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

310 KINGS OF KASHMÍRA.
Ṭhakkura Daulata and others had departed from
Kashmīra, and had been living at Rājapurī. They
now took shelter under the Khāna, as the black-bees
take shelter in a tree, and the Khāna obtained great
reputation, even as the son of Vupyedeva had obtained
before. Masodanāyaka had the charge of defending
the road, and though he was related by marriage to the
Mārgesha, he went over to the side of the Khāna. The
message of the arrival of the son of Ādamakhāna was to
the poor villagers, oppressed by many masters, like salt
sprinkled on a wound. The guilty, the debtors reduced
to servitude, the thieves, the wicked, and the destitute
were glad to hear the news about the Khāna. Who
did not in village and in town leave his home and kin-
dred and come to him, fixing his hope on his kingly
fortune? The wealthy Khāna received many men who
had come from the country, and obtained fame, and
wished to rival the king. The people from all the king-
doms took shelter with him, discarding others, and they
exclaimed that he was a worthy grandson of king Shri
Jaina. When the thieves and others, who had remained
concealed, heard of him, they jumped out in gladness as
the fishes do in large tanks. But even as a tree is afflic-
ted by insects so was the king afflicted by the thought
that he had not a large army, that when one foe had
been conquered there still existed another mighty anta-
gonist, that the country was besieged by powerful
enemies who had won over the servants and spies of

KINGS OF KASHMÍRA. 311
the state, that the state horse was unfit for work, and
that the officers of the kingdom took no interest in the
king's affairs.
Jyahāngira who had sent an artful letter to the
son of Ādamakhāna was now glad of his approach, but
when he found out the views of the Khāna he became
anxious. Jyahāngira had accumulated great wealth in
the country by destroying his enemies, and had wished
to enjoy ease, but his ease was disturbed by the tumult
that was now created. The people trembled at the
news of the approach of the Khāna, who was daily
coming nearer, even as trees in the woods tremble in
the storm. The Khāna was bent on conquering the
country, and his crafty and scheming councellors sent
a messenger to the Mārgapati with the following letter :—
"O Mārgapati ! You have in your pride overcome the
valour of all within Kashmīra, and are, like a god, enjoy-
ing fair fame. This Khāna O ! Mārgapati is the chief
of his dynasty whom you have invited by letter from
the country of the Turuṣhkas. Why are you neglecting
him now ? Why are you repenting of what you
yourself have done ? Others are enjoying the power
of the state by placing a boy on the throne. Why
should this person, whose conduct is worthy of his
position and whose character is pure, be kept waiting
outside the country ? Or if you give him his father's
share of the kingdom, then let him stay without and
let the king remain within the realm. But what is

312 KINGS OF KASHMÍRA.
the use of saying many words if you are not going to
acknowledge him? The sin of the death of the
soldiers who fall in battle on both sides will be on you.”
When the Mārgapati had heard this letter which was
shown to him by the messenger of the Khāna, he
gave the messenger a letter in reply to the following
effect :—“O ! protectors of the kingdom and enjoyers
of kingly fortune, doers of all beneficial acts ! Consider
what is said in the Purāṇa, that Kashmīra is Pārvatī,
and know that its king is born of a part of Shiva. Even
if the king be wicked he should not be slighted by
those who strive for good. Sovereignty is obtained
in this country by religious penance, not by valour.
Why else did Ādamakhāna and others of lenial descent
fail to obtain it? Why did they speedily reap the
punishment of their unworthy acts? The present
king has come to the throne by inheritance, and how
can the Khāna, who intends to usurp the king's power,
be allowed during the life time of the king to enter the
country in order to create a disturbance. This boy
was coronated by others, and was not set up by me,
but who can destroy him at present while I am near?
The Khāna will be honored in every way, if he wishes
to follow our views ; the rising sun receives due honor
when he follows the Dawn. Fortune obtained by
ingratitude does not last long for the enjoyment
of men. The pleasure derived by eating bad food
causes illness. What more should be said, the way

by which the king has been released from the hands
of the Saidas, will be open to him again, for coming
out of the hand of the Khāna. This is the will of fate."
Jyahāṅgira despatched this letter. He was angry
with Masoda on account of his leaning towards the
Khāna, and took away from him the post of warder of
the road. He entrusted the duty of defending the
road to Vahrāmanāyaka and others, and sent Shṛiṅgāra-
rājānaka and others without delay to Sthāma. The
troublesome Masodanāyaka was enraged at being
deprived of his charge of the road, and he arrived at
Sūrapura following the Khāna. Masoda's followers, the
Khashas, and the Ḍombas, who had been deserted by
him, created a tumult in the Maḍava country at every
step. On the other hand the king's army harassed
the army of the Khāna, and the two armies
looked like the two rows of teeth of all devouring
Death. The tumult created by the Khāna was
greater than that caused by the Saidas; it was
like a painful disease of the throat, aggravated by
the burning of the foot. Travellers were attacked by
robbers, the weak were destroyed by the strong, and the
country was reduced to a miserable plight, as if it had
no king. The inhabitants of that part of the country left
their houses in fear, taking with them their kine and
wealth, and went to Dakshiṇapāra and other villages.
The two armies then entered the kingdom of Kṣherī which
with its woodlands was deserted by the inhabitants, and
27

314 KINGS OF KASHMÍRA.
was devastated by the two armies as by a great fire. On
one occasion, Jeraka and others came to know through
their spies that the soldiers of the king were asleep, and
they attacked their camp. The king's soldiers did not
keep themselves awake, nor employed spies, nor had
learnt to wield their weapons, they fled like beasts
in fear from the camp. Some relatives of the com-
mander of the king's army were alienated from the
king's cause by the enemy. They left the king's army,
took shelter with the enemy, and rebelled against the
king. When differences arise among the strong and
powerful in Kashmīra and the government is paralysed,
then the Khashas who live beyond Kashmīra begin
to rejoice; the people suffer from plunder and
conflagration, thieves accumulate wealth, the enemy
seeks for riches, and the soldiers, heroic and enduring,
desert their cause. When the commander of the army
saw those people rebel, and found that the zeal of his
troops had relaxed, he was struck with fear and fled
from the army; but he was killed by soldiers who
came up from behind. The Khāna was glad of this first-
victory by which he obtained everything. It was by the
advice of Subhāgasīha that the Khāna had come unop-
posed from the Turuṣhka country, but Subhāgasīha was
killed by some unknown person as he was going away
from before the presence of the Khāna.
Now the Khāna, happy and exulting in his victory,
encamped at a place called Maliashilā and collected his

KINGS OF KASHMÍRA. 315
army with a view to subjugate his enemy.. At Karāla
his soldiers destroyed the powerful soldiers of the king,
and robbed and killed the helpless inhabitants. At
this time, the Mārgapati took the boy king with him
and went out of the city accompanied with troops, in
order to overcome the enemy. During the disturbance
caused by the Saidas, the people had been frequently
plundered of their property ; and they were therefore now
filled with alarm, and they sent away their women from
the city to villages. The city was without a king, and its
wealth had been taken away from it, and it did not
look imposing ; it was like a beautiful woman who
had been robbed. The Mārgapati encamped in a
garden at Gusikoḍḍāra, and his troops cried out against
the insolence of the foreign soldiers. But when he
heard that the Khāna was at Kalyāṇapura, he left the
king at Gusikoḍḍāra, divided his army into three
divisions, and came out for battle. When he arrived
at the extreme boundary of the village of Drābha in
Sakhānamaruga, he found himself in the neighbourhood
of the Khāna, and he remained there in great anxiety.
Vaidūryyabhaṭṭa, whose power was irresistible at Chakra-
vāṭa and other places in Kramarājya, stationed himself
on the mountain road on the west. The sons of
Gakkarāja and others, with Pirvaja the Pratīhāra,
came forward and manèuvered as on a chess board. On
one side the sons of Masodanāyaka, accompanied by
the Kashmīrian and the foreign soldiers, came out of

316 KINGS OF KASHMÍRA.
their ranks in order to fight. The soldiers, armed
with sword and shield, approached with shouts, and
moved in array, as the swans do across the sky.
Ahlāda Ṭhakkura's phalanx engaged them as they
advanced to the front, but his troops were defeated.
Armed men shouted like thunder, and their arms
flashed like lightning, and they came out with shields
for battle. The field of battle was uneven and muddy,
and the roads leading to it were difficult to traverse,
but the soldiers came to it as if it were their own home.
When the army of Ahlāda Ṭhakkura saw the foreign
troops, and the waving of their shields, they lost heart,
and like sparrows fled afar. Ahlāda Ṭhakkura could not
stay the broken and the fleeing army, which was like a
river that had broken its embankment. Some of them
ran crying 'I will flee,' 'I will flee', and died of the wounds
they received ; and thus they paid with their life the wages
they had received. Their bodies were besmeared with
blood, and lay on the field of the sāli crop, and looked
like beasts that had been sacrificed on fields during
some religious ceremony. The army of the Khāna
which came from the south-west and broke the king's
force, even as the wind breaks the trees, was like a
tempest that destroyed men. Some Kashmīrians
perished by the flame like arms of the foreign soldiers,
as if they sacrificed their persons in fire. What is the
use of mentioning the names of those who fled to save
themselves, when they saw the array of troops reduced

KINGS OF KASHMÍRA. 317
to the condition of a herd of animals by fear ? The
owners of estates, who had figured in the royal court,
were now struck with fear such as they had never felt
before, even like men who had never used arms. Only

• • • • obtained praise by dying like a
        hero. Three or four of his followers who wished
        to go to heaven fell in battle and went there before him.
        The great army of the Khāna having routed the survi-
        vors returned, and appeared before the Mārgapati mis-
        taking him to be of their own party. Hassana Mīra and
        other heroes who were determined to conquer sought
        Masodakhāna and were recognised by the soldiers of
        the Mārgapati. Nauruja and others, the five attendants of
        his wife’s brother, together with Gaurabhaṭṭa, were killed
        in the presence of the Mārgapati.
        Fate, that had been long adverse to the Kashmīrian
        army, now became favourable to it, owing to the prow-
        ess of the king or to the commendable firmness of the
        Mārgesha in this battle. He remained fixed with his
        troops like a strong and immovable column of victory.
        Had he retreated but one step from the place, nothing
        of this Kashmīrian army would have remained. As . the
        skill of a physician is observed in a serious disease, even
        so the skill of Shrī Jyahāngira was observed in bringing
        to order the disordered state. In battle, the goddess of
        victory comes pleased to him who in the hour of danger
        possesses indestructible energy, genius, skill in devising
• There is a blank here in the text.

318 KINGS OF KASHMÍRA.
plans, and fearlessness. He circulated the false rumour
that the Khāna had fallen into his hands, and thus by an
artifice he brought back those who had fled from the
battle. The soldiers returned to the battle field with
shouts in the presence of the Mārgesha, and joined their
party ; even as in spring, the black-bees come to a
garden, humming, on their beautiful wings. Gakka and
others, flushed with victory, killed many men, and plun-
dered the camp of the Khāna of articles left there by
the Khāna after what he had taken away. Evarāhima
Mārgesha was in the front of the battle with his atten-
dants ; he threatened Masodanāyaka and others and
caused them to retreat. Shṛingārasiha and others saw
the formidable army and fled without delay from
Meḍīvana and reached their own country. All the
soldiers of Rājapurī were surrounded by the Kashmīrian
troops, but Gakka, like Gaṇesha, gave them assurance,
and protected them in the battle. The foreigners left
all the amunitions of war behind, and fled, pursued by
the Kashmīrian soldiers. They were plundered by the
Khashas and the Ḍombas who hung on their rear and
greatly harassed them. Some of them lived by eating
the leaves of trees in the wood, and they gave back
all that they had extorted from the villagers, as if the
things had been only deposited with them. Hundreds
of foreigners and Kashmīrians died, some oppressed
with cold and fever, some faint with hunger. Fate
is beyond our comprehension ; and though it is not

KINGS OF KASHMÍRA. 319
really the cause, yet it is considered the strange cause
of events. It casts down, all of a sudden, some person
in high position, and prospers some who should be cast
down, even as the wind does with the trees. The
Khāna's intention was good, and if his soldiers had been
like him, what results might not have ensued ? For
victory follows virtue.
Thus in the year 61, in the month Shrāvaṇa, when
Phataha Khāna arrived in Kashmīra, many natives of
the country and foreigners perished, as in the
preceding year, by the meeting of the two armies
near Kalyāṇapura. Astrologers found three reasons
for this destruction of men in the country, the presence
of Saturn in the seventeenth mansion of the moon,
the conjunction Saturn with Jupiter, and the year
being presided over by Mars. In the reign of king
Shri Jaina, the subjects were devoted to the study of
the six schools of philosophy and were attached to
their own religion, they were fearless and did not
suffer from the six calamities.* But the customs of
the country were injuriously affected by the base acts
of the subjects when that king went to heaven, and so
the destruction of men came to pass. This is my
opinion. Some merchants, for instance, discarding
the custom which befits Hindus, killed a cow within
the city and ate its meat. Sons are now fond of the

• They are excess of rain, drought, destruction of crop by
  ats, locusts, and birds, and the approach of a foreign king.

320 KINGS OF KASHMÍRA.
Mausulas, and are ashamed to follow the shāstra
which was followed by their fathers and grand-fathers.
Men of the four castes had graced the kingdom in
former days, but latterly the people had gradually adopted
blameable practices, and the ceremonies prescribed
for special days in the Purānas came to be forgotten
year by year. Why should not the people whose
custom is bad suffer calamities?
The Mārgesha heard a false rumour that the king
had been attacked by the enemy, and he became
anxious. He placed Tājabhaṭṭa and others in his
post, and went to his own tent. If he had pursued
the fleeing and powerless soldiers of the Khāna, not
one of the retreating army would have survived. But
the Mārgesha was unacquainted with the road, and all
his men had accepted payment from both sides, and
intending to promote their own interest in this world
and wishing misery of their relatives, they induced the
Mārgesha to retire from the battle, and they themselves
dispersed. The victorious Jyahāngira then took the king
and the army with him, and elated with victory went to
Jyamālamaruga. Tājabhaṭṭa thought that the people
who had been left behind by the Mārgesha had joined
the Khāna, and he set fire to the villages of Mangalya-
nādaga. The smoke which arose from the flames of
the burning houses covered the sky and looked like
clouds in the rainy season streaked by lightnings.
Conflagration and robbery were now witnessed in

KINGS OF KASHMÍRA. 321
Kashmīra, such as the people of this country had
inflicted on other countries, when they had made
foreign conquests. Kashmīrian invaders in foreign
lands had seen the poor and the naked, as well as
helpless new born babes, but had not supplied them
with clothes. And when the poor of those lands saw
their silver and baser metals, their kine and beasts
taken away by the Kashmīrians, they filled all sides
with sighs and lamentations and exclaimed that as the
Kashmīrians had robbed them of every thing without
any provocation, so they too would, in their turn, be
similarly, robbed by their enemies. When Phatā-
hashāha obtained the kingdom, the great sin bore
fruit in the sufferings of three persons at the time of
their death.
As commotions rose in the country the Mārgesha
returned to his place, listening, as he passed, to these
and other animadversions. It was owing to the sins
of the people that he refused to conclude a peace.
He reached the city, accompanied by the king, and
began to celebrate a festival on account of his victory;
and he punished the partisans of the Khāna, both high
and low. But he did not oppress the relations of those
who had gone over to the side of the Khāna, as a disease
oppresses the body. Auspicious Fate sometimes bes-
tows happiness which is enjoyed by all, and sometimes,
in its displeasure, it afflicts people with the six calamities.*

• See foot note at page 319.

322 KINGS OF KASHMÍRA.
Curious alas ! is the course of Fate in this world, like the
course of a planet, it brings on good as well as evil on
the people.
For a time the Khāna was struck with panic and
was without any help, and he remained useless like a
cloud in the season of drought. At this time he was at
Bhairavagala, and he received some accession of strength
from the Nāyaka, so that he again thought of entering
Kashmīra. After two months, he marched towards that
country, and arrived there supported by excellent
soldiers. When he had reached Shūrapura, Jyahāngīra
issued out of the city without delay accompanied by the
king ; he had numerous troops under him, and much
wealth. As before, he remained at Sagusikā, but he
heard that the son of Gakkarāja had fled. When the
Mārgesha was about to mount his horse, the animal took
fright. The Mārgesha understood omens, but had be-
come impatient in his anger, and would not wait for a
moment. The son of Gakkarāja had accepted a large sum
of money from him, and if he fled, who else would stay
with him ? This thought made the Mārgesha anxious, and
he returned. He again issued out of his camp in an aus-
picious moment, and thought of creating a division in
the army of the Khāna. In the meantime Jeraka and other
great chiefs came from Shūrapura and entered the city at
night and liberated those who were in prison. Thus
Saiphaḍāmara and others issued from the prison, as from
the door of death, and came to Vijayeshvara. On a pre-

KINGS OF KASHMÍRA. 323

vious occasion, when in prison, Saiphaḍāmara had
dreamt that some one had severed his two legs by a
weapon at night. To keep a great chief, the head of
a strong party, in confinement, is like covering a fire
with a cloth. And so it happened. Why was he brought
from the fort of Jayāpīḍapura and kept imprisoned in
the city? This imprisonment of Saiphaḍāmara caused
harm to the Mārgapati.
Ebhrāhima the Mārgesha came up from the rear and
killed Shamṣhanāyaka and many other people. Ṭhak-
kura Ahmada, Jeraka, the Pratīhāra Anvaya, and others
had marched over sixty kroshas, and displayed acts of
courage. Some people suffer in times of danger, only
to achieve a royal station, even as the gold is melted
in fire and beaten by a hammer, in order that it may be
formed into a diadem which adorns the head of a king.
Set free from the bondage of a prison, like a bird from
a cage, the Ḍāmara thought as if he was born again.
Once before when he had been imprisoned along with
Hodara in the fort of Jayapura, he had scaled the walls
of the prison by means of a rope, and had come out
alone. But he was captured again when asleep, and was
kept in the prison of the capital, and his friends felt
certain that he would be killed within two or three
days. From such a danger he was now set free. In
time he came to the Khāna and remained with the
ministers as was expected. Such was Saiphaḍāmara,
and he obtained the fame due to a great man. Had

324 KINGS OF KASHMÍRA.
not Rāma been decoyed out of his dwelling into the
forest by Rāvaṇa, and had not Vāli aroused the
anger of Sugrīva, how could Rāma have won his
victories, marching to Laṅkā and destroying his
enemies? Fate ordains both pleasure and pain for the
good of man. The Khāna had aspired after the
kingdom but was driven from the country; but now
he obtained the support of great warriors on his side,
and became addicted to pleasures. The Mārgapati
was angry with Saiphaḍāmara, but he came to be
ruined and was deprived of his post. How could the
Khāna have entered Kashmīra and obtained it, if he
and the Ḍāmara had not mutually, and of their own
accord, come to each other’s help. It is by the help of
many chiefs that the king obtains glory, and the
chiefs obtain it by depending on the king; their union
is indispensible, and looks graceful like the golden
ornaments on a young woman. The court of the
Khāna was adorned by the fortunate leaders who joined
him, even as the person of a woman is adorned by
necklaces of pearls.
The Mārgapati became alarmed by the union of
the Khāna with the leaders, and he sent Khāna Shikha-
vāhārddha Mukha who was desirous of establishing
peace. Edha Rājanaka, Riga Ḍāmara, and Keshava-
budha brought the king of Rājapurī to the king of
Kashmīra with a view to establish peace. At this time
the Mārgapati gave wealth and assurances of safety to

[Header] KINGS OF KASHMÍRA. 325
Shṛiṅgārasīha, and alienated him from Gadāyarāvatra
Mukha. The king of Rājapurī took with him the son
of the Mārgapati, and desiring to establish peace,
prevented the calamity of a battle between the two
armies. Others at this time resolved to get hold of
the son of the Mārgesha, to whom the king of Rājapurī
had not paid any special attention, and the ministers
became alarmed. When fate becomes adverse to
the king and his subjects, the distress that befals their
party cannot be removed even by a hundred remedies.
When one is oppressed by mental anxiety, how can
then the disease which has got a firm hold on him be
removed by the skill of physicians? The partisans of
the Khāna alienated the king of Rājapurī from the
party of the Mārgapati, and when that king left the side
of the Mārgapati, a tumult arose which alarmed both the
armies. Gakka, Shṛiṅgārasīha, and others were alarmed
and went to Rājapurī; and the Khāna with his army
was struck with fear, and retired as before, without
effecting anything. Jerāka, Mera, and others, who, owing
to their love for Jyallāla Ṭhakkura, had resolved to
remain neutral, went to the Mārgesha. The confusion
which thus arose made the army of the Khāna tremble;
and it broke up into thousand parts, even like a river
whose embankment is destroyed.
When the Mārgapati heard of this, he pursued the
Khāna, and arrived with his army at Sūrapura. But his
anxiety became great, when he learnt from his spies that
28

disorder had broken out at Kramarājya, and that some
troops had arrived at Shāhibhaṅga. Leaving the king,
he went to Svayyapura, and there, by an artifice, he threw
Naurujakhāna into prison. This was a wise measure, as
Nauruja had intended to plunder Shrīnagara on that
very day with the help of wicked men, and it was owing
to the virtues of the citizens that his cruel intention was
not fulfilled. He had expected the arrival of the Mār-
gapati from Kramarājya, and he set fire to much pro-
perty, and reduced it to ashes in his anger. Wealth
which is obtained day by day by wicked means and is
not given in charity, which is hoarded in pits, and only
causes sorrow to the miser, finds its way at last either to
the king or to fire, to enemy or to robbers. Jyahāngira
arrived in the city with Nauruja, and graced it by his
triumph over him. Though the Saidas had been exiled
from the country, and though they had killed his son,
yet Jyahāngira wrote to them and brought them back
because they were worthy men.
In the meantime the Khāna stationed himself in his
exalted position of strength at Janmavāṭa, and distressed
the Khashas even as the lion distresses the deer ; and as
he had harassed the twenty-seven districts of Kashmīra
in his prowess, so did he now harass Sindhuri. His
army was strong in good soldiers, and was joined by the
Malha chiefs, and he plundered the country of the
Madras, and alarmed the Turuṣhkas. He conquered
the country of the Madras, and gave it to the king of

KINGS OF KASHMÍRA. 327
Rājapurī. Having thus secured a victory, and joined by
the king of Rājapurī, he arrived in the house of Masoda-
nāyaka in the month of Chaitra. The Nāyaka received
the Khāna in his house as if he were a god ; and owing
to the Khāna's virtues, the Nāyaka's devotion to him was
never shaken. The sea may over leap its shores, the
sun may rise in the west, but a Kṣhattriya never swerves
from his duty towards one who asks his protection.
The Khāna had now collected an army and was joined
by the Chhayilla soldiers, and, with a view to overcome
his enemies, he stationed himself on the top of a hill.
The soldiers were like diseases, and destroyed every-
thing in the houses, and the people remained in them with
difficulty, even as life remains in a body prostrated by
illness. Jerāka, who was in prison with his back fastened
to a door, was killed by the Mārgapati out of fear, within
the city. When the officers of the king heard of this
they all became displeased and spoke ill of the Mār-
gesha, for the Mārgesha had violated the assurance of
safety he had given to Jerāka. In the month of Jyāiṣhṭha
the cruel Mārgesha heard the evil news, and being dis-
tressed, remained at Mallashila with the king. As the
draṅga road was blocked, those who had received
pay from both parties despaired of reaching the two
armies. At that time, the people of this country had to
eat their food without salt, and who did not hear of this
ludicrous Mārgesha curry? It was with difficulty then
that the people in the city bought one and a half pala
of rock-salt for twenty-five dīnāras.

328 KINGS OF KASHMÍRA.
In the year 62 the Mārgapati heard that the Khāna
was anxious to come into Kashmīra, and he adopted a
wicked policy. He appointed Eskandharakhāna, son
of the daughter of Hājyakhāna, to the post of the lord of
Kampana, and sent him to Sthāma ; and in order to
protect himself, he gave the possessions of Masoda-
nāyaka to Yashsharājānaka, and sent him out with an
army. When the snow decreased, and with it the happi-
ness of the country decreased also, the Khāna came with
his army from Rājapurī. When the Mārgesha heard
that the Khāna had come within Bhairavagala, he went
to Sūrapura with the king, with the view to obstruct the
Khāna's way. Now the Khāna who was in a high
pass was obstructed from entering the country,
even as Rāhu is prevented for fear of the chakra from
coming in contact with its lifeless trunk. So the Khāna
went by the Pashupādiṣhṭa road as in the previous year,
and after surmounting a hill issued by the Kāchāgala in
the month of Shrāvaṇa. But the soldiers of Tājabhaṭṭa
and others came like a storm and agitated the sea like
army of the Khāna in the field of Gusikoḍḍāra. The
Khāna and his army spread alarm on all sides by the
din of the sounding kettle-drums, and agitated the city
with panic. The Mārgapati was astonished when he
heard of this, and was struck as if the Khāna had come
on his wings, and he hastened with his army and the
king to offer him battle. The Ḍāmara named Yāga, of
high rank, was like the immortal Garuḍa in valour

KINGS OF KASHMÍRA. 329
and beauty ; and in the engagement which ensued he
graced the field like the fiery Shiva. In that battle, some
of the Saida warriors fought against the powerful
soldiers ; they did not retreat, but died on the field, and
obtained the pleasure of the company of celestial females.
Many fell into chasms, many died of wounds, and heaps
of dead bodies lay on the field. Neither in the strug-
gles with the Saidas, nor in the first engagement with
the Khāna, did so many soldiers perish as in this battle
of Gusikoḍḍāra. The proprietors of lands, although
high in their position, remained passive witnesses to the
battle, and did not display the heroism befitting
their rank. The dead bodies of persons killed
in the battle or when fleeing, or of those who died of
wounds, lay here and there, like the young ones of
birds scattered by the fall of a tree. Those who had
injured others before in village or in town, were now
harassed by stronger men. Masodanāyaka was killed by
a discharge of arrows and the career of his horse was
arrested at the same time. Who can escape what must
happen ? The Mārgesha sent his people to fight, but he
himself retired to a distant place for safety. Shrī Saipha-
ḍāmara however was there attended by powerful war-
riors. Shrī Saiphaḍāmara, who was attended by his
soldiers, was rejoiced that the very man who should be
sought for had come there of himself, and he struck the
Mārgapati on the head. Ala, Shira, and Haidhara, like
cruel planets, struck him on the face, arm, and forehead,