those who are gone, are gone from this
world ; the dead do not come back to life again ; and
mutual enmity has been expiated by slaughter committed
by both parties. When the Saidas heard these words
of reason, they became arrogant and, as if consumed by
anger, they were roused by the following words which
Haibhatakhāna uttered.—"King, treasure, arms, and
soldiers skilled in war, are all in our hands, what can
our opponents do ?" They then made up their minds
for battle, and made preparations even as the Kauravas
did against the Pāṇḍavas.
Then Saiphaḍhāra, Jonarājānaka, and others at once
crossed over the bridge of boats and came into the city
in order to attack the Saidas. They were eager for
battle, and did not pay heed to the advice of the
Mārgapati who said that the time was not yet ripe for a
battle, and that victory was to be won by strategy. Dāvoda
the son of the Mārgesha was puffed up with pride ; he

284 KINGS OF KASHMÍRA.
joined the Pratīhāra and others, and soon entered the
city. His troops then entered the city by the way
leading to Samudra maṭha, and arrived at Loṣhṭa vihāra
with a view to destroy the army of the Saidas. But the
Ḍombas and other sturdy soldiers, turned aside from
battle, and through their avarice, busied themselves in
plundering all within the city. These Ḍombas and
other valiant warriors raised their weapons against one
another and hurt one another, and plundered the
principal citizens of their property. The citizens had
buried their wealth in their houses, but the soldiers
dug up the ground with their spears at every step,
and took away the wealth as if it were given to
them. When the Saida army was first attacked
by the Madras, and the Saidas saw human heads lying
scattered about, they despaired of victory that day, and
retreated speedily as they had come. But when their
troops heard of the doings of the enemy, they entered
the city and marched to battle discharging arrows as
they went. The Saidas found Padmabhaṭa before
them, and they killed him in his own tent, and in order
to ensure the success of their arms, they painted their
foreheads with his blood. Ālikhāna was there, and
alarmed at the approach of the army, set fire to the
Labdhabhadva vihāra, in order to obstruct their passage.
The flames had spread over the road when the heroic
Dāvoda the Mārgapati arrived, and together with
Hosana the Pratīhāra he engaged in fight. The former

KINGS OF KASHMÍRA. 285
moved forward along a difficult path over a causeway,
but fell into a moat and died while fighting. There the
heroes Ahmada the Pratīhāra and others displayed
their valour in the field of battle, and won the pleasure
of the company of the celestial women by their death.
Though Dāvoda is dead, the wives of the citizens still
remember his handsome features and declare that they
never saw beauty like his. Is it that the gods feared to
take so handsome a person to the celestial abode, and
therefore left his dead body on earth ?
In the meantime Haibhatakhāna and others arrived by
another route from behind and destroyed the valiant
soldiers in front of the khānagāha. They obtained the
victory, but with their uplifted arms they looked like
men possessed by devils ; and in their anger they killed
the citizens who had come that day to witness the
battle. What more should be said of them ? Impelled
by avarice, they killed two or three messengers who had
come from foreign countries and had stayed in the house
of Brāhmaṇas, saying that these messengers were
Madras. Saiphaḍāmara released several persons from
imprisonment, and fought with the army of the Saidas,
and pierced the shields of the citizens and the Saidas.
The soldiers of the Saidas were angry with the learned
physician named Yavaneshvara, believing that he helped
their enemies, and they killed him in his own house.
The Saidas committed barbarous acts ; they cut off the
physician's head from his body, smeared the body

286 KINGS OF KASHMÍRA.
with sandal paste, and left the head in the king's high-
way. Some of these Rākṣhasas entered the city that
day, and as they were of a relentless disposition,
they killed all without discrimination.
When the citizens saw the head of him whose body was
smeared with sandal paste they knew it for certain that
the wicked crime had been committed by the Saidas ;
and who did not blame them ? The dead bodies lay in
the streets of the city from Mallekapura to Loṣhṭra
vihāra, and were like dried grass used as fuel. They
who had reposed on luxurious beds of cotton, reclining
at ease on pillows, were now seen lying on the ground,
naked, and motionless, emitting foul smell, devoured by
crows and dogs and wolves, and attacked by worms that
fed on fat and flesh.
The Saidas were satisfied with the victory, and they
celebrated their triumph with music within Vimshapras-
tha. If those who had fled and those who had re-
treated had been pursued, many of the survivors would
have been killed. But the gods of the country had
been plundered, and some of them had been burnt ;
and the angry deities did not inspire the Saidas with
the idea to pursue the enemy. The soldiers who were
crossing the bridge of boats, all tried to go in first, and
the bridge broke under their weight. Thus a hundred
men fell that day into the river, and being heavily
weighted by their armour, they sank and died in the
Vitastā. Surely the goddess Shāradā was angry at their

KINGS OF KASHMÍRA. 287
sins, and in the form of the Vitastā devoured the two
armies. The citizens who had come to witness the
scene were killed, and in order to prevent a similar
mishap, the Saidas placed heaps of the newly severed
heads in their front. They fixed several heads on
poles, and in order to strike terror into the people, they
placed them like rows of lamps on a piece of wood on
the banks of the Vitastā. The corpses became swollen
in the river and emitted stench, and drifted down into
the Mahāpadma lake.
In the meantime the people of Kashmīra collected
the surviving soldiers from all directions and again
raised an army. Shrī Jyahāngira, Jyallāla, Saiphaḍā-
mara, and others meditated plans to overcome the
Saida chiefs. Under instructions received from a saint,
Saiphaḍāmara divided his army into sections and placed
them both on high and low grounds ; and soldiers came
to these divisions every day from all sides, well
officered, devoted to their chiefs, and protected by
shields, and they received supplies of arrows
with wooden shafts and fine feathers, sharp and
well barbed. There were tumultuous gatherings on
both banks of the Vitastā, and on both banks were
mounted engines of victory, and the two armies met in
the great city of Pravarapura once more, and fought in
anger. Horses clad in armour galloped forward, and
made the army terrible in appearance, and the soldiers
rained fire by their strokes ; and the hearts of many

288 KINGS OF KASHMÍRA.
citizens who had come to see the battle were excited
with feelings of heroism. The sound of the kettle drum
was first heard in the house of the king at night, and
then in the camps of the Saidas and of the Kashmīrians.
Many of the citizens' wives who had gone to fetch
water on both banks of the river, were pierced with
arrows from the engines, and killed. Not a day
passed in which two or three heroes were not struck
with arrows and carried in a dying state from the banks
of the river to their own homes. Every day was terrible
on account of conflagrations by fire, destruction caused
by soldiers, and other calamities. The soldiers used
indecent words and gestures, and said what should not be
uttered. They talked of mischief arising out of mutual
enmity between the king, the Saidas and the Brāhmaṇas
and they abused one another, and used languages which
should not be used. They were now surrounded on all
sides by Daulatasīha and others from Kashṭavāṭa; by the
gentle Salhaṇahaṁsa and others, sons of king Shāhi-
bhaṅga; by some chiefs from Pañchagahvara who were
related to the king of Sindhu; by the Khashas; the mle-
chchhas, and other people. The people of Kashmīra, on
account of disunion among themselves, had called in
armies from several quarters, but as they did not know
the ulterior motives which these armies had in view,
and they became very much alarmed. At this time a
shouting star with many heads was seen conspicuously
one evening in the sky, darting in a flame from north

KINGS OF KASHMÍRA. 289
to south. When the two armies beheld this wonderful
object, they apprehended some calamity in battle, and
were beside themselves in terror.
In the meantime Tattārakhāna, influenced by a
letter from the Saidas, sent a powerful Turuṣhka army
in order to obtain possession of the country. When
these wicked Turuṣhkas arrived at Shastragalasthāna
they were met by Habhābhoḍanarāja and others, even
as insects are opposed by snows. Surely the goddess
Kālī in the guise of the river Kā'ldhārā devoured
them in anger, for the benefit of the virtuous country.
The son of Ādămakhāna was sent with the news of
defeat to Tattārakhāna, but he was prevented by the
Turuṣhka chief from going, and was detained by him.
The inhabitants of the place took possession of the horses
and the effects of the Turuṣhka, and obtained riches such
as are rarely obtained, and looked like Kuvera. And
when the people of Kashmīra heard of the destruction
of the Turuṣhkas they celebrated the event by music, and
the faces of the Saidas became sad. Among the sur-
vivors of the wicked army which had met with this
disaster, two thousand lay dead. The rear of the
army of the Kashmīrians was such as could be relied
upon, and so the Kashmīrians felt no fear. They
became haughty on obtaining an addition to their
strength, and with a glad heart determined on battle.
They arranged to station the Mārgesha and others in
the centre, outside the capital, and the Rājānaka and
25