वासवदत्ता (महाकवि सुबन्धु - श्लेष-प्रधान शास्त्रीय गद्यकाव्य सान्वय सटीक)

A SANSKRIT ROMANCE 131
oppression of ‹a Brāhman for a cow›¹ and through his oppression
of ‹cows¹ and Brāhmans›. Yudhiṣṭhira deserted truth in the
forefront of battle.² Śāntanu wept in the forest on account of
excessive affection.³ Thus no one is immaculate.⁴ Therefore,
I, too, will abandon my body.’
[277] So thinking, he approached the water of a broad, sandy
bank, the hiding places of whose fish were pierced by the tips
of the sharp talons of the ospreys; with the scales of shoals of
śakulas and the excrement of otters⁵; with its margin surrounded
by rows of carapaces of horrible crabs that had been abandoned
by packs of jackals; with its environs whitened⁶ by multitudes
of cranes, motionless and intent on devouring shoals of carp that
were agitated and wavering because of the exceedingly⁷ unsteady
flow of the water; which was very cool, being united with the
motion of the wind that was generated by quantities of drops⁸
of water shaken by the sport of schools of extremely active
Gangetic porpoises; [278] with its uneven banks seamed by the
tips of very young wild⁹ buffaloes’ horns that dropped off daily;
tuneful with the sweet songs of flocks of continually restless
dhārtarāṣṭra geese; [279] with the soil along its waters crushed
by the repose of mermen and bright with the rays of the sun¹⁰;
delightful with the humming of bees¹¹ that had settled on
hundreds of mighty¹² elephants, whose sloping cheeks were
flecked with exceedingly copious ichor; with its circumference
filled with multitudes of gems¹³ that had fallen in the dance of
¹ Tel. ed. omits ‘for a cow’ and ‘of cows’; cf. Mahābhārata, 3. 115–116.
² Tel. ed. omits this sentence. ³ See Mahābhārata, 1. 100–101.
⁴ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, ‘thus, therefore, no one in the world is immaculate.’
⁵ Tel. ed., ‘filled with broad fish-scales pierced by the tips of the talons of the
ospreys; mottled with the accumulated excrement of otters’; similarly the Srirangam text.
⁶ Tel. ed., ‘much whitened.’ ⁷ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text omit ‘exceedingly.’
⁸ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, ‘with its tamālas cooled by contact with quantities
of drops.’
⁹ Tel. ed. omits ‘wild.’
¹⁰ Tel. ed., ‘with the earth on its banks crushed by the repose of mermen, bright with
the rays of the sun, and tuneful with the humming of bees and with beautiful flocks of
continually restless dhārtarāṣṭra geese’; similarly the Srirangam text.
¹¹ Tel. ed., ‘with swarms of bees’; Srirangam text, ‘humming of swarms of bees.’
¹² Tel. ed. and Srirangam text omit ‘mighty.’ ¹³ Tel. ed., ‘serpents.’
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