THE 
 
 HABSA-CARITA 
 
 
 
 OF 
 
 BANA.
 
 FEINTED BY J. AND C. F. CLAY, 
 AT THE UNIVERSITY PEESS.
 
 ORIENTAL TRANSLATION FUND. 
 
 NEW SERIES. 
 
 II. 
 
 THE 
 
 HABSA-CABITA 
 
 
 
 OF 
 
 BANA 
 
 TRANSLATED BY 
 
 E. B. COWELL, M.A. 
 
 PROFESSOR OF SANSKRIT AND FELLOW OF CORPUS CHRISTI COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE, 
 
 AND 
 
 F. W. THOMAS, M.A. 
 
 FELLOW OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE. 
 
 PRINTED AND PUBLISHED UNDER THE PATRONAGE OF THE 
 ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY 
 
 AND SOLD AT 
 
 22, ALBEMARLE STREET, LONDON 
 
 1897
 
 TO 
 
 THE RIGHT HONOURABLE 
 THE EARL OF NORTHBROOK, G.C.S.I. 
 
 this work is dedicated in sincere gratitude for the kindly 
 sympathy and generous help which he has given to the New 
 Series of the Oriental Translation Fund. To that generosity is 
 due the publication of this translation of Bana's old historical 
 romance.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 THE book of which an English translation is now for 
 the first time presented to those who are interested 
 in Hindu literature and antiquities, appears to have been 
 almost forgotten in India. One writer on rhetoric mentions 
 it by name in his Sahityadarpana as an example of the kind 
 of prose composition called Akhyayika, and a verse passage 
 is quoted from it in the older treatise on rhetoric, the 
 Kavyaprakaga ; yet few native scholars had seen it for many 
 years, although rare copies did linger unknown in some native 
 libraries. Professor FitzEdward Hall first introduced it to 
 the knowledge of European Orientalists in the Introduction 
 to his edition of Subandhu's Vasavadatta, published at Cal- 
 cutta in the Bibliotheca Indica in 1859 ; he discovered three 
 MSS. more or less complete. An edition with an excellent 
 Commentary was published at Jatnmu in Kashmir in 1879 
 (Samvat 1936), and this was reprinted with some variations 
 in Bombay A. D. 1892 (Qaka 1814), and an independent 
 edition of the text appeared in Calcutta in 1883, prepared 
 by Pandit Vidyasagar. Professor Fiihrer has promised a 
 new edition of the text from a careful collation of all the 
 MSS. available in India, but his numerous engagements in 
 connection with the Lucknow Museum have hitherto hindered 
 him in carrying his undertaking to completion. We have 
 had to do our best with the imperfect materials at our 
 command, and we shall mention at the close of this preface
 
 Vlll PREFACE. 
 
 the additional help which we have received in our task from 
 other quarters. 
 
 The great merit of the Harsa-carita consists in the fact 
 that it is a very early attempt at an historical romance. 
 Bana's other work, the Kadambarl 1 , and Subandhu's Vasa- 
 vadatta deal with mythological fiction, and everything is 
 viewed through a highly poetical atmosphere; and the 
 Dac,a-kumara-carita is equally based on pure imagination, 
 although its characters, as in the picaresco literature of 
 modern Europe, are the exaggerated pictures of the vulgar 
 rogues and ruffians of every great city. But the author of 
 the Harsa-carita has taken his own sovereign as his hero 
 and has woven the story out of the actual events of his reign. 
 The narrative can be often illustrated by contemporary 
 inscriptions, in fact it is as much based on real events as 
 Scott's Quentin Durward or Waverley. This gives to it a 
 peculiar character which distinguishes it from all other works 
 of Sanskrit literature. In studying any other classical San- 
 skrit writing we are generally obliged to infer the date of 
 its composition by a careful examination of the accidental 
 allusions or the peculiar words and phrases which it may 
 contain, or by tracing the earliest quotations from it in 
 subsequent authors ; it is the special interest of the Harsa- 
 carita that it treats of a period, which happens to be almost 
 as familiar to the student of Indian history as the reign of 
 any of the early Muhammadan monarchs of Northern India. 
 
 Qri-harsa, who gives his name to the story, was the ruler 
 at whose court the Chinese Buddhist traveller Hiuen Thsang 
 for a time resided, who has left us such a precious description 
 of India as he actually saw it in the early part of the seventh 
 century (A.D. 630 644); and, fortunately for us, Qri-harsa 
 was a king who well deserved to have this strong light thrown 
 upon his reign. He was the Akbar of the ' Hindu period ' of 
 
 Indian history ; and under his wise toleration the adherents of 
 
 < 
 
 1 Translated by Miss Ridding in the present series.
 
 PREFACE. IX 
 
 the contending religions, Brahmanism and Buddhism, seemed 
 to forget their rivalries in a common feeling of loyalty, just 
 as Rajputs and Muhammadans served Akbar with equal 
 devotion. The one great difference is that Akbar's reign is 
 presented to us in broad daylight by such full contemporary 
 narratives as those of Abu'l Fazl and 'Abd-ul-Kadir Badaum, 
 which give us a detailed account of every great event and 
 biographical notices of all the leading personages of the 
 time ; while we learn the events of Qrl-harsa's reign only 
 by the passing allusions of the Chinese visitor or the brief 
 records of some inscription. Now here our romance comes 
 in to supply a living and contemporary picture, wherein we 
 can see something of the India of that time, just as we see 
 in Arrian and Plutarch something of the India of Alexander's 
 time ; but we long in vain for some chronicler who would 
 have filled in the imperfect sketch with a thousand details 
 now for ever lost. 
 
 Bana's style resembles the estilo culto of Spanish litera- 
 ture ; it abounds with double meanings in the words and 
 veiled allusions in the sentences, so that the reader is apt 
 to be bewildered by the dazzling coruscations which keep 
 flashing across his path 1 . Most of these puns and under- 
 meanings refer to mythological stories, or well-known poetical 
 superstitions like the parted ruddy-geese on the opposite 
 banks of a river, or the cakora's red eyes at the sight of 
 poison; but some of them undoubtedly refer also to the 
 events of his time and can only be unriddled now by patient 
 research and critical insight. Thus Hofrath Prof. Biihler 
 has shewn that in p. 76 the words at first sight might 
 seem to mean only " that the supreme Lord (Qiva) took 
 
 1 We have tried to preserve this characteristic feature of our 
 author's style by continually explaining the puns in our notes ; but 
 we have often omitted them out of consideration to the English reader. 
 Many of these will be found in the ' Additional Notes and Corrections ' 
 in Appendix B. Appendix A. also contains two long descriptions 
 omitted from the text.
 
 X PREFACE. 
 
 the hand of Durga the daughter of the snowy mountain"; 
 but under this mythological allusion is concealed a reference 
 to a contemporary conquest, since the words may be also 
 translated, "in our monarch a supreme lord has taken 
 tribute from an inaccessible land of snowy mountains " ; and 
 there are several similar allusions to the king's exploits in 
 the same passage. Prof. Biihler remarks that the inscriptions 
 of Amc,uvarman (three of which are dated Samvat 34 and 
 39) prove that the Qrl-harsa era was introduced into Nepal 
 during the lifetime of the great King of Thanesar and Kanoj, 
 who held the whole of Northern India from 606 to 648 A. D. 
 " If an Indian prince adopts a new foreign era, especially one 
 founded by a contemporary, that may be considered as almost 
 a certain proof that the borrower had to submit to the 
 Qaka-kartri or establisher. of the era 1 ." Similarly in p. 57 
 where we have a description of Harsa's reluctance to become 
 king, till the Goddess of the Royal prosperity herself forced 
 him to mount the throne, in spite of his previous vow of 
 austerity, we are at once reminded of Hiuen Thsang's . 
 story that Harsa at the advice of a Bodhisattva, refrained 
 from mounting the simhasana. So too in p. 168 where " the 
 rising clear-flecked moon (ga^diika) shone like the pointed 
 hump of (Diva's tame bull, when blotted by mud scattered by 
 his broad horn?," the 'commentator himself supplies us with 
 the allusion, as he tells us in his note on the opening verses 
 of chap, vi., that Qa9anka was the name of the dishonoured 
 Gauda king against whom Harsa was marching. Hiuen 
 Thsang states that Rajyavardhana was treacherously killed 
 by Qasamka (Che-chang-kia), the ruler of Karnasuvarna in 
 Eastern India. 
 
 But beside these veiled historical allusions, the work has 
 another interest from the vivid picture which it offers of the 
 condition of Indian society and the manners and customs of 
 the period. Bana is not a mere rhetorician ; his descriptions 
 
 1 Iiid. Ant. xix. 40.
 
 PREFACE. . XI 
 
 of court and village life abound with masterly touches which 
 hold up the mirror to the time. Not even the Pali Jatakas 
 introduce us more directly into the very heart of the period 
 or give us a more life-like picture. The court, the camp, the 
 quiet villages, which then, as now, contained the great mass 
 of the population, and the still more quiet monasteries and 
 retreats, whether of Brahmans or Buddhists, are all painted 
 with singular power ; and his narrative illustrates and sup- 
 plements the Chinese traveller's journal at every turn. 
 
 The first chapter gives the mythological history of Bana's 
 family, the Brahmanical Vatsyayanas, until we come to his 
 own birth and education, and his spending some years in 
 travel partly for pleasure and partly to acquire learning. 
 At length he returns to his home Prltikuta on the Sone, 
 where after a while he receives (ch. 2) a summons from King 
 Harsa's half-brother, that he should repair to the court and 
 renew an intimacy which had been interrupted by some 
 former acts of indiscretion. He obeys the request and repairs 
 to the royal camp near the Ajiravati river (on which Qravasti 
 stood, though it is not alluded to). The King at first receives 
 him coldly, but Bana soon makes his way and becomes a 
 favourite. After a while (ch. 3) he revisits his home at the 
 beginning of autumn, and at the request of his cousins pro- 
 ceeds to relate the history of the King's reign. This narrative 
 fills the remainder of the book (pp. 79 260), and is left 
 unfinished at the end of the eighth chapter. 
 
 Prabhakara-vardhana 1 , the king of Thanesar, had, by his 
 queen Yagovati, two sons Rajyavardhana 2 and Harsa, and a 
 daughter Rajyagri, who was married to Grahavarman 3 , the 
 
 1 Prabhakaravardhana is described as " a most devout worshipper 
 of the Sun " in the Sonpat Inscription. 
 
 2 Rajyavardhana is described in the Madhuban inscription as 
 "a most devout worshipper of Sugata." 
 
 3 The genealogy would seem to be Grahavarman, Avantivarman 
 (infr. p. 122), Susthitavarman, Qarvavarman, Iganavarman, Igvara- 
 variaan, Adityavarman, Harivarman ; cf. the inscriptions Nos. 42, 46,
 
 Xll . PREFACE. 
 
 son of the Mukhara king of Kanyakubja. The king dies 
 while his elder son is absent on an expedition against the 
 Hunas, but the prince returns at his brother's earnest 
 summons ; and in his overwhelming grief, he determines to 
 become an ascetic and to leave the throne to Harsa. At 
 this moment, however, tidings arrive that Grahavarman has 
 been killed by the king of Malwa 1 , who has also thrown 
 Rajya9ri into prison. Rajyavardhana at once determines 
 to avenge his brother-in-law's death and marches with his 
 cousin Bhandi 2 and the army, leaving Harsa as his vicegerent. 
 After a time news is brought that he had easily conquered 
 the Malwa army but had been treacherously assassinated by 
 the King of Gauda 3 . Harsa himself now marches against 
 this new enemy; on his way he accepts offers of friendship 
 from Bhaskaravarman 4 , the King of Pragjyotisa (Assam). 
 Soon afterwards he meets Bhandi, who is returning loaded 
 with spoil and bringing the Malwa troops prisoners ; he 
 announces that Rajyacri has escaped from prison and fled 
 into the Vindhya forest. Harsa sends Bhandi against the 
 Gauda king and hastens himself to find his lost sister. By 
 the help of a Buddhist mendicant he comes upon her, just 
 as she is preparing to mount the funeral pile, surrounded by 
 her female attendants. Harsa rescues her from the pile and 
 takes her with him to the camp, after making a vow that he 
 and his sister will assume the dress of Buddhist mendicants 
 as soon as he has conquered the Gauda traitor and consoled 
 his subjects in their sorrow for his deceased father. 
 
 Harsa's partiality for Buddhists and Buddhist doctrines 
 
 47, Corpus Inscr. Ind. in. Adityavarman had as his queen Harsa- 
 gupta, sister to Harsagupta, of the same Guptas of Magadha, who were 
 similarly connected with Harsa's family. 
 
 1 Professor Biihler suggests that this is the Northern Malwa about 
 Fatehpur. He would identify the king with the Devagupta of the 
 Madhuban Inscription. 
 
 2 Poni in Hiuen Thsang. 
 
 3 C Hiuen Thsang, (Julien), n. 248. 
 
 4 Bhaskaravarma Kumara, in Hiuen Thsang.
 
 PREFACE. Xlll 
 
 is frequently brought out in our story, as the foregoing 
 sketch will shew, he seems indeed to be more than half a 
 Buddhist at heart; and it is remarkable that we find a 
 similar view of his character in Hiuen Thsang's account, 
 although he may naturally exaggerate the amount of favour 
 shewn. His language might indeed imply that the king 
 almost professed himself a Buddhist; but his narrative 
 clearly shews that he was equally tolerant to both the great 
 religions of his subjects. 
 
 Thus, when he held a great assembly at Kanyakubja, 
 twenty kings attended it, with the most distinguished 
 Qramanas and Brahmans in their districts. An immense 
 sangfiarama was erected with a tower and a golden image 
 of Buddha, and every day viands were presented to the 
 Qramanas and Brahmans ; and, in the disciples' account of 
 the second assembly held at Prayaga, we find that on the 
 first day they installed the statue of Buddha, on the second 
 that of the Sun, and on the third that of Mahe9vara. Hiuen 
 Thsang says of the inhabitants of Kanyakubja, " une moitie 
 suit la vraie doctrine, et 1'autre s' attache a 1'erreur"; and 
 our narrative similarly shews us the two religions existing 
 side by side ; and in the elaborate description in the eighth 
 chapter of the Vindhya forest, we find Buddhists and 
 Brahmans of every sect, " all diligently following their own 
 tenets, pondering, urging objections, raising doubts and 
 resolving them." When we read these accounts of India 
 in the seventh century they lend some support to the theory 
 that later Brahmanism was itself a renaissance, and was 
 separated by a chasm from the ancient cult, just as the 
 Sassanian religion was a later revival (after the long Parthian 
 domination) which turned a longing eye to the past glories 
 of the Zoroastrian creed under the Achsemenidse. 
 
 For our translation we have chiefly used the Bombay 
 text (though with a corrected punctuation), but we have 
 collated it with the Calcutta and Kashmir editions. Pandit
 
 XIV PREFACE. 
 
 Kailasacandra Datta Qastri 1 had published the text and 
 translation of the fifth book (Benares, 1883), with an 
 original Sanskrit commentary of his own; this has often 
 helped us in obscure passages and we have frequently 
 quoted it. Pandit Ravaji Ramacandra Kale has also pub- 
 lished (Bombay 1882) a very useful volume of English 
 notes to the whole work; this only came into our hands 
 when our translation was more than half printed, but 
 we gladly acknowledge our obligations to the author as he 
 often supplements or improves upon the printed commentary. 
 When our translation was partly printed we obtained the 
 help of the valuable MS. (A) which Hofrath Prof. Btihler 
 has presented to the India Office Library, and he also lent 
 to us a collection of the various readings of another MS. and 
 a native scholar's notes on the first book. The MS. A has 
 been of great assistance to us and we have frequently quoted 
 it in the later part of our translation and in the Notes in 
 the Appendix, but as we were not re -editing the text, we 
 have chiefly consulted it where the native editions seemed 
 corrupt. 
 
 We are painfully conscious of the imperfections of our 
 translation ; but we offer it to Oriental scholars as an honest 
 attempt to help the student in reading a difficult Sanskrit 
 work which will well repay the trouble of mastering it. The 
 book is full of Sanskrit lore of every kind ; but its author 
 was not (as Gibbon says of Libanius) "a recluse student 
 whose mind, regardless of his contemporaries, was incessantly 
 fixed on the Trojan war and the Athenian commonwealth." 
 He was by no means the mere lover of what was abstruse 
 and difficult; he had also an eye for the picturesque and the 
 pathetic, and he could sympathise with the men and women 
 of his own time; like Apollonius Rhodius, he was a poet 
 as well as a grammarian. 
 
 1 [He was an old pupil in the Calcutta Sanskrit College. E. B. C.]
 
 THE HAKSA-CARITA. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY VERSES 1 . 
 
 [1] 1. Adoration to Cambhu, who is the main pillar in the building 
 of the city of the three worlds, beautiful with the moon hung on him 
 like a white royal chowrie 2 , as it kisses his lofty brow. 
 
 [2] 2. I worship Uma, whose eyes are closed with the delight of 
 grasping Hara's neck as if she were fainting at the touch of the 
 Kalakiita poison which stains it. 
 
 3. Adoration to the omniscient Vyasa, the creator among poets, 
 who made the Mahabharata holy by his speech as the Bharata continent 
 is hallowed by the river Sarasvati. 
 
 4. Most commonly the poetasters of the world have their percep- 
 tions ruled by desire, loquacious and wilful like red-eyed kokilas ; 
 
 [3] 5. Countless such there are like dogs, following their own vile 
 nature from house to house 3 , not many are there like Qarabhas, 
 possessing creative power 4 . 
 
 6. A poet is not reckoned among the good 5 and is detected as a 
 
 1 The Kashmir text inserts another verse at the beginning; " Hail to the 
 holy Sarasvati, hail ! that goddess, who, having her power manifested as the 
 enlightener of the all, through the gradually evolving faculties commencing 
 with ' desire,' illuminates the nature of her mansion, the lotus-hearts of the 
 sages, her, even Sarasvati, I praise." 
 
 2 Chowries and flags are hung on triumphal pillars ; cf. trailokyamahd- 
 grihastambha (of Visnu), C. I. I. iii. 159 and 160. Note that this verse 
 occurs entire in an inscript. Ind. Ant. xiii. p. 92. 
 
 :! Or " those are of no account who only give bald descriptions ( jati) from 
 house to house." 
 
 4 There is a pun in utpadaka, which is also a synonym for the fabulous 
 animal called the qarabha as having eight legs, four of which are said to 
 grow on its back (Vdcaspatya lex.). 
 
 5 *0r " is counted as no man," a-na.
 
 2 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 thief' 1 by his only changing the words of fonnor writers 2 and l>y his 
 concealing the signs of different styles 3 . 
 
 7. In the North plays on words are mainly admired, in the "West 
 it is only the sense ; in the South it is poetical fancy 4 ; in Gauda pomp 
 of syllables. 
 
 8. A new subject, a diction not too homely, unlaboured double 
 meanings, the sentiment easily understood, the language rich in sonorous 
 words all this it is difficult to combine in one composition. 
 
 [4] 9. What has that poet to do with poetry, whose language, going 
 to the furthest limits of metrical skill 5 , does not fill the three worlds 
 like the Bharata story ? 
 
 10. They upon whose lips abides Sarasvatl, unwearied even at the 
 end of their 'fits,' 6 how can such writers of romances 7 escape being 
 praised as the princes of poets ? 
 
 11. The pride of poets verily melted away through Vasavadatta 8 
 (when it came to their ears), as the pride of the Brahman seers 9 through 
 the (Indra-given) spear of the Pandavas when it came near Karna 10 . 
 
 [5] 12. The prose-composition of the revered Haricandra stands 
 pre-eminent as a sovereign, luminous with its employment of words, 
 delightful 11 , and preserving rigidly the traditional rules of letters 12 . 
 
 13. Satavahana 13 made an immortal refined treasure of song, adorned 
 with fine expressions of purest character 14 like jewels. 
 
 1 Does this allude to the Caura-pahcdqikd ; or only to plagiarists gene- 
 rally ? For the poet Caura see Vdsavad. Comm. p. 33. 
 
 - Or " by his changing colour through fear," or "by trying to change his 
 low caste." 
 
 3 Or "by his concealing the marks of his chains." For bandha cf. 
 Kdvydd. i. 47. 
 
 4 Utpreksd, where the comparison is introduced by 'as it were' or 
 'methought.' 
 
 5 Or " embracing all narratives." For the literary history contained in the 
 following lines compare Prof. Peterson's Introd. to Kadambari, pp. 68 96. 
 
 6 Ucchvdsa means ' a breathing out ' and also ' a division of a narrative.' 
 The sk. contains puns in vaktre (also the name of a metre), and kavi$i-ara = 
 Brahma, on whose lips the goddess rests ; cf. Kdd. Introd. v. 11. 
 
 7 For the dkhydyikd see Sdh. Darp. 568. 
 
 8 See Dr Castellieri's paper in the Vienna Oriental Journal, vol. i., where 
 he shews that Bana wrote his work especially to surpass Subandhu's 
 Vasavadatta ; see also our Appendix, notes to pp. 67, 74, 233. 
 
 9 Drona, &c. 
 
 10 Does this refer to Arjuna's attack on Kama with the Aindra weapon, 
 Mahabh., vin. 4720? n Or "not stealing from others" (aharl). 
 
 12 Or as applying to a king, " glorious by the rule of his territory, and 
 preserving all the caste-regulations. " 
 
 13 Another reading is alivahana ; both Satavahana and Qalivahana have 
 been identified with Hala the author of the Sapta<?ataka, but see Weber, iibtr 
 das Sapta^atakam, p. 3. 14 Or " of pure description."
 
 INTRODUCTORY VERSES. 3 
 
 14. The fame of Pravarasena 1 , bright like a lotus 2 , has gone to the 
 other shore of the ocean by his ' bridge,' like the army of monkeys. 
 
 15. Bhasa 3 gained as much splendour by his plays with introduc- 
 tions spoken by the manager, full of various characters, and furnished 
 with startling episodes, as he would have done by the erection of 
 temples, created by architects, adorned with several stories, and 
 decorated with banners. 
 
 16. By whom is not delight felt at the beautiful expressions uttered 
 by Kalidasa as at sprays of flowers wet with honey-sweetness ? 
 
 [6] 17. To whom is not the Vrihat-katha 4 a marvel like Hara's 
 sportive exertions of power, by both of which Love is kindled 5 , and 
 glory done to Gaurl ? 
 
 18. My tongue seems checked and dra\vn within my mouth by 
 Adhyaraja's 6 utsdhas, even when they are only remembered as abiding 
 in my heart 7 , and so it does not attain to a poet's success. 
 
 19. Yet still through my loyalty to my lord, undismayed and 
 eager in the hope of gaining my end, I venture audaciously to plunge 
 with my tongue into the ocean of narrative. 
 
 [7] 20. A narrative, like a bed, which is to wake up its occupant 
 happily refreshed, is set off by its well-chosen words like feet, luminous 
 with the clever joinings of harmonious letters 8 . 
 
 21. Victorious is Harsa who guards the world by a wall of fire of 
 glorious majesty, a mountain of good fortune 9 for fulfilling the desires 
 of all his friends. 
 
 1 He seems to have written the Prakrit poem the Setubandha. 
 
 2 Kumuda is also the name of one of Kama's monkeys. 
 
 3 See Weber's Indian Literature, p. 205. 
 
 4 The Vrihat-katha is alluded to in Kadambari (Bombay ed. p. 40). 
 
 5 In the one by Kama's being consumed, in the other by the amatory 
 legends of the poem ; or it may mean that Kama is personified in the latter, 
 as Naravahana, one of its heroes. 
 
 An unknown poet, unless it refers to Gunadhya, the author of the 
 Vrihat-katha. Utsdha seems to refer to a pantomimic recitation as well as 
 to general energy. 
 
 7 I.e. even though they are not immediately present to me ; or perhaps 
 " which though mentioned abide in my heart." This is a hard cloka. 
 
 8 Or " with the fastenings of gold." For cayyd cf. Kdd. introd. 8. 
 
 9 Criparvata is also the name of a range of mountains in Telingana. 
 Cf. Hall, Introd to Vdsavadattd, p. 11. 
 
 12 
 I
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THUS runs the tale : In former days the Holy One, the 
 Most High, enthroned in his own sphere, [8] was reclining 
 on his full-blown lotus couch surrounded by Indra and the 
 other gods ; and on a certain occasion he was holding a 
 session, framing questions on the lore of Brahma 1 and 
 enjoying other blameless discussions. As he so sate, adored 
 of the three worlds, the Prajapatis headed by Manu, Daksa, 
 and Caksusa, and all the great sages with the seven Risis 
 worshipped him. Some in chorus chanted the Rik hymns 
 apt for psalmody; some recited the Yajus sentences of 
 worship ; some sang aloud the Saman strains of praise. 
 Others rehearsed the Mantras that reveal the ritual of the 
 sacrifice. And there, arising from the differences of their 
 studies, quarrels one with another we heard among them. 
 
 Now there was a certain sage, a great ascetic, by nature 
 excessively choleric, a son of Atri and brother of the moon, 
 by name Durvasas, and he, while brawling with a second 
 sage named Mandapala, [9] being blinded by passion made a 
 discord in singing a Saman. At this silence fell on all the 
 other sages through fear of a curse, while Brahma in the 
 sport of another conversation heeded not. But the divine 
 Sarasvati, a maiden of tender years, now doffing her girlhood 
 and arrayed in youthful beauty, was fanning the great 
 Father with a fly-flap held by her arm's waving tendril. 
 Those sprays, her feet, glowed with a natural red as though 
 flushed by furious stripes, and her steps were musical with a 
 
 i Cf. Manu, in. 231.
 
 CHAPTER I. 5 
 
 pair of anklets keeping time with them like two disciples 
 intoning the Veda word by word. Her legs produced the 
 illusion of being the pillars of the portal to the city of Love 1 . 
 Her left hand, like a bud, was laid in sport on the chain of 
 her girdle, which tinkled like the murmur of love-sick kala- 
 hanisas. Her body was made pure by a Brahmanical thread, 
 which, hanging from the shoulder, seemed like a coil of 
 virtues that had clung to her through dwelling in the 
 Manasa 2 of the wise : while her necklace, studded with many 
 a pearl and having a brilliant central gem, suggested the 
 path of renunciation, leading midway the sun and lined by 
 many liberated souls 3 . Her quivering lips glowed red as 
 with lac from the feet of all the sciences, which had entered 
 her mouth. In her cheek was reflected an image of Brahma's 
 black deer-skin, as if the moon's deer were come down to 
 hearken to her honeyed song. [10] One eyebrow like a 
 creeper was raised in a disdainful curve, and a stream of 
 tears flowing from the outer corner of her eye seemed to be 
 washing one ear soiled by the discord 4 ; while the other ear, 
 revelling in a white full-blown Sindhuvara flower, betokened 
 as with a gleaming smile the intoxication of knowledge 5 . In 
 the flowers of her ear-ornament tribes of devoted bees 
 attended upon her like repeated Oms accompanying the 
 Qruti. Her form was clad in a silken robe fine and spotless 
 
 1 Cf. Spenser, Faery Queen, Bk. n. c. iii. 27, 28, 
 
 'And her straight legs most bravely were embay led 
 In gilden buskins of costly cordwayne... 
 Like two fair marble pillours they were seen 
 Which doe the temples of the gods support.' 
 Also Vasavadattd, p. 54 (Hall). 
 
 2 There is a pun on mdnasa = (l) mind, (2) lake Manasa. 
 
 3 The Sanskrit here has puns on mukta ' released ' and ' pearl ' and 
 on madhyandyaka 'central gem' and 'spiritual guide through the 
 centre.' The Comm. quotes a passage to the effect that ' the ascetic 
 who attains yoga and the warrior slain face to face with his foe pass 
 through the centre of the sun ' : cf. the last note to this chapter. 
 
 4 The eyebrow is compared to a spray used in sprinkling the ear. 
 
 6 A laugh is often called by the Hindus ' white,' cf. Wilson, ' Hindu 
 Theatre,' n. p. 197 : and SarasvatI as the goddess of learning is naturally 
 spoke*n of as intoxicated therewith.
 
 6 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 as the fabric of thought. In this guise, shedding on all sides 
 the moonlight of her teeth, pure as if of the substance of 
 speech, the goddess Sarasvati, hearing the discord, smiled. 
 
 Seeing her so smiling, ' Wretch ! ' cried the sage, ' vain 
 in the conceit of a grain of ill-got knowledge, dost jeer 
 at me ? ' With these words, shaking his head so that his 
 matted locks, streaming 1 from the broken fillet, seemed by 
 their outpouring yellowness to flood the heavens with an 
 issuing fire of passion ; gathering a frown that darkened the 
 chess-board 2 of his forehead, like the presence of the god of 
 death, and recalled the crocodile embellishments upon the 
 faces of Yama's wives ; with a red eye offering, as it were, an 
 oblation of his blood to the goddess of pitilessness; imprison- 
 ing [11] the gleam of his teeth, as if it were his voice flying 
 in terror at the merciless biting of his lip ; altering the tie 
 of the black antelope skin a scroll of cursing as it were 
 which was slipping from his shoulder ; clasped in every limb 
 by gods, asuras, and sages, who, reflected in his drops of sweat, 
 seemed to have come for refuge in their alarm at the curse ; 
 with a hand whose fingers shook with an angry tremor 
 spurning his rosary as though it were a string of syllables 
 clinging with supplications to him ; thus, having first rinsed 
 his mouth from his earthen pitcher, he took the water of 
 cursing. 
 
 Meanwhile the great goddess Savitri was seated in 
 corporeal shape near to the Self-existent, wearing a robe 
 of the silken bark of the tree of paradise and white as a 
 mass of ambrosia foam. A shawl of lotus filament was 
 tied in a svastika knot between her swelling bosoms. 
 Three sectarial lines of ashes, banners of triumph, as it were, 
 over the three worlds vanquished by ascetic force, brightened 
 the courtyard of her forehead. Her Vaikaksyaka scarf con- 
 sisted of a hermit's wrap which hung from her shoulder, white 
 as ambrosia foam, like a Ganges stream bent to a circle by 
 
 1 Vifardru apparently = ' bursting.' 
 
 2 Atapadam: caturaiigaphalakam, Comm. : perhaps so called from 
 its furrowed lines. Regarding this and the next allusion vide further 
 note in the appendix.
 
 CHAPTER I. 7 
 
 ascetic power. Her left hand held a crystal water-vessel 
 like the lotus calyx whence Brahma arose ; and her right, 
 encircled with a rosary and studded with rings of shells, 
 was raised aloft, the finger of scorn being scornfully waved 
 as she cried : ' Fie on thee, sinner, prey to anger, evil of 
 heart, reft of reason, ignorant of self, [12] false Brahman and 
 pretended sage, outcast, excommunicate, how comes it that, 
 bewildered by thine own offence, thou wouldst curse the 
 divine Sarasvati, mother of the three worlds, fit adoration for 
 throngs of gods, asuras, sages, and mortal men ?' 
 
 So she spoke, and abandoning her ascetic's pillow arose, 
 and with her the four incarnate Vedas left their cane seats 
 in wrath, clad in bark garments and holding delicate chowries 
 of Ku$a fibres, bearing their hermit's staves, and grasping 
 their round water- vessels like weapons. Under the guise of 
 sweat soma juice, as it were, oozed from them: their foreheads 
 gleamed with the pure ashes of the Agnihotra oblation : 
 their voices echoed the sacred syllable : the quarters of the 
 heavens were oppressed by the weight of their angrily 
 agitated matted-locks : the daylight was darkened by the 
 bulging of their black antelope skins flung round as they 
 girt up their loins : and the world of Brahma vibrated with 
 the coming and going of their passionate panting. 
 
 Whereat in vain besought to mercy by the gods, '0 
 reverend sir, be merciful, she is no victim for a curse ' ; in 
 vain implored by suppliant disciples, ' Master, forgive one 
 fault'; in vain restrained by Atri, 'Balk not, my son, the 
 fruit of thine asceticism ' ; the sage, beside himself with 
 passion, let fall the water of that curse, crying: 'Ill- 
 mannered girl, I take away from thee this state of pride 
 by knowledge won. Begone downward to the world of 
 mortal men.' But when Savitri would have answered curse 
 with curse, 'twas Sarasvati that hindered her, saying: 
 ' Dear friend, restrain thy wrath : even to Brahmans by birth 
 merely, uninitiated in heart, respect is due.' [13] 
 
 Thereupon, seeing Sarasvati thus cursed, the Lord Brahma 
 uplifted his form, which wore the white sacrificial thread, as 
 though his birth from the lotus had left a fibre clinging
 
 8 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 about him. With his right hand, which, as its signet ring 
 sent up a spray of emerald rays, seemed to grasp a cluster of 
 Ku$a grass for staying a world-dissolution 1 , he allayed the 
 tumult of the curse ; while his teeth shot out pure penetrating 
 rays like plummet lines 2 for the building of a coming aeon of 
 bliss, and his voice echoed through the spheres like a drum 
 heralding with honour the departure of Sarasvati, as in deep 
 tones he spake : ' Brahman, the path thou hast followed is 
 one not frequented by the good. Its final goal is death. The 
 dust upraised by the steeds of passion in their unbridled 
 onrush is wont to cloud the vision of such as be not masters 
 of the senses 3 . How limited indeed the scope of the eye ! 
 for 'tis by the purified intellect that the perfected behold all 
 things good and evil. Nature rejects this union of piety and 
 wrath as of water and fire. How dost thou, leaving the light, 
 sink in darkness ! for the root of all asceticism is patience. 
 Skilled in discerning the faults of others, thy angry mind, 
 like an eye inflamed, perceives not the frailty of its own 
 passion 4 . How can censoriousness consort with commerce of 
 great penances ? [14] Blind verily is that seeing man who is 
 over-wrathful. Clouded with passion, the mind distinguishes 
 not what should and what should not be done. First of all 
 the wisdom of the angry man is darkened ; then his frowning 
 brow. The flush of passion assaults first the senses, last the 
 eyes. In the beginning the store of merit dissolves away; 
 then the oozing sweat. The flash of dishonour flickers; 
 then comes the trembling of the lip. How ruinous to the 
 world was the growth of thy matted locks and bark dress, 
 shoots and bark as it were of the poison tree ! Like a pearl 
 necklace, this graceless 5 impulse of thy mind is out of 
 
 1 The origin of darblia = kuca grass from a world-convulsion is stated 
 Ath. V. 19. 30. 5, and its power to allay passion, id. 6. 43. 1- . 
 
 2 Sutrapatam, cf. Kathas. 14. 30, 24. 93 : this passage has a bearing 
 on the derivation of sutradhara. 
 
 3 There is a pun on two meanings of aksa (1) axle, (2) sense. Cf. 
 Kad. p. 37, 1. 14. 
 
 4 Dosa means either ' sin ' or ' inflammation of the eye ' : kupita = 'in- 
 flamed ' in both senses. 
 
 6 Vrittamukta has also per paronomaxiam the sense of ' having 
 round pearls ' : parivartulamauktika Comm.
 
 CHAPTER I. 9 
 
 harmony, surely, with thy sage's dress. With a heart void 
 of resignation idly like an actor dost thou wear the 
 counterfeited semblance of an ascetic. Nought free from 
 taint can I detect in thee. Even to this hour thy 
 levity floats but on the surface of the sea of knowledge. 
 None of these great sages are deaf and dumb, impotent and 
 dull of wit. Why hast thou checked the sinless Sarasvatl, 
 when thine own heart, the haunt of angry sin, should rather 
 have been checked ? These are the follies born of their 
 own heedless slips whereby the undiscerning fall into 
 reproach.' 
 
 Then to Sarasvatl he spake again : ' Dear child, be not 
 dejected. Savitrl here shall accompany thee and solace the 
 pain of severance from us. And the curse shall end when 
 thou shalt behold the lotus face of thy child.' 
 
 So much decreed, Brahma, having dismissed his court of 
 gods, asuras, sages and mortal men, laid his hand upon the 
 shoulder of Narada, who hastily approached, and arose for 
 the performance of his daily rites. [15] Sarasvatl, too, a 
 little discomfited at the curse, letting fall upon her bosom a 
 mingled glance of light and dark like a streak in a black 
 antelope skin, led on by thronging bees caught, like the 
 incarnate letters of the curse, in the incense of her fragrant 
 sighs, her hands nerveless with sorrow at the curse, went 
 with Savitrl to her mansion, her path to the world of men 
 being pointed out as it were by the down-bent rays of her 
 nails. And swarms of kalahamsas of the palace, convoked 
 by the prattle of her anklets, followed after her like the 
 hearts of the dwellers in Brahma's world. 
 
 Meanwhile, as though to bear the tidings of Sarasvatl's 
 descent, the light-coroneted sun went down to the middle 
 world. Gradually waned the day, his pools all saddened by 
 the calamity of the closing of all their lotus beds. Quickly, 
 as though stung by the angrily bent side-glances of wine- 
 flushed beauties, the world's sole eye, ruddy as a young 
 monkey's mouth, lighted upon the peaks of the earth-propping 
 hills. White were the environs of the heavenly hermitages 
 with milky streams flowing from herds of cows with dripping
 
 10 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 udders ; as though washed by the surge of the milky sea in 
 uproar at the near rising of the moon. Let out for his 
 evening ramble, the chowrie-cro\vned Airavata was dashing his 
 tusks at will against the banks of the heavenly stream, while 
 the sound went up of their crashing against its sides of gold. 
 The sky displayed a rosy tint, as though smeared with lac from 
 the feet of thousands of mistresses of the Vidyadharas gone 
 forth to their trysts. Like the sweat of Sandhya in her 
 delight at Qiva's worship 1 , the evening glow streamed forth 
 of saffron hue, flushing the heavenly spaces and filled with 
 the sunset offerings of the saints on their journey along the 
 sky. [16] Resplendent was the world of Brahma, where 
 crowds of noble worshipping sages clasped a forest of hands 
 in evening adoration ; as though all the lotus beds were come 
 to show honour to that lotus whence Brahma sprang. And 
 loudly from the Brahmans 2 uprose the chorus of the third 
 libation hymn. In the temples of the seven sages the 
 courts were all tressed with the flames of the lighted 
 Vaitdna fires ; as though a camp lustration had commenced 
 in an army devoted to Dharma. Light were the hermits 
 from the removal of the poison taint of sin which the 
 Aghamarsana hymn 3 had stolen away. The sand isles of 
 Mandakim's stream were purified by rows of ascetics seated 
 at evening prayer, and the line of its waves was broken by 
 the gleam 4 of Brahma's floating hamsas. Fragrant with 
 the scent of their own honey, the night-lotus beds, to the joy 
 of the bees, commenced to open, like umbrellas of the water 
 nymphs, seraglio mansions for the wives of the feathered 
 tribes. Satisfied with their symposiums on the sweet 
 honey of day-lotuses now languid at day's close, the flamingo 
 swarms sank to sleep, arching their necks to be scratched 
 by the soft fibres, and fanning the blue lotus beds with rows 
 of flapping wings. The evening breeze, soft as the sigh of 
 night, came making grey the river with the pollen of flowers 
 
 1 Diva's evening worship is described in 'the Meghaduta 9!. 38. 
 
 2 Or ' loud in Brahma's praise ' or ' loudly from Brahma.' 
 
 3 The Aghamarsana hymn is the last in the Rig- Veda. c 
 
 4 Literally ' betoothed by the smile.'
 
 CHAPTER I. 11 
 
 on the bank and bearing perfume from the jasmine 1 in the 
 curls of the matrons of the City of Saints. [17] Throngs of 
 bees reclined in huts formed by the cavities of lotuses barred 
 by the tips of filaments erect and stiff as they closed. 
 
 Like clustering Kutaja buds in the forest of Qiva's hair 
 when it tosses in the dance, the star-swarms filled the sky 
 with their clusters. About the earth the new-born darkness 
 closed, coppery-hued from the after-effects of the twilight, 
 coloured like the skin of a ripe date, and thick as the cloud 
 of doomsday 2 . Sharply piercing the mass of soft dusk, the 
 scattered lamps peeped forth like clusters of Campak buds 
 about the ear of the goddess of night. Paling with the 
 lovely effulgence of the crescent moon's rays, the eastern 
 quarter began to narrow the dusk, like a young sandbank by 
 Yamuna's banks when the dark water retreats as it dries. 
 Perturbed, like the spirit of a proud beauty, by the moon's 
 fingers 3 clutching its tresses, the darkness, in hue like a jay's 
 wing, a very cluster of curls belonging to the Gipsy 4 of night, 
 dissolved and abandoned the sky, and cast its gloom upon 
 the pools of blossoming blue lotuses. The form of the Lord 
 of White Splendour, now uprisen, assumed the glow of the 
 Udaya mountain, resembling the lip of the nymph of night ; 
 and his redness was as though he were covered with blood 
 oozing from his own deer, now slain by a stroke from the 
 rending paws of the lion that dwells in the caves of the 
 valleys of Udaya's peaks. The gloom had waned, as if 
 washed by the flow of the moonstone's ooze from 5 the 
 Eastern hill. Like a great ivory crocodile-mouthed conduit 
 bearing a stream of milk trickling from the world of cows, 
 the moon's circle had commenced to fill the ocean. [18] 
 
 At that clear evening time Savitri thus addressed 
 Sarasvati, who, vacant in heart as it were, was lost in tearful 
 thought : ' Friend, my tongue is ashamed to prate to thee, 
 
 , = bhupadl, opens at night. 
 2 Or 'a black cloud.' 3 I.e. 'rays.' 
 
 4 Her beauty hangs upon the cheek of Night 
 
 Like a rich jewel in an Ethiop's ear. Romeo and Juliet. 
 " lleud acalacyuta with the Calc. and Kashmir texts.
 
 12 THE HARSA-CAR1TA. 
 
 whose wisdom may instruct the three worlds. Thou knowest 
 already what arc the ill-mannered ways of fate, unstable, 
 heedless, like a lowborn person, even of the worthy, incon- 
 stant, not to be evaded, in no wise pleasurable 1 . A mere 
 grain of undeserved humiliation, coming from an inferior, 
 makes turbid the spirit 2 even of the wise. Even an atom of 
 misfortune, when watered with ceaseless tears, like a leafless 
 tree, puts forth a thousand shoots. An over-delicate soul, 
 like a Mdlati blossom, is withered by the particles of fiery 
 pain. Like the elephant's goad, even a slight prick of 
 trouble, assailing the great, suffices to torment. Moreover 
 our native home, linked to us like a kinsman by the knotted 
 ties of natural affection, is hard to abandon. Separation 
 from approved friends, dreadful as the stroke of the wood- 
 cleaving saw, leaves a fissure in the heart. But thee it 
 befits not to be thus afflicted. Thou surely art not the soil 
 in which should spring up the shoots of the poison plant 
 of pain. Also, seeing that before and behind us like a ruler 
 stand our past deeds, potent whether good or evil in pro- 
 ducing their fruit. [19] wnat occasion have the wise for 
 sorrowing? Why, pray, do these inauspicious tears defile 
 a face which is the single lotus of auspiciousness for the 
 three worlds ? Enough now of this : say what part of the 
 world thou wouldst adorn. On what blest spot is thy heart 
 fain to alight ? What holy bathing-places dost thou desire 
 to grace ? In what fortunate forest seclusions wouldst thou 
 live the ascetic's life ? Here am I ready to descend to 
 earth, a loving friend, well-skilled to serve thee, tried in 
 friendly offices when we played together in the dust. Cast 
 thyself henceforth in heart, voice and deed, seeking no other 
 refuge, upon the author of all knowledge, the bestower of 
 paradise, the dust of whose feet makes pure both gods and 
 asuras, whose earring is formed of the moon's digits, even on 
 Qiva, god of gods, preceptor of the three worlds. In but a 
 little time he will give thee release from the woe of the curse.' 
 
 1 The ways of fate are here punningly compared to the caprices of 
 women, cf. vdmdh : striyctfca Comm. 
 
 2 There is a pun on lake Mfumsa made turbid by a falling particle.
 
 CHAPTER I. 13 
 
 To these words Sarasvati, letting fall a pearly white tear- 
 drop, replied : ' Dear friend, if I go with thee, neither 
 severance from Brahma's world nor grief at the curse will 
 cause me any distress : 'tis only that the happiness of 
 serving the lotus-throned fills my heart with soft regret. 
 Furthermore 'tis thou who knowest the abodes where 
 Dharma can be followed 1 upon earth, the means of mystic 
 meditation, and how to practise the postures of ascetic 
 rapture.' So much said she ceased to speak : and that night 
 she spent with unclosed eyes, sleepless through agitation. 
 
 Next day as, heralded by the dawn [20] rosy as an old 
 cock's comb, the adorable sun, the world's diadem, Mount 
 Udaya's crest jewel, arose with a form red as with blood 
 scattered from the mouths of his own steeds cut by the 
 tossing clanking bit, the keeper of the goose tribes that 
 draw Brahma's chariot 2 sang aloud in Aparavaktra metre 
 as he strolled along not far away: 
 
 'Wherefore trembles thine anxious glance, 
 
 ' nursling of pellucid Manasa as thy home 1 
 
 ' Descend, O kalahamsa, to the pond ; 
 
 'Again shalt thou return to the abode of lotuses.' 
 
 Hearing this Sarasvati thought : ' 'Tis I, methinks, to whom 
 he appeals. So be it ! I must respect the sage's sentence.' 
 So she arose resolved to descend to the earth, and having 
 left her attendants prostrate at the separation, parted 
 from her kindred, and then, like one cut off from the herd, 
 passed thrice round the four-faced god. At last, courteously 
 turning back crowds of pursuing devotees, she set forth 
 accompanied by Savitri from Brahma's world. 
 
 Straight she came to the steady-flowing 3 loud-roaring 
 river Mandakini with milky udders downward streaming* 
 like the cow of Dharma, a very Malatl wreath for the head 
 
 1 As e.g. Madhyade9a, Manu ii. 21. 
 
 2 The Kashmir and Bombay texts insert here vivicya : vicarya 
 ' having reflected.' 
 
 3 Or ' descended from Dhruva,' i.e. from the star of Dhruva or the 
 firmament or Visnu ; cf. Comm. 
 
 4 The Sanskrit may also mean ' with down-raining white clouds.'
 
 14 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 of Qiva 1 . Thick covered were its banks with close-clinging 
 Balakhilyas 2 . The bark of its trees had been washed by 
 Arundhati. [21] The clear stars were tremulous as they 
 crossed its high-leaping waves. Its sand-isles were bristling 
 beds of floating sesamum seeds and water 3 offered by ascetics. 
 All white were its banks with offerings to the manes let fall 
 by Brahma when purified by bathing. Ku $a -grass beds of 
 the seven Kisis, who had slept hard by, gave token of the 
 birth-fast for the sun's delivery from eclipse 4 . Dappled was 
 it with abundant flowers from the service, let fall by Qacl's 
 lord when purified by rinsing his mouth. It had garlands 
 of Mandara blossoms, dropped as the remains of the sacrifice 
 from (Diva's city. Scornfully had it cleft the rocks of 
 Mandara's caves. Rippled was its surface with the cup-like 
 bosoms of unnumbered beauties of Indra's court 5 . Its waters 
 were resonant with its tumbling over myriad stones and 
 crocodiles. Masses of the moon's ambrosial dew bestarred 
 its banks, flowing down from the sun's Susumna ray. Grey 
 were its sands with smoke from the fire of Dhisana 6 . Vidya- 
 dharas were flying in terror at its leaping over the sand 
 lihgas erected by the saints. Such was the river, the cast 
 slough, as it were, of the sky serpent, the sportive forehead- 
 ornament of the jester of Indra's world 7 , the bazaar street 
 of the wares of Dharma, the shot bolt of the gate of Hell's 
 city, the silken turban wrap of Sumeru's king 8 , the cloth 
 banner of Kailasa's elephant, the track of liberation, the 
 wheel-rim of the aeon 9 of goodness, the bride of the lord 
 of the seven oceans 10 . 
 
 Passing along its banks Sarasvati descended to the world 
 of mortals ; and just as she stood on the edge of the sky she 
 
 1 The heavenly Ganges falls on Diva's head. 
 
 2 Liliputian munis concerning whom many stories are told. 
 
 3 For the tilodaJcam cf. Manu in. 210. 
 
 4 An eclipse involves impurity to all people, and so necessitates a fast. 
 
 5 I.e. Apsarases. 
 
 6 Brihaspati, the purohita of the Gods, and the planet Jupiter. 
 T Ganeca ? 8 = Civa. 
 
 9 Yuga=(l) age of goodness, (2) chariot. . 
 
 10 =The Milk Ocean or a Mount Candra (Cornm.).
 
 CtiAPTER I. 15 
 
 spied a great river brimming with water, pure, cool and 
 sweet, a daughter of Brahma, by name the Stream of Gold, 
 but by men called Qona, the pearl necklace, as it were, of 
 Varuna, the ambrosia cataract of the moon mountain, the 
 ooze of the Vindhya's moon-gem, a flood of camphor sap from 
 the Dan dak a forest, the streaming loveliness of the world, 
 the crystal couch of the sky's beauty 1 . [22] At the sight her 
 heart was taken captive by its beauty, and there upon its bank 
 she resolved to dwell; so she said to Savitrl: 'Pleasant to me, 
 friend, is the neighbourhood of this great river, which makes 
 dull the lustre of Mandakim. Here are honeyed voices of 
 peacocks, trees having stocks besanded with heaps of pollen, 
 the entrancing hum of lute-like clusters of scent-intoxicated 
 bees. My heart prompts me to abide even here.' So as Savitrl 
 welcomed her words, saying, ' Thus let it be,' she alighted 
 with her friend upon the western bank : and for a dwelling 
 she fixed her mind upon a certain fair creeper arbour by the 
 shore containing a slab of stone. Then after resting she 
 soon arose, and having with Savitrl gathered flowers for 
 worship, bathed : next, having in Qiva's honour erected sand 
 liiigas on the sand-isles, she with deep devotion performed 
 in full the ritual of clasping of fingers together with the 
 Dhruva hymn and preceded by the Pancabrahma prayer 2 ; 
 lastly after long meditation on the eight incarnate forms, 
 earth, wind, water, sky, fire, sun, moon, sacrificer, she 
 presented the eightfold 3 offering of flowers, and refreshed 
 her body with easily gathered roots and fruits and Qona 
 water, cool and of a sweetness surpassing even ambrosia. 
 That day passed, she made a couch of flowers and slept on 
 the stone floor of the creeper arbour. On the morrow she 
 spent night and day in the same routine. 
 
 [23] Now as the days in this wise sped on and time passed, 
 one morning, when the sun was risen only one watch, she heard 
 in the northern quarter the deep clear sound of horses' neighs 
 
 1 I.e. as mirroring the sky. Qrl often reclines on a slab. 
 , 2 _A prayer addressed to Sadyojata, Vamadeva, Aghora, Tatpurusa 
 and Isana. Comm. (We have divided this sentence in our translation.) 
 3 As symbolising the eight forms.
 
 16 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 filling the thickets of the woods with echoes. Her curiosity 
 aroused, she came forth, and looking abroad from the bower 
 beheld at no great distance and speeding towards her a cloud 
 of dust grey as the leaf which contains the blossoming Ketaki 
 flower. In due course," as proximity gave birth to distinct- 
 ness, she saw a troop of horse floating in that huge mass of 
 dust grey as a (Japhards belly, like a school of crocodiles in 
 water. Before it ran an army of foot about a thousand strong, 
 mostly young men, with clusters of crisp hanging hair upon 
 their foreheads, and cheeks laughing with the bright gleam 
 of their ear-ornaments ; girt with scented jerkins spotted with 
 a powder of black aloe wood paste; their upper garments 
 formed into turbans ; sparkling golden bracelets on their left 
 forearms, daggers fastened in strong knots in their sashes of 
 doubled cloth ; tirelessly with bodies thin and hard from in- 
 cessant exercise leaping like the deer of the winds and spurn- 
 ing smooth and rough ground, holes, and clumps of bushes ; 
 clubs at their sides, swords in their hands ; laden with various 
 wild flowers, fruits, roots, and leaves for worship ; and making 
 a ceaseless hubbub with cries of ' On, on, make speed, make 
 speed, away, away, make way in front.' In the midst [24] she 
 discerned a youth in age about eighteen years, shaded by a 
 sky-reaching umbrella, which with its half-moon, its girdling 
 heaps of pearls, its inlay of pieces of various precious stones, 
 and its whiteness as of shells, milk and foam, resembled the 
 milky ocean voluntarily come to present Laksmi. All about 
 him was the sparkling light of his ornaments, as if the 
 horizon of the heavens were keeping close out of passion for 
 the sight of him. Down to his loins from his topknot hung a 
 wreath of Malcitl flowers, like a pennon of beauty won by a 
 world conquest. The red rays uprising from the ruby in his 
 crest 1 seemed delicate sprays carried by an invisible goddess to 
 cleanse his travel-soiled form. His hair, wreathed in clusters 
 of crisp curls and charmingly adorned with a coiled coronet 2 
 
 1 tykhandakhaiidika, : cudabharanam. Comm. 
 
 2 Mundamala, which occurs several times in the book, seems to 
 mean originally Durga's wreath of sculls, and then a wreath of white 
 flowers. The black hair in contact with the white flowers is compared 
 to the darkness swallowing the day.
 
 CHAPTER I. 17 
 
 of white Vakula buds, appeared to be swallowing up the day's 
 contracted blaze. His forehead, all yellow as with arsenic 
 paste, cast the glow of its beauty upon the heavens, and 
 being clasped by its natural loveliness, seemed composed of a 
 second l portion of the moon which forms the coronet of Qiva's 
 matted locks. His wide eyes, whose glances bold in the 
 confidence of fresh youth's commencement made nought of 
 the whole world, appeared to create an autumn, clothing the 
 heavens in myriad pools of opening white, blue and red 
 lotuses. His long nose was like a river of beauty's water, flow- 
 ing from beneath the moonstone of his forehead, and bridged 
 across the stream of his long eyes. His mouth, breathing 
 a fragrance of mangos, camphor, Kakkola-fruits, cloves, and 
 coral trees, and resounding with a hubbub of intoxicated 
 bee-swarms, seemed to emit a very spring together with a 
 Nandana forest. His innocent smiles, bathing the heavens 
 with the light of his teeth as he uplifted his face to catch 
 the jests of his friends around him, [25] created incessantly a 
 kind of moonlight roaming about the sky. A dangling 
 three-pointed ear-ornament an emerald set between a pair 
 of pearls big as Kadamba buds emitted a sheen which 
 suggested a pendant of green jasmine leaves with their 
 flowers. His arms, decorated with painted lines of scented 
 civet powder, resembled a pair of Kama's pennon poles with 
 rampant crocodiles girdling their tops. His body was 
 divided by a white Brahmamcal thread, like Mandara en- 
 circled by the stream of Ganges indignant at the churning 
 of the ocean 2 . His breast, a broad sandbank with two shapely 
 swelling bosoms for ruddy-geese, and with a coating of 
 camphor powder in handfuls for dust, seemed a horizon 
 spread out before him and kept within bounds by the length 
 of his stout arms. His slim waist was marked off by a tight- 
 
 1 The first portion having been used for Qiva, the second remains for 
 this hero. The Sanskrit words for 'natural loveliness' may also be 
 translated 'connate Laksmi,' referring to the birth of Laksml along 
 with the moon from the ocean. 
 
 , 2 The Ganges is imagined as seeking to stay the churning by cling- 
 ing fast to the mountain. 
 
 C. 2
 
 18 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 drawn lower garment of Harltci* green, of which one corner 
 was gracefully set in front a little below the navel and the 
 hem hung over the girdle behind, and which on both sides 
 was so girt up as to display a third of his thigh. His stout 
 thighs, glistening with a thick smearing of bright sandal, 
 seemed to scoff at the length of Airavata's trunk, being 
 very stone pillars for supporting the granite platform 
 of his great chest; while his knees issued from huge 
 'crocodile mouths 2 ' with hard flesh accumulated by in- 
 cessant exercise. His shanks were somewhat slim, as if 
 from the fatigue of supporting the weight of his vast 
 thighs. His feet, which hung on either side, were red as 
 two young shoots of the tree of paradise, and the waving 
 light of their nails formed as it were a row of chowrie 
 ornaments for his horse. 
 
 [26] He was mounted on a great steed, swift as thought, in 
 colour like a dark Sindhuvdra flower, and with a coat as black 
 as a golangula ape's cheeks. As it advanced its high prancing 
 hoofs seemed to rest awhile in the air when it coiled its legs, 
 and falling to tear up the earth. Every moment the hard 
 bit clanked when released by the teeth. Upon its forehead 
 dangled rings of fine gold and the end of the bit rested against 
 its long nose. It was adorned with tinkling trappings of 
 gold. Close on either side with their hands grasping the 
 saddle cloth, two attendants shook white chowries. In front 
 chanted a bard, whose eloquence caused the hairs on the 
 young man's cheeks to bristle with delight, as though tiny 
 stamen filaments from his ear-wreath had become attached 
 to them. He seemed to reveal a descent of a Kama's aeon, to 
 produce a cosmos of moonlight, to beget an animate creation 
 of the substance of smiles, to pave his path with devotion, to 
 frame a day all of love, to inaugurate a kingdom of affection. 
 He was to the eye, as it were, a collyrium of allurement, to 
 the heart an attracting spell, to the senses a powder able 
 to affect the healthiest ; for desire a never-cloying delight, for 
 
 1 The Harita is a kind of pigeon. 
 
 2 Makaramukha is a name given to the upper part of the knee; 
 makaramukham : janunor uparibhagah. Comm.
 
 CHAPTER I. 19 
 
 bliss a never-failing charm ; the resurrection day of Love 1 , 
 the elixir of youth, the unshared rule of loveliness, [27] the 
 triumphal pillar of shapeliness, the capital sum of grace, 
 the fructuation of the world's good deeds, the first bud of 
 beauty's creeper, the fruit of Prajapati's studies in creation, 
 the glory of graciousness, the high-tide of sparkling wit. 
 
 By the young man's side, on a horse not close to any 
 other, was a person wearing a white 2 jerkin and a white 
 silken turban round his head. Tall, in aspect like a pillar 
 of molten gold, with a frame hardened in spite of advanced 
 years by exercise, with short nails beard and hair, bald as a 
 shell, somewhat stout, hairy-bosomed, dressed handsomely 
 but with little display, he seemed one to teach even old age 
 to be decorous, to add weight even to great qualities, to 
 convert magnanimity itself to a disciple, to provide de- 
 portment itself with a monitor. 
 
 When the young man heard of that pair of divinely 
 shaped maidens for the footmen in the van took it all in 
 at a glance and in astonishment made their report his 
 curiosity was aroused, and putting his horse to a gallop, he 
 rode up to the bower, eager to see them. While still at a 
 distance, he alighted from his horse, and staying his suite, 
 approached respectfully on foot attended only by the second 
 noble personage. [28] Greetings made, Savitri and Sarasvati 
 duly received them with the usual hospitality of forest life, 
 beginning with the offer of a seat of twigs and ending with 
 presents of fruit with flowers. They being seated, Savitri 
 sate down, and after a not over-prolonged silence addressed 
 herself to the second of the two, the man of advanced years : 
 ' Sir, to make the first address ill becomes women, whose 
 innate modesty is their all, more especially noble girls, 
 innocent as woodland fawns. Yet hearing, greedy to learn 
 the news and emulous of the eye which has been gratified 
 with seeing, moves me thereto. And indeed even at first 
 , t sight the good proffer confidence like a gift. Like wine, the 
 
 1 .Kama was killed in anger by Civa. 
 
 2 Read valaksa (for dhavala) with Comm. and the Kashmir text. 
 
 22
 
 20 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 feeling inspired by the courtesy 1 shown by a superior makes 
 even the timid talkative. In the very meek confidence easily 
 reaches its highest point, like a string passing to the very 
 end of a plaint bow 2 . Moreover, even in the profoundly 
 wise the previously unknown masterpieces of creation visible 
 in the world occasion astonishment ; for the beauty of this 
 high-souled youth is beyond anything in the universe. It is 
 not the levity natural to young women that compels me 
 to speak, but the exceeding grace, handmaid of high birth, 
 that appears in this darling of heaven 3 . Therefore relate 
 what hapless region has through your coming been desolated 
 by the spreading plague of separation. What is your 
 destination? Whose son is this young man, a second 
 Kama humbling the pride of Qiva's roar? How named 
 the sire, rich in austerities, whose heart this youth gladdens, 
 as the Kaustubha jewel gladdens the heart of Visnu, with 
 an ambrosial shower ? [29] Who was his mother, worthy of 
 the worship of the three worlds, the parent, like the morning 
 twilight, of a great splendour ? What fortunate syllables 
 make up his name ? To inquire concerning your honour also 
 is the next proceeding of a heart compliant to curiosity.' 
 
 She having so spoken, the other courteously replied : 
 'Lady, kindly speech is a hereditary art among the noble. 
 Not merely your face, your heart also is moonlike, bestowing 
 delight by words cooling like ambrosia dew. Women like 
 you come into the world as the native soil of nobility, nay, 
 a greater glory, as the fine arts for forming noble characters 4 . 
 Not to mention conversation, even interchange of glances 
 with the noble is a great exaltation. Listen then: This young 
 man, Dadhica by name, the pride of the Bhrigu race, is the 
 externalized life of the sainted Cyavana 5 , that forehead- 
 
 1 Or of the wine ' courteously offered by a superior.' 
 
 2 The pun here turns on the double sense of atinamre=(l') 'flexible,' 
 (2) ' very submissive.' 
 
 3 The term used here (devandm priyasya} is that which A9oka uses 
 of himself in his inscriptions. 
 
 4 ' To know her was a liberal education,' Steele. 
 
 5 For the story of this mythical sage cf. Wilson, ' Hindu Theatre ' I. 
 p. 263 n. and reff.
 
 CHAPTER I. 21 
 
 mark of the triad Bhu Bhuvas and Svar, whose invincible 
 might paralyzed the pillar-like arm of Indra, whose lotus feet 
 tread rudely on the couch formed by the jewelled crowns of 
 gods and demons, and who blasted Puloman by the outpouring 
 of his splendour. His mother was a princess, Sukanya named, 
 a gem among the maidens of the universe, daughter of the 
 world-conquering Qaryata, whose train is of unnumbered 
 monarchs. Observing her to be with child, her father took 
 her in the birth-month from her husband's side to his own 
 dwelling, there to bear her child 1 . The son borne by the 
 princess was this young man long life be his. [30] And in 
 the king's house he in good time grew up, lotus-eyed, the 
 delight of his kindred, like the young lord of stars 2 . Even 
 when his daughter returned to her husband's house, the 
 grandfather parted not from this cheery- faced 3 grandson of 
 his, a solace to the heart. There accordingly he was trained 
 in all the sciences and the circle of the arts. 
 
 'In time, observing him to have attained to youth, his 
 grandfather, reflecting that his father too should have the 
 delight of gazing on his lotus face, has now prevailed upon 
 himself to send him away to his father's presence. But me 
 let your highness understand to be one named Vikuksi, the 
 least of servants, minister of the will of my auspiciously- 
 named lord Qaryata. My master appointed me his attendant 
 on the way to his father's feet. Our royal house follows the 
 rule of heredity, and length of service produces in the great 
 a certain kindly feeling even towards a dependant 4 . Un- 
 failing indeed is the store of good feeling in the great. 
 
 'Some two leagues hence across the Qona is the abode of 
 the sainted Cyavana, a forest rivalling Caitraratha 5 and by 
 him entitled Cyavana, an appellation derived from his own 
 
 1 The custom should be noticed. 
 
 2 I.e. the moon. 
 
 3 l Na jdyate yatra triptis tad asecanakam viduh.' Comrn. 'that of 
 which we are never satiated': cf. A. K. Vicesyanighnavarga, 53. 
 
 4 The office of minister was frequently hereditary in Hindu times, 
 cf. Wilson, ' Hindu Theatre ' n. p. 208 n. 
 
 5 The grove of the god Kuvera.
 
 22 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 name. That is our journey's goal. If now this is a time for 
 an act of grace, and your heart is void of contempt towards us, 
 if such as we are fit recipients of favours and worthy to hear, 
 let not this our first solicitation of curiosity meet with a 
 repulse. We also are fain to hear your highnesses' story. 
 Your aspect in no way falls short of divinity : but our hearts 
 are eager to hear your lineage and names. Say therefore 
 what stock was made enviable by your birth. Who is this 
 lady near your highness, a coinherence as it were of mutually 
 exclusive qualities? Thus: with the darkness of her locks 
 close by, she has a radiance as of the sun ; [31] with the face 
 of a lotus 1 the eye of a fawn ; wearing the brilliance of the 
 young day, she has yet the smile of a night-lotus ; the voice 
 of a lovesick kalahamsa, yet swelling bosoms 2 : hands soft as 
 day-lotuses, yet hips broad as the rocks of the mountain of 
 snow 3 ; thighs like a young elephant's trunk, yet a languid 
 gait ; she has not passed the season of girlhood, yet she has 
 the swimming eyes of love 4 .' 
 
 Savitri answered: 'You shall hear, my lord, in good 
 time. Our hearts are fain to stay here many days : and the 
 distance is slight. Intimacy will make all clear. Let my 
 lord not forget people seen only by chance.' After which 
 reply she became silent. But Dadhica, with a voice which, 
 resembling the deep mutter of clouds laden with new rain, 
 set the peacocks dancing in the creeper arbours, gravely 
 said: 'My lord, her highness being conciliated will be 
 gracious to us ; now let us visit my father. Rise, let us 
 proceed.' Then, the other assenting, he slowly arose, and 
 with a bow moved away. As he mounted his horse and 
 departed, Sarasvati gazed for a long time after him with an 
 eye with straight rigid lashes and pupil motionless as in a 
 
 1 The contradiction turns on the double sense ofpundarika = (1) lotus, 
 (2) lion. 
 
 2 Payodhardh may also mean 'clouds'; the kalahamsa migrates 
 during the rainy season. 
 
 3 Snow kills the lotus : hence the contradiction. 
 
 4 The words may also mean 'not faithless to Kumara and yet loving 
 his enemy Taraka.'
 
 CHAPTER I. 23 
 
 picture 1 . Crossing the Qona, Dadhica quickly reached the 
 site of his father's seclusion. But when he disappeared 
 Sarasvati stood for a long time gazing in that direction, 
 and could hardly cease looking [32]. 
 
 Then, when she had remained quiet one short moment 
 recalling that perfection of form, her heart was filled more 
 and more with astonishment. Her eye longed to see him 
 again ; and something involuntarily drew her glance in the 
 same direction as before. All uncommissioned her heart 
 went away with him. Like a new spray upon a young 
 wood-creeper, love somehow 2 sprang up in her heart. She 
 passed the day as it were languid, empty, and heavy with 
 sleep. But when with westward inclining circle the sun's 
 radiant form, lover of the lotus beds, sprung from the three 
 Vedas, was nearing the west, with colour golden as a cluster 
 of Lafigalikas, and brilliance red as an old crane's head, 
 while the gathering dusk sky-enveloping was befouling the 
 firmament with a blackness like the bark of a young Tamala, 
 and slowly slowly the moon was creeping up the heavens, 
 like a swan of Mandakim, in pursuit of the tinkling anklets 
 of the roaming mistresses of the saints, at that hour, the very 
 outset of night, Sarasvati, her twilight worship done, fell with 
 languid limbs on her couch of young shoots and there 
 remained. Savitrl also, having performed the evening ritual, 
 in due course took to her couch of leaves at the usual hour 
 of rest, and, drowsiness approaching, slept [33]. 
 
 But the other, though she closed her eyes, enjoyed no 
 sleep ; her couch of leaves was deranged by repeated tossings 
 of her limbs, and this was her thought: 'Surely the world 
 of mortals is above all worlds, since therein are born such 
 gems, the three- worlds' pride, laden with the company of all 
 fine qualities 3 . Thus: the moon is but a trickling drop 
 
 1 This simile so common in Sanskrit poetry may be paralleled from 
 Shakespeare ' Hamlet,' Act n. sc. ii. 465, ' So, as a painted tyrant, 
 Pyrrhus stood,' and also Coleridge, ' Ancient Mariner,' 
 'As idle as a painted ship 
 
 Upon a painted ocean.' 
 
 . 2 Kuto* pi=(V) ' somehow,' (2) ' from the earth.' 
 3 Or 'heavy even for all necklaces.'
 
 24 THE HARA-CARITA. 
 
 of his face's flood of beauty: his glances are beds of ex- 
 panding lotuses, white, blue, and red : the sparklings of his 
 gem-like lips are forest avenues of open Bandhukas. To 
 that body only the disembodied Kama can add a charm. 
 Happy the eyes, hearts, and young beauty of those women 
 within whose vision he comes. In displaying him to me 
 only for a moment my ill-deeds in former births have 
 wrought their fruit. What resource is open to me now?' 
 Amid such thoughts as these drowsiness coming over her, 
 she at length lay still awhile, and falling asleep beheld (in a 
 vision) that very youth with the long eyes. Through that 
 second dream-meeting the lord of the crocodile banner, draw- 
 ing his bow to the ear, dealt her a pitiless stroke. When she 
 awoke thus smit by Kama's bolt, then came unrest as if to learn 
 her condition 1 . Thus was it with her : from that hour, [34] 
 even though unsmitten by the pollen-whitened wood-creepers, 
 she felt a smart. Though her eyes might not be hurt by 
 flower-dust wafted by gentle breezes, yet she would let fall a 
 tear. Though not bedewed by Qona spray scattered by 
 myriad fanning hamsas wings, yet a* moisture came upon 
 her. Though not borne by pairs of rocking Kadambas*, 
 yet was she agitated by the tossing waves of the sylvan 
 lotus pools. Though untouched by the smoke of parting 
 sighs let fall by severed pairs of ruddy-geese, yet she wore 
 a pallid hue. Though unstung by the honey-making tribes, 
 all grey with flower-dust, yet she would feverishly start. 
 
 After the lapse of some nights Vikuksi returning by the 
 same route arrived at that place, and, having checked his 
 attendants as before, approached with his umbrella-holder. 
 Sarasvati, who had observed his approach from afar, sprang 
 joyfully up, and, gazing with straining neck like a woodland 
 fawn, seemed to bathe the way-worn traveller with a glance 
 that whitened the ten regions of space. When he had accepted 
 a seat, Savitrl asked him aifectionately ' My lord, is the young 
 prince well ? ' He answered, ' Quite well, your highness, and 
 he bears you both in remembrance: during the past days, 
 
 1 I.e. as it were, to make a call. 
 
 2 A goose with dark-grey wings.
 
 CHAPTER I. 25 
 
 however, he is somewhat thin in figure, and experiences as it 
 were an inexplicable and causeless void. [35] Also there will 
 arrive later 1 a lady named Malati, commissioned from him to 
 inquire of you : she is a sigh of the prince.' Hearing this, 
 Savitri once more spoke : ' A magnanimous prince indeed 
 to honour with his acquaintance 2 people scarcely known to 
 him and seen only for an instant. His mind was, I suppose, 
 accidentally caught by us for a moment as he passed, like 
 a shawl by a wayside creeper. In your lord's son true nobi- 
 lity is not devoid of high birth. A listless world, truly, that 
 it does not at any price purchase the hearts of the great so 
 easily won to friendship. This is a pinnacle of nobility in 
 the great, unattainable by others, whereby they win the 
 whole world to their service.' Having spent some time 
 in general 3 conversation Vikuksi went away in the direc- 
 tion of his choice. 
 
 On the morrow as the adorable jewel of day arose with 
 his thousand rays, illimitable in splendour, invading the 
 starlight, veiling the darkness, eager to expand the red 
 lotuses, Malati was seen to have crossed the Qona and 
 to be approaching with a small retinue of attendants 4 . [38] 
 While still far away, she was looted as it were by Sarasvati's 
 wishes in her love for Dadhica, hurried on by her eagerness, 
 met by her longings, embraced by her yearning, welcomed 
 into her heart, bathed in her tears of joy, anointed 6 by her 
 smile, fanned by her sighs, arrayed in the light of her eyes, 
 worshipped with (the flower offering of) her lotus face, made 
 a friend by her hopes. So she drew near, and, alighting from 
 her steed, saluted from a distance with bowed head : then 
 having been embraced by the pair she modestly sate down. 
 Being courteously addressed by them, she congratulated 
 herself, and with hands humbly laid upon her head an- 
 
 1 The Comm. explains anvaksam=pratyaksam = 'm person': but 
 query I 
 
 2 Or ' inquiries.' 
 
 3 Uccdvacaik : prakritavastvasamspar^ibhih, vicitrair iti vd. Comm. 
 4 The long description of Malati will be found in the Appendix. 
 
 5 Read vilipta with the Kashmir text.
 
 26 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 nounced the respectful greeting wherewith Dadhlca had 
 charged her ; and in the course of various polite conversation 
 she won the hearts of Savitri and Sarasvati by her urbanity 
 of demeanour and courteous address. 
 
 When noon had passed in due course, and Savitri was 
 gone down to the Qona to bathe, Malati sent away her 
 attendants, and approaching Sarasvati, who was lying on a 
 couch of flowers, [39] said meaningly to her : ' Lady, I have 
 something to communicate in private : so I wish you to 
 bestow on me the favour of a moment's attention.' Sarasvati, 
 suspecting a message from Dadhlca, wondered what she was 
 about to say. So concealing with a portion of her shawl of 
 woven bark a heart which, as if the buds of curiosity were 
 bursting forth, bristled with the rays from the nails of her 
 left hand laid against her bosom ; clinging to a neighbouring 
 creeper (her hope of life, it seemed) which swayed with her 
 incessant sighs, while her dangling ear-wreath suggested that 
 her ear was running forth to listen ; her blooming moonlike 
 face flooding the world with an outpouring of beauty like a 
 stream of passion; buoyed up by swarms of dusky bees 
 attracted by the fragrance of her flowery couch, like embodied 
 yearnings issuing forth blackened by the fire of Kama's flame ; 
 slowly, slowly in the fever of love's dart she uprose from 
 her couch of flowers, and drawing nigh to her ear the Malati 
 reflected in her cheek, as if out of shame she would say 
 ' Whisper it to me,' with honeyed voice she gravely said : 
 ' Why do you speak thus to me, friend Malati ? Who am 
 I to grant attention as a favour? Even without asking 1 , 
 the charming and lovely 2 are masters of our bodies, our 
 lives, our all. There is nothing that you are not to me, 
 sister, friend, loved one, second self. Ordain what task, 
 small or great, this poor body may perform. This com- 
 pliant heart has no secrets from you. Deal as you please 
 with your slave. Reveal, lovely lady, your meaning.' 
 
 'Lady,' the other replied, 'you do not need to be told 
 the delightfulness of mundane things, the importunity of the 
 
 1 Aprdrthito 'without a request'; cf. vidita Kiratarj. I. 2. 
 
 2 V. 1. ativelam ( = atimdtram) for atipecalas in Kashm. ed.
 
 CHAPTER I. 27 
 
 army of the senses, the intoxication of youthfulness, the 
 restlessness of the mind. [40] The resistless power of Kama is 
 notorious. Therefore meet me not, I pray, with censure. 
 My chatter is not due to folly, giddiness, or love of gossip. 
 There is nothing which great devotion to a master does not 
 make people attempt. From the very moment, princess, 
 when the prince beheld you, love has been his spiritual 
 guide 1 , the moon his lord of life 2 , the southern breeze his 
 familiar 3 , anguish has been in his secret counsels, pain the 
 friend of his bosom 4 , wakefulness his kinsman, yearnings his 
 emissaries, sighs his vanguard 5 , death his squire, disquiet his 
 courier, fancies his aged advisers. How am I to speak ? 
 Should I say ' he is a match for your highness,' your heart 
 will tell you that; 'of noble character,' that is beside the 
 mark ; ' a man of sense,' that is at variance with his state of 
 mind ; ' blessed by fortune,' that depends on you ; ' constant 
 in affection,' that implies experience ; ' versed in rendering 
 homage,' that is inappropriate to his princely rank; 'he is 
 fain to be your slave till death,' a knave's plea ; ' you shall 
 be the mistress of his house,' a seductive tale ; ' happy 
 she who owns such a lord,' a partisan's story; [41] 'you are 
 his death,' an unkind saying; 'you know not worth,' a 
 reproach ; ' you have often shown him favours in dreams,' 
 unsupported by testimony ; ' he pleads for his life,' a coward's 
 act ; ' go and visit him,' a command ; ' though forbidden, he 
 is coming perforce,' mere overbearingness. Therefore, when 
 I have said that you are beyond the reach of words, the 
 decision rests with you.' 
 
 So much said, she became silent. But Sarasvati with 
 eyes wide-open with love replied : ' I am unable to say 
 many words. Here am I, lady of smiling speech, at your 
 
 1 There is a pun on guru = (I) great, (2) teacher. 
 
 2 I.e. as allaying his pain by its coolness. Jlviteca may, however, 
 mean also (1) the god of death, as the moon serves to kindle his passion, 
 and (2) purohit or spiritual guide : there is a complicated play on these 
 three senses. 
 
 3 Or ' a cause of sighing.' 
 
 ' 4 The word paramasuhrid may also mean ' preeminently an enemy.' 
 6 Or punningly ' sighs go before his body.'
 
 28 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 orders. Take charge of my life.' ' Your commands are the 
 highest of favours,' replied Malati, beside herself with joy, 
 and bowing passed on her galloping steed across the ona, 
 and proceeded to Cyavana's hermitage to bring Dadhica. 
 But the other out of love for her friend made Savitrl also 
 acquainted with the news. Her mind panting under its load 
 of longing, she could scarcely pass the rest of the day which 
 seemed an aeon. But when the adorable sun had sunk with 
 all his radiance in the west, when the dusk was stilly 
 descending, and the moon was issuing, like a lion from his 
 cave, from the eastern quarter now gleaming as with a 
 smile 1 , then SarasvatI sate herself down on the Qona sands, 
 white, delicate as China silk, rolling in waves, like a silken- 
 soft bed. On her brow was a jewel, the imaged moonlight, 
 as it were, of Dadhlca's toe-nails as in her dreams she fell in 
 supplication at his feet. Reflected in the mirror of her 
 cheek, the moon thus near to her ear seemed to be com- 
 municating Kama's charge, ' Fair smiling one, here have I 
 brought thy heart's darling.' As her hand fanned her moist 
 cheek, its nails scattered a horizon of rays, like a bundle of 
 moon-digits converted into a yak-tail fan. Above her heart, 
 sighing 2 against her bosom, she had just strength to bear a 
 young lotus stalk, like a rod let fall 3 in sport by Kama across 
 its portal to say ' Here none but Dadhica may enter.' [42] 
 Thus did she expect him, and this was the thought in her 
 heart, ' Since I, even I, SarasvatI, have been enslaved, like 
 a low-caste woman, by this heart's son Kama, what is 
 to be expected of other poor excitable maidens ? ' 
 
 With Malati Dadhica came bringing sweet perfumes 
 like the month of honey, bearing like a hariisa cooling 
 lotus fibres, his face uplifted in deep joy like a peacock at a 
 cloud 4 , causing like the Malaya breeze a tremour upon a 
 
 1 I.e. an arch smile at the meeting of the lovers. 
 
 2 The Kashmir text, however, reads stanayantl, which will go with 
 SarasvatI. 
 
 3 For vetralata cf. Pancatantra (Bomb, ed.), p. 16, 1. 1. 
 
 4 G/iana = (l) great, (2) cloud.
 
 CHAPTER I. 29 
 
 creeper-like form 1 all white with moist sandal : drawn on, as 
 it seemed, by the lord of planets 2 with finger-like rays grasping 
 his locks ; wafted by the southern breeze potent in kindling 
 love ; borne on the billowy current of desire 3 . A throng of 
 bees crowding towards his fragrance arrayed his willowy 
 form as with a dark garment : the moon's image, gleaming 
 within like the ear-shell 4 of love's raging elephant, whitened 
 the convex of his cheek as with the coy aimless smile of a 
 first union. Having arrived and greeted her with a voice 
 which, broken like a hamsa's, seemed interrupted by a tinkle 
 of anklets from the loved one taken to his heart, he spent 
 that fair night in the fashion enjoined by Kama, taught by 
 youth, [43] dictated by passion, and revealed by insight. 
 Taking confidence, Sarasvati made herself known to him, 
 and with her he spent a full year brief as a single day. 
 
 Then by ordinance of destiny Sarasvati conceived, and 
 bare in good time a son graced by all auspicious signs. 
 Upon him at the very hour of his birth she laid this blessing, 
 'By my favour all the Vedas with the mystic portions, all 
 authoritative books, and all arts shall be fully and spon- 
 taneously manifested in him.' Then bearing Dadhica in her 
 heart as though to display him with the vaunt of an ideal 
 spouse, she ascended by the Great Father's will with Savitri 
 to Brahma's world. She having departed, Dadhica also, 
 pierced to the heart as by a lightning flash, went away sick 
 with his loss to the woods to live as an ascetic : having 
 appointed as his son's foster-mother a hermit's daughter 
 named Aksamala, wife to Bhratri, a Brahman of the Bhrigu 
 race. She had borne a son at the very hour when Sarasvati 
 gave birth to hers. So the two children gradually grew up 
 together, fed without favour at the same breast. The one 
 was named Sarasvata simply 5 , the other's name was Vatsa. 
 
 1 I.e. Sarasvati. The words may also mean " the creepers clinging 
 to the sandal and grislea trees." 
 
 2 The Moon. 
 
 3 Utkalikd = (l) wave, (2) agitation. 
 
 4 Because of its whiteness. 
 
 6 I.e. ' Sarasvatfs son' : ukhyd and ndma are here distinguished.
 
 30 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 And between the two there existed an enviable affection like 
 that of brothers. 
 
 Now Sarasvata, who through his mother's power was at 
 the very outset of youth gifted with the full treasure of the 
 sciences, conveyed it undiminished in the form of words to 
 his dear confidant and loving twin-brother Vatsa. When 
 Vatsa took a wife, he made for him in that same nei^h- 
 
 ' O 
 
 bourhood a mansion endearingly named The Pinnacle of 
 Delight 1 : he himself, assuming the hermit's staff, black 
 antelope skin, bark dress, rosary, girdle, and matted locks, 
 went to join his father, the ascetic [44]. 
 
 From Vatsa there proceeded a prolific stock like Ganges 
 purifying, noised abroad* through the growing fame of the 
 school established by its founders, upheld on the Almighty's 
 head, deep in the lore of all arts, honoured of great saints, 
 potent to shake its foes, stretching far over the earth's 
 surface, stumbling not in its going 2 . Wherefrom were born 
 home-dwelling sages named Vatsyayanas, devoted to Qrauta 
 lore yet assuming not the false muttering of cranes, vowed 
 to the ' Cock ' rules of fasting yet free from the ways of cats, 
 averse to worldly pretence, bare of all wily, deceitful, guileful 
 or boastful intent, discarding hypocrisy, trampling on dis- 
 honesty, tranquil in nature, free from sudden change, reluctant 
 in heart to reprove others, cleansed from darkness by detach- 
 ment from the three colours 3 , shaken clear of desire by deep 
 thought, wavering not in soul, devoted to their followers, at 
 rest from all the doubts of different schools, openers of all knotty 
 points in the sense of books, poets, [45] eloquent, without 
 envy, fond of charming speech, skilled in clever wit, versed 
 in urbane ways, connoisseurs of dance, song and music, never 
 surfeited with tradition, compassionate, pure through truth, 
 honoured of the good, with hearts melting with a dew of 
 
 1 This is probably the name of Bana's home. 
 
 2 The adjectives are all made by means of puns to apply both to the 
 race and to the Ganges. This paragraph is full of untranslateable puns. 
 
 3 Varnatraya 'the triad of colours,' red, white, and black, is a 
 synonym for the material world : cf. Cveta9v. Upanis., iv. 5. The pun 
 is on varnatraya = three castes and andhas = (\) darkness, (2) food. 
 ' Their food pure through avoiding the three castes.'
 
 CHAPTER I. 31 
 
 tenderness to all beings ; likewise endowed with all qualities 
 yet unconquered by the quality of passion 1 , possessed of 
 patience, cheering their dependents 2 , not cruel, girt with 
 knowledge 3 , not dull, masters of arts 4 , free from faults, 
 helpful 5 , not inflaming others yet suns of brilliance, without 
 heat yet sacrificers 6 , without crooked ways, happy 7 , no rigid 
 Stoics, yet abodes of good deeds rewarded 8 , unfailing in the 
 performance of sacrifice, dexterous 9 , guileless, superior to 
 desire 10 , preeminent among the twice born. 
 
 Now as this stock persisted mid the flux of things, the 
 passing of aeons, the descent of the Kali age, the going of 
 the years, the march of the days, and the lapse of time, [46] 
 there was in due time born in the expansive Vatsyayana 
 clan, pressing on in unbroken succession, a certain twice-born 
 man, Kuvera by name, devoted as the son of Vinata to his 
 guru 11 . He begat four sons Acyuta, Icana, Hara, and Pa9u- 
 pata, propagating their race, like the four aeons, through the 
 power of Vedic knowledge 12 , like Narayana's columnar arms 
 gladdening the circles of the good 13 . Among them Pac,upata 
 begat a single high-souled son, by name Arthapati, crest 
 jewel of all the Brahman schools, profound as the four 
 oceans, and like a mountain keeping steadfast the law of 
 
 1 Or punningly ' by the armies of kings.' 
 
 2 Or punningly 'inheritors of earth, yet gone to the heavenly 
 Nandana.' 
 
 3 Or 'without swords yet Vidyadharas.' The Vidyadharas are 
 always armed with swords. 
 
 4 Or ' without coolness, yet moons.' 
 
 6 Or ' teachers,' taralcd: dcdryd, Comm. : the word may also mean 
 'constellations,' forming a punning antithesis to adosdh, which may 
 mean ' not belonging to evening.' 
 
 6 Or ' fires.' r Or ' yet serpents.' 
 
 8 Or ' without pillars, yet caravanserais of holiness.' 
 
 9 Or 'yet Daksas.' Daksa's mythological sacrifice had been inter- 
 rupted by ^iva. 
 
 10 Or ' without serpents, yet Qivas.' 
 
 11 =(1) parent, (2) teacher. The son of Vinata is Garuda who stole 
 the amrita to purchase his mother's freedom. 
 
 12 Or of the aeons ' having a race sprung from Brahma's creative 
 power ' = all beings. 
 
 13 Or of Narayana's arms ' holding the discus and the sword.'
 
 32 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 his race 1 . From him were born eleven pure sons, like the 
 Rudras, with faces coated with a dew of the moon's am- 
 brosia 8 ; and their names were Bhrigu, Hamsa, Quci, Kavi, 
 Mahidatta, Dharma, Jatavedas, Citrabhanu, Tryaksa, Ahi- 
 datta, and Vic,varupa. Of whom Citrabhanu was blessed 
 with a son Bana by a BrahmanI woman named Rajadevi. 
 The boy, while still a child, was deprived of his mother, who 
 was taken away through the will of sovereign destiny. 
 His father, however, conceiving a deep love for him acted a 
 mother's part, and under his care the boy grew with ever 
 increasing vigour in his own home. 
 
 But when, being now about fourteen years of age, he had 
 passed through initiation and the associated rites, and had 
 returned from his teacher's house 3 , his father also, having 
 performed in full the sacred duties proper to the twice-born 
 as enjoined in Qruti and Smriti, departed ere he reached the 
 allotted span to his rest 4 . After his father's decease Bana in 
 the anguish of a great sorrow, his heart all aflame by day 
 and night, [47] passed some days, he knew not how, in his 
 own house. When his sorrow gradually became less absorbing, 
 he through indulgence in sundry youthful follies, due either 
 to misconduct arising from independence, to the impetuosity 
 prevalent in youth, or to the aversion of young manhood to 
 steadiness, came into reproach 5 . He had friends and com- 
 panions of his own years, and among them two brothers of 
 low birth 6 , Candrasena and Matrisena, a dear friend the ver- 
 nacular 7 poet Icjlna, adherents Rudra and Narayana, precep- 
 
 1 Or of the mountain ' with motionless ranges.' 
 
 2 I.e. they were moonfaced. There may also be an allusion to the 
 Soma juice. 3 As a stiataka. 
 
 4 Adacamistha, literally 'not in his tenth decade,' came to mean 
 ' not having attained his allotted span,' because the Hindus regarded a 
 hundred years as the natural life of man. The father of Bana (who 
 was 14 years old) cannot have been anywhere near this. 
 
 5 Itvaro babhura may however mean ' was wild.' The Comm. gives 
 gamanaala as the equivalent of itvara ; it means ' poor, mean ' in the 
 Divyavadana. 
 
 6 Pardcavdu = sons of a Brahman and a Sudra woman. 
 
 7 Bhasakavi is explained by the comm. as a writer of songs 01; a 
 vernacular poet.
 
 CHAPTER I. 33 
 
 tors Varavana and Vasavana, a descriptive poet Vembharata, 
 a Prakrit poet the young noble Vayuvikara, two panegyrists 
 Anangavana and Sucivana, an ascetic widow 1 Cakravakika, 
 a snake-doctor Mayuraka, a betel-bearer Candaka, a young 
 physician Mandaraka, a reader Sudristi, a goldsmith Camlkara, 
 a supervisor Sindhusena, a scribe Govindaka, a painter Vira- 
 varman, a modeller 2 Kumaradatta, a drummer Jimuta, two 
 singers Somila and Grahaditya, a maid Kurangika, two 
 pipers Madhukara and Paravata, a music-teacher Darduraka, 
 a shampooer Keralika, a dancer Tandavika, a dicer Akhandala, 
 a gamester Bhimaka, a young actor Qikhandaka, a dancing 
 girl Harinika, a Para^ara mendicant Sumati, a Jain monk 
 Viradeva, a story-teller Jayasena, a Qaiva devotee Vakraghona, 
 a magician Karala, a treasure-seeker 3 Lohitaksa, an assayer 
 Vihangama, a potter 4 Damodara, a juggler Cakoraksa, a Brah- 
 man mendicant Tamracuda. [48] With these and others for 
 his companions, pliant from youthfulness, smit with a passion 
 for seeing other lands, despite the wealth sufficient for a 
 Brahman amassed by his father and grandfather, despite his 
 hitherto uninterrupted pursuit of knowledge, he went forth 
 from his home ; and, being free from all restraint and seem- 
 ing bewitched by early youth through a headstrong will, he 
 brought himself into the derision of the great. 
 
 But gradually thereafter by observation of great courts 
 charming the mind with their noble routine, by paying his 
 respects to the schools of the wise brilliant with blameless 
 knowledge, by attendance at the assemblies of able men deep 
 in priceless discussions, by plunging into the circles of clever 
 men dowered with profound natural wisdom, he regained the 
 
 1 Katydyanikd : cf. 
 
 pa.tica$a.dvarsadeclyam vlram samsthitabhartrikam \ 
 vadanti kdtyayanikam dhritaka$ayavasasam.\\ 
 
 Comna. and A. K. Manusyavarga 17. 
 
 2 Pustakrit : lepyakara Coinm. ; the word may perhaps mean ' a 
 scribe.' 
 
 3 Asuravivaravyasanl : patalabhilal. Comm. Perhaps it means 'a 
 miner or metallurgist.' 
 
 , 4 Dardurika, explained by Tarauath as meaning ' potter,' is quoted 
 by Panim, iv. 4. 34. 
 
 c. 3
 
 34 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 sage attitude of mind customary among his race. After long 
 years he returned once more to his own native soil, resort of 
 Bran mans, shelter of the Vatsyayana line. There, welcomed, 
 like a feast-day, by kinsmen respectfully announcing their 
 relationship and renewing after long absence their kindly 
 affection, he found himself in the midst of the friends of his 
 youth enjoying almost the bliss of liberation 1 . 
 
 Here ends the first chapter, termed ' the description of the Vatsya- 
 yana race,' of the Harsa-carita, composed by Qri Bana Bhatta. 
 
 1 Bdlamitramandalasya madhyagato may also, with reference to the 
 liberated soul, mean ' in the centre of the mild sun's disc, 3 as the sun 
 loses its power to burn in his presence.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 [49] IT is with a king of profound wisdom for those who 
 have no means of access to him as it is with a well for those 
 who have no way of descending into it, virtuous royal in- 
 tercessors 1 secure the desired success; the day' 2 plants within 
 the susceptible lotus the beauty given by the sun ; to help 
 others, without regarding their virtues or faults, is the 
 passion of the good. 
 
 There Bana roamed about happily in the homes of his 
 kindred seen after a long absence, resonant as they were 
 with the noise of continual recitation, filled with young 
 students attracted by the sacrifices, running about like so 
 many fires with their long tawny braids of hair 3 , and their 
 foreheads white with sectarial marks made of ashes, with 
 the terraces in front of the doors green with little beds 
 of soma plants all fresh from recent watering, with the 
 rice and panicum for the sacrificial cakes laid out to 
 dry, scattered on the skins of the black antelope, with 
 the oblations of wild rice strewed by the young maidens, 
 with the fuel, leaves, and bundles of green Ku$a grass 
 brought by hundreds of pure disciples, filled with heaps 
 of cow-dung and fuel with the covered terraces in their 
 courts marked by the round hoofs of the cows as they 
 
 1 The words will also mean " earthen pots furnished with a string." 
 
 2 The day, as distinguished from the night, is the ' intercessor ' 
 between the lotus and the sun, as Krisna, the king's brother, is between 
 Banatind Crl-Harsa. 
 
 3 Or, if taken with ' fires,' " betressed with stalks of tawny flames." 
 
 Of. Manu^ii. 219. 
 
 32
 
 36 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 came in for the daily offerings, dropping the milk which 
 was to be used for preparing the curds 1 , [50] with troops of 
 ascetics busied in pounding the clay for making pots, with 
 the sacred limits purified by heaps of udumbara branches 
 brought to make pegs 2 to mark out the altars for the 
 three sacrificial fires, with the ground white with lines of 
 offerings to the Vi9ve Devah, with the sprays of the trees 
 in the courts grey with the smoke of the oblations, with 
 the wanton calves sporting about, caressed by the young 
 cowherds, with the succession of animal sacrifices clearly 
 suggested by the young spotted goats playing about, all 
 peaceful through the cessation of the labours of the Brahman 
 teachers, while busy repetitions were now commenced by the 
 parrots and mainas, like so many hermitages for the 
 incarnate Three Vedas. 
 
 While he stayed there, Time in his character of Summer, 
 with his smile white with the jasmines in full flower, 
 yawned and swallowed up the two flowery months 3 . At 
 first he was gentle and showed compassion to the thirsty 
 young gardens, as if they were the young children left 
 behind by the spring when it was conquered and had passed 
 away ; and at its first rising by its warmth the hot season [51] 
 unloosed 4 all the imprisoned blossoms throughout the earth. 
 The tresses of the fair [damp after bathing] were seized by 
 the god of love 5 as if they were chowries used at the 
 coronation of the Spring, the King of Seasons [and so still 
 wet with the waters of installation] ; and the Sun made 
 his expedition against the North as if in wrath for the 
 lotus beds which the winter frosts had burned. 
 
 As the forehead-burning sun grew hot, the moons of the 
 women's foreheads undertook vows of paying homage to him, 
 
 1 Curds composed the Vaigvadeva oblation. 
 
 2 Used in measuring the altar, see Katyay. Stit. v. 3. 14. 
 
 3 Caitra and Vai9akha, i.e. from the middle of March to that of 
 May. Grlsma is from the middle of May to that of July. Mahakala 
 also contains a punning reference to Qiva in his character as the 
 destroyer. 
 
 4 As a King at his accession sets prisoners free. 
 
 5 Ragh. xvi. 50.
 
 CHAPTER II. 37 
 
 being decorated with sandal-lines on their foreheads as sec- 
 tarial marks, and wearing their curls as the ragged garments 
 of ascetics, and bearing rosaries with the pearly drops of 
 perspiration for beads. The women themselves slept away 
 the day, grey with sandal-wood applications, like the night- 
 lotuses unable to bear the sight of the sun ; their eyes, 
 heavy with sleep, could not bear the light of their jewels, 
 far less the cruel sunshine. In the sultry season the moon- 
 light nights grew less and less, like the rivers, which cheered 
 by the diminishing distance the parted pairs of cakravakas. 
 on their banks [52]. The fierce heat of the sun made people 
 long not only to drink water perfumed with the strong 
 scent of the trumpet-flower, but even to drink up the very 
 wind. 
 
 But as the season's childhood passed away and the sun's 
 rays became hotter, the lakes grew dry, the streams sank 
 lower, the waterfalls ebbed away, the din of the crickets in- 
 creased, every thing was deafened by the continued cooing of 
 the distressed doves. Then the other birds grew audacious, 
 the wind swept away the refuse, the shrubs grew less dense 1 , 
 the hard clusters of the grislea tomentosa were licked by the 
 young lions in their blind thirst for blood, the sides of the 
 mountains were wet with the water spouted from the fainting 
 elephant-herds, and the bees were dumb, as they lay in the 
 dark patches of the dried ichor of the heat-distressed 
 elephants. The season appeared with its borders painted 
 red with the blushing Manddra flowers, while the splitting 
 crystal rocks were marked by the horns of the buffaloes as 
 they were bewildered in the doubt whether what they saw 
 was a flowing stream of water, the dry creepers rustled in 
 the sultry heat, the scratching wild cocks were frightened at 
 the straw- conflagrations in the heated dust, the porcupines 
 took shelter in their holes, [53] while the pools were dried down 
 to their muddy bottoms which were discoloured by the fishes 
 as they lay rolling on their backs, disturbed * by the troops of 
 ospreys hovering in the arjuna trees on the banks ; and the 
 
 l From the falling of the leaves. 
 
 2 Jvara. The Schol. takes Kuta as the bird's cry.
 
 38 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 world lighted its forest conflagrations like a solemn lustration 
 ceremony, and the nights fell into a consumption 1 as the 
 days lengthened. 
 
 The winds raged madly, leaping up in every direction 
 in the waste places and openly carrying off masses of the 
 roofs of the watering-sheds, rubbing against the rough 
 stony places as if they were itching with the irritating 
 prickings of the ripe stinging bushes of Mucuna pruritus, 
 gathering a material outline and scattering powder as they 
 .went, and bearing the sharp shoots of the mucukunda as 
 their teeth, moistened by the drops in the mouths of the 
 noisy flying grasshoppers, plunging into the false waters 
 of the mirage as it trembled as with waves in the heat of the 
 young sun, hurrying through the desolate tracks rustling 
 with the dry ^ami-trees, actors in the wild miracle-play 2 
 with its passionate circular dances 3 and the uproar of the 
 hurrying hither and thither of the dust whirlwinds, [54] 
 blackened with the ashes of the sites of old forest con- 
 flagrations and gathering up the scattered peacocks' feathers 
 as if they had learned the ways of wandering mendicants 4 , 
 carrying bunches of the rattling dry seeds of old karanja 
 trees as if they had marching drums, bursting out with 
 the panting snorts of the buffaloes faint with the heat, 
 followed as by their children by the long lines of swift 
 deer springing up, frowning with their curls of smoke- 
 like chaff, rising as from burning threshing-floors, spread- 
 ing the waves of hell by their hot mists, shaggy as 
 with hair by the threads of the bursting silk-cotton pods, 
 covered with dry leaves as with a cutaneous eruption, [55] 
 bearing the long lines of grass like a sick man's exposed 
 veins, shaking the points of the barley-awns as if they 
 were a beard, taking the shed quills of the porcupines 
 for their teeth, and the flames of fire for their tongues, 
 whirling up the snakes' cast-off skins as their crests, practis- 
 
 1 Of. Taitt. Samhita ii. 3. 5 ; ii. 5. 6. 
 
 2 For the drabhatl cf. Sahitya D. 420. 3 Read rdserasa. 
 
 4 The Digambara Jamas carry peacocks' tails in their hards to 
 sweep insects from their path. Sarva-Darc. Sat}tgralui transl. p. 63.
 
 CHAPTER II. 39 
 
 ing on the hot lotus-juices as a preparation for the future task 
 of swallowing the liquids of the whole world, alarming the 
 three worlds by the shrill sound of rattling the dry bamboo- 
 thickets as if they were the drums to proclaim the imminent 
 drying up of the entire watery element. Their path was 
 variegated with the scattered feathers of the darting blue 
 jays, they seemed coloured by the live coals and sparks of 
 the bursting red g unjd- berries, as if they had caught the 
 varied hues from the scorching torch of the sun's rays ; waking 
 up as they wandered the wild sounds of the mountain caves, 
 skilled in preparing a magic potion to reduce the world to 
 dust, propitiating the forest-fires with showers of the coral- 
 tree's flowers as with offerings of blood, with their course 
 bestarred with burning sand, and bedewed with melted bitu- 
 men from the heated rocks ; [50] and scented, as they blew, 
 with the strong smell of the insects in the hollows of the 
 trees, which were baked 1 in the fragments of the sparrows' 
 eggs which had exploded as they grew hot in the forest- 
 conflagration. 
 
 Dreadful forest-conflagrations appeared on every side, 
 raging as if fanned to fury by a thousand bellows, like exhala- 
 tions blowing from the cavern-like jaws of old dragons, some- 
 times like deer 2 quietly eating up the grass at their will, 
 sometimes like tawriy-coloured ichneumons creeping in the 
 holes at the bottom of the trees, sometimes like followers 
 of the Muni Kapila, wearing matted locks, sometimes like 
 hawks destroying the nests of the birds, sometimes like 
 women's lower lips red with melted lac, sometimes like 
 arrows, gaining their speed by the wings of the birds which 
 they have overtaken, sometimes like those who attain nir- 
 vana, burning up all the causes which produced them 3 , some- 
 times like lovers, veiled in garments 4 scented with flowers, 
 
 1 This refers to a particular method of pi'eparing drugs, the various 
 substances being wrapped up m leaves, covered with clay, and roasted 
 in the fire. 
 
 2 The word for ' deer ' (harinaK) might mean ' yellow ' and so babhru 
 and kapila in the two following similes. 
 
 3 Or ' the causes of birth.' 4 Or ' clouds.'
 
 40 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 sometimes as if languid with indigestion, heavy with 
 fumes, [57] sometimes with an insatiable craving desiring 
 to devour the whole world, sometimes like very old men, 
 leaning on the top of a bamboo,- 1 sometimes like a con- 
 sumptive patient, indulging in a long course of bitumen, 
 sometimes fat as feasting on every kind of food sometimes 
 burning fragrant gums like the worshippers of Rudra, 
 sometimes standing on the bare stems, with the thorny madana 
 trees 1 burned entirely, roots and branches and flowers, 
 actors in the wild dance with their quivering flame-locks 
 outspread, worshipping the Sun with their opened flame- 
 hands, which shower down the dry bursting grains of parched 
 wild-rice and make a way through the dried tanks, longing 
 without disgust for the smell of the raw flesh of the fullgrown 
 tortoises as they are suddenly offered up as in sacrifice, and 
 consuming even their own smoke lest it should rise up and 
 become clouds 2 with quantities of massed insects crackling 
 in the dry grass like oblations of mustard seed, with the 
 white shells in the dried lakes breaking into pieces through 
 the heat like the skins of leprous patients, raining beeswax 
 in the woods from the bee-hives full of melting honey, as if 
 they were covered with sweat, with their curls of flames 
 now all dying away in the salt wastes as if they were 
 bald, [58] and again, swallowing apparently mouthfuls of 
 rocks amidst crags which seemed built up of the fragments of 
 the blazing sun-crystals. 
 
 One day during that terrible hot season as he was in his 
 house, after having eaten the afternoon meal, Candrasena, 
 his half-brother by a Qudra mother, entered, saying, "A 
 renowned courier is waiting at the door, sent to you by Krisna, 
 the brother of Qiiharsa, the king of kings, the lord of the 
 four oceans, whose toenails are burnished by the crest gems 
 of all other monarchs, the leader of all emperors." He replied, 
 " Introduce him without delay." 
 
 Then he beheld the messenger entering as he was 
 
 1 This can also mean " standing like Qiva, with Kama bearing his 
 flowery arrows consumed by his blazing eye." 
 
 2 Which might bring rain to extinguish them.
 
 CHAPTER II. 41 
 
 brought before him, his legs tired and heavy with the 
 long journey, with his tunic girt up tightly by a mud- 
 stained strip of cloth, the knot hanging loose and fastened 
 up by a ragged clout swinging behind him, and having his 
 head wrapped with a bundle of letters, which had a deep 
 division pressed into it by a very thick thread that bound 
 it ; and he said to him, while he was yet some way off, " Is 
 all well with my honoured friend Krisna, who is the 
 disinterested friend of all the world?" He answered, "All 
 is well"; and then making his obeisance he sat down at 
 some distance and said, after resting awhile, " This letter 
 has been sent by our honoured lord," and he unloosed it and 
 gave it. Bana took it respectfully and read it to himself. [59] 
 '"When they have once learned the- news from Mekhalaka, 
 the wise will avoid all delay as hindering success"; this is 
 the real essence of the writing, all else is mere rhetorical 
 compliment 1 .' Having mastered the contents of the letter 
 and sent away his attendants, he asked for the message. 
 Mekhalaka replied, "My lord thus addresses thee in thy 
 wisdom, ' Your honour knows that the belonging to one 
 gotra, or to one caste, or the being brought up together 
 or the dwelling in one place or the constantly seeing each 
 other, or the hearing of each other's mutual affection, or the 
 conferring of benefits when absent, or a similarity of dis- 
 position can all be causes of affection ; but without any cause 
 my heart is tenderly affected with a firm love towards thee, 
 even though thou art not seen by me and as though thou 
 wert a relation near at hand when thou art really afar off, 
 just as the moon feels towards the lotus-bed, however 
 distant it may be. In thy absence the king was on various 
 occasions prejudiced against thee by the malevolent ; but it 
 was not a true report. There are none so situated, but, even if 
 they are good, they will have friends, neutrals, and enemies 2 . 
 Some unworthy remark was uttered concerning thee by some 
 envious wretch through thy mind being not wholly averse to 
 the levity of childhood, and others caught it up and repeated 
 it.. The minds of the unreflecting toss about, rolling to and 
 1 Cf. the Persian phrase Ziydda ci bar-tardzad. 2 Manu, vii. 158.
 
 42 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 fro like water. What now shall the lord of the earth do, 
 when he comes to a settled decision after hearing many 
 different suggestions ? Though thou wast far away, yet thou 
 wast immediately represented by us who sought to know the 
 real truth. The sovereign has been reminded with regard to 
 thee that ' every one's youth in the opening of life is usually 
 guilty of some levities,' and he at once assented to the ex- 
 cuse. Therefore [60] your highness must repair to the palace 
 without delay. I cannot approve thy habits, living as thou 
 dost thus away from the king amidst thine own friends like a 
 tree without fruit away from the sun's beams. Nor shouldst 
 thou shrink from the toil of court-attendance or feel any fear 
 of waiting upon him ; for although it may be true enough, 
 1 Alas ! he who is unskilled in waiting upon a king is like 
 Kama, he cannot speak out his request, although the 
 opportunity is come exactly as he had wished, he gives 
 pain (to his patron) by hundreds of ill-timed petitions for 
 favours, and by his folly he throws away his livelihood in a 
 moment 1 ;' yet these other common kings are one thing, 
 and our ambrosial lord is quite another, who puts to shame 
 such ancient heroes as Nriga, Nala, Nisadha, Nahusa, 
 Ambarisa, Da9aratha, Dilipa, Nabhaga, Bharata, Bhagiratha, 
 and Yayati. His eyes are not stained by the deadly poison of 
 pride ; his voice is not choked by the convulsive effects of the 
 baneful drug of conceit ; his postures do not lose their natural 
 dignity through any sudden epileptic fit of forgetfulness 
 caused by the heat of arrogance ; his changes of feeling are 
 not exaggerated by the fevered outbursts of ungovernable 
 self-will ; his gait is not agitated by the unnatural movements 
 of an access of self-conceit ; his voice is not rendered harsh 
 by the words being uttered under a tetanus of hauteur which 
 distorts his lips. Thus his idea of jewels attaches to men of 
 pure virtues, [61] not to bits of rock, his taste delights in 
 
 1 These lines must be read with a series of puns, when taken as 
 referring to Kama. " Although his realm and power are sprung from 
 fancy, Kama cannot be called 'corporeal' (dehl), he gives pain to 
 lovers by his hundreds of arrows and by his folly he sacrifices his 
 life in a moment consumed by Diva's anger." Samkalpaja is one of the 
 names of Kama.
 
 CHAPTER II. 43 
 
 pearl-like qualities, not in heaps of ornaments, his judge- 
 ment as to proper means is versed in deeds of bounty, not 
 in the ichor-flowing temples of poor worms of elephants 1 , 
 his highest love is for preeminent glory, not for the withering 
 stubble of this life, his magnificence is devoted to adorning 
 the different quarters of the earth whose tribute he seizes, 
 not the dolls which he calls his wives, his notion of bosom 
 friendship belongs to his well-strung bow, not to the cour- 
 tiers who live on the crumbs of his board. His natural 
 instinct is to help his friends, sovereignty means to him 
 helping his dependants, learning at once suggests helping 
 the learned and success helping his kinsfolk, power means 
 helping the unfortunate and wealth helping the brahmans ; 
 his heart's main occupation is to remember benefits and his 
 life's sole employment is to assist virtue, his body's one use 
 is to carry out the dictates of courage, and the earth's to be 
 an arena for his sword, attendant kings are wanted to amuse 
 him, and enemies to help his majesty to shew itself. It 
 could have been by no common merits in former births that 
 he attained this glorious preeminence so that the shadow of 
 his feet diffuses an all-excelling ambrosia of happiness round 
 him." 
 
 Having heard this, he said to Candrasena, "Refresh 
 the messenger with food and clothing, and then let him 
 rest" [62]. When he was gone and the day had come to a 
 close, and the afternoon sunshine, crimson like a young crow's 
 beak, was fading away as if drunk up by the cups of the 
 closely joined red lotuses, and when the sun, as the speed of his 
 horses was relaxed, pale-pink like a garland of China roses, 
 seemed to limp as if he stumbled on the western mountain, 
 as though his feet had been pierced by the (fancied) thorns 
 of the lotus-beds, he offered his evening prayers and retired 
 to his couch, as the early night was hurrying on in the east, 
 her long locks of scattered darkness seeming to hang dangling 
 in the air, and her face as it were dark with sorrow for the 
 moon's absence. He pondered by himself, " What shall I do ? 
 
 1 Elephants are one of the component parts of an army (sadhana) ; 
 of course there is also a pun 011 ddna.
 
 44 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 I have indeed been misunderstood by the king, and this 
 advice has been given by my disinterested kinsman Krisna ; 
 but all service is hateful, and attendance is full of evils, and 
 a court is full of dangers. My ancestors never had any love 
 for it, I have no hereditary connection with it, nor is mine 
 the consideration from remembering former benefits, nor the 
 affection caused by service rendered when a child, nor family 
 dignity, nor the kindness of old acquaintance, nor the allure- 
 ment of mutually imparting information, nor the desire of 
 more knowledge, nor the respect paid to one's fine appear- 
 ance, nor practice in all the turns of voice fit for inferiors, 
 nor the cleverness needed in the circles of the learned, nor 
 the skill to win friends by the expenditure of wealth, nor 
 long intercourse with royal favourites. Still I must certainly 
 go. Purarati, the venerable guru of the world, will do every- 
 thing that is proper when I am away." Thus having con- 
 sidered, he made up his mind for the journey. 
 
 The next day, having risen and bathed betimes, and put 
 on a dress of white silk and seized his rosary and repeatedly 
 recited the hymns and sacred texts fit for one starting on a 
 journey, after washing the image with milk 1 , he offered wor- 
 ship to Qiva, with lighted lamps, ointments, oblations, banners, 
 perfumes, incense and sweet flowers [63]. Then, having 
 offered a libation with profound reverence to the holy fire 2 , 
 whose right flame was kindled by a profuse pouring of ghi, 
 and whose fiery crest was noisily crackling with the splitting 
 husks of the restless mustard seeds, which had been previously 
 offered, he distributed wealth according to his means to the 
 brahmans, and walked solemnly round a sacred cow which 
 faced the east, himself decked with white unguents, and 
 wearing white garlands and white garments, and having 
 his ears adorned with giri-karnika, flowers, fastened with 
 the ends of durva-grass, and covered with yellow rocaria 
 paint, and having white mustard put on his topknot. 
 All the rites necessary at starting on a journey were 
 
 1 Of. Bk. v. (Text, p. 171. 2.) 
 
 2 The rare Vedic word acu$uk$ani here used for ' fire ' is also used ill 
 the old Bengali poem Candl.
 
 CHAPTER II. 45 
 
 performed for him as by a mother by his father's younger 
 sister Malatl, clad in white garments and with her heart 
 overflowing with tenderness, as if she were the impersonate 
 goddess Sarasvati 1 ; he was greeted with blessings by the 
 aged women of the family, applauded by the old female 
 attendants, dismissed with good wishes by the gurus whose 
 feet he worshipped, kissed on the head by the elders whom 
 he himself saluted, while the birds by their omens in- 
 creased his eagerness for starting and the astrologers wished 
 their utmost to secure favourable constellations. So in a 
 favourable moment, looking upon a full water-jar that was 
 set in the court-yard which was daubed with brown cow- 
 dung, with a mango-spray placed on its mouth, itself white 
 with five finger-breadths of flour 2 , and with its neck encircled 
 by a garland of white flowers ; having paid his homage to 
 the family deities and being followed by his own brahmans 
 with their hands holding flowers and fruits and muttering 
 the apratiratha hymn 3 , he went out from the village of 
 Pritikuta, setting his right foot first. 
 
 On the first day, having slowly passed through a grove 
 sacred to Candika which was parched and waterless from the 
 hot season, and ugly with leafless trees, with figures of the 
 goddess carved on the trees at the entrance, which received 
 the homage of passing travellers [64], though dried up, yet 
 seeming to be sprouting with the thousands of red tongues 
 which hung lolling from the mouths of the thirsty wild 
 beasts, all astir with the swarms of bees flying out of the 
 masses of honeycomb as they were licked by the monkeys 
 and bears, and bristling with the hundreds of new shoots of 
 stout asparagus which had sprung up luxuriantly from the 
 burned soil 4 , he arrived at last at the village Mallakuta. 
 
 1 Called here Mahacveta. 
 
 2 The Coram. seems to explain pistapancdhgulam (cf. text, p. 157. 7) 
 as flour daubed on with the five fingers moistened with goafs-milk 
 (iijakaktabhiK), but cf. Morris' note on pancangulika in the Pali Text 
 Soc. Journ. for 1884. 
 
 3 Rigv. 10. 103. 
 
 4 After the burning of forests plants often spring up whose seeds 
 had been lying dormant. (Balfour's Hot.)
 
 46 THE HARSA-CAR1TA. 
 
 There he stayed happily, hospitably received by his brother 
 and his friend Jagatpati who was just like his own heart. The 
 next day, having crossed the holy Bhagirathi, he passed the 
 night in a forest-village named Yastigrihaka 1 , and the next 
 he arrived at the royal camp, which was pitched near Mani- 
 tara along the Ajiravati river; and he stopped near the 
 royal residence. 
 
 Having bathed and eaten his meal and rested, when 
 only one watch of three hours remained of the day, and 
 when the king had dined, he proceeded leisurely with 
 Mekhalaka to the royal gate, one by one observing the many 
 camps of the renowned subject kings. Here the royal 
 gate was all dark with crowds of elephants, some brought 
 to carry turbans of honour, others to bear drums, some newly 
 bound, others acquired as tribute or as presents, some sent 
 by the rangers of the elephants' district, or brought in 
 the excitement of a first visit to the court or sent at the 
 time of an embassy or presented by the lord of a wild 
 settlement or demanded for the spectacle of a mimic battle, 
 or given or taken by force, or let loose, or set ready for a 
 watch, or collected to conquer all continents like so many 
 mountains to make a bridge over the ocean, all gay with 
 banners, cloths, kettledrums, conchs, chowries, and unguents, 
 like so many ready-made festival-days for the royal ceremo- 
 nies when the moon enters the asterisrn Pushya [65]. The 
 place seemed all in waves with the plunging horses as they 
 leaped up to the sky in anger against the horses of the sun's 
 chariot, with their chowries and ornaments serving as wings, 
 and challenged Indra's horse to a contest by their joyous 
 neigh, and mocked the whole race of deer as too laggard of 
 foot, with the foam curling round the corners of their 
 mouths like a scornful laugh, and set the Royal Prosperity 
 herself a-dancing as the drum of the ground was struck by 
 their ceaselessly prancing hoofs 2 . 
 
 In another part it was tawny with troops of camels sent 
 
 1 Bombay ed. Yashtigrahaka. 
 
 2 The Schol. would also take it as meaning " striking the earth with 
 their hoofs."
 
 CHAPTER II. 47 
 
 or being sent as presents or brought back in return for 
 others which had been sent, tawny like monkeys' cheeks, 
 like pieces of evening-glow spangled with stars, for their 
 mouths were ornamented with lines of cowries which were 
 like so many marks left in counting the number of leagues 
 which they had travelled, or like red rice-fields covered 
 with red lotuses, for their ears were gay with red chow- 
 ries ; or like old karanja forests with hundreds of dry 
 pods cracking, for they were decked with strings of ever- 
 jingling golden ornaments ; having long tufts of hair and 
 variegated threads of wool of five colours hanging near their 
 ears ; all tawny-red as monkeys' cheeks. 
 
 In another part it was all white with its masses 
 of white umbrellas, like autumnal clouds white through 
 having just emptied themselves of their water-stores, or 
 like trees of paradise whose circles of shade are annihilated 
 by the splendour of their masses of pearls, or like the 
 lotuses on Narayana's navel 1 with Garuda's (jewelled) wings 
 resting close to them, or like tracts of the Milky Ocean with 
 huge masses of coral shining in them, or like the surface 
 of the serpent Qesa's hoods with large rubies sparkling 
 upon it, or like islands in the White Ganges covered 
 with flamingoes, overpowering the summer-brilliance, and 
 mocking the splendour of the sun, and drinking up the 
 sunshine, they turned the earth into a moon, [66] time into 
 a world of white lotuses, the day into moonlight, and the sky 
 into a mass of foam, and they seemed to create a thousand 
 moonlights out of due time and to laugh to scorn all the 
 pomp of Indra. 
 
 In another part it was waving with thousands of stirring 
 chowries bright like moonbeams, which seemed to spread a 
 firmament of white lotus-fibres, and to make an autumn 
 in every direction with forests of kqpa grass 2 blossoming 
 everywhere, and to abolish the rule of the demon of ill-luck 3 , 
 
 1 Vi.smi is called Padmanabha. Garudapaksa may also be a kind of 
 jewel ; the white umbrellas were adorned with gems. 
 
 2 Saccharum spontaneum, see Wilson's Hindu Dr. ii. p. 106, note. 
 ;i Or " every haunt of the demon of the iron age."
 
 48 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 dark as the disgrace of a coward king, and to turn the day 
 into continual vicissitudes of going and returning by their 
 uplifting and lowering, and seemed to steal away the world 
 as its eight regions were seen for a moment and then lost. 
 
 It seemed like a flock of white geese from the shell- 
 amulets in the elephants' ears, or a forest of heavenly trees 
 from the elephants' banners, or a grove of ruby trees from 
 the umbrellas of peacocks' feathers, or the stream of the 
 heavenly Ganges from the muslin dresses, or the Milky 
 Ocean from the linen robes, or a grove of plantains from the 
 flashing emeralds ; it created as it were a second day by 
 the morning-rays of the rubies, and made a new sky by the 
 sapphires, and caused an unprecedented night by the dark- 
 violet of the mahanlla stones. A thousand Yamunas seemed 
 to be flowing from the radiance of the emeralds, while the 
 flashes of the rubies gleamed like charcoal. 
 
 [67] The camp was filled on every side with conquered 
 hostile vassal-chiefs, some who could not find admission 
 hung down their heads and seemed in their shame to sink 
 into their own bodies through the reflections of their 
 faces which fell on their toe-nails, others seemed to present 
 chowries in obsequious service under the form of the rays 
 issuing from their nails, which were thrown back from the 
 ground which was scratched by their bare fingers, others 
 with the flashing sapphires hanging on their breasts seemed 
 to be carrying sword-blades suspended from their necks 
 to propitiate their lord's anger, others with their faces 
 darkened by the swarms of bees which flocked attracted by 
 their perfumed breath were as if they wore their beards long 
 as in mourning for their lost prosperity, othe'rs with circles 
 of bees flying up round their crests as if their topknots were 
 flying away afraid of the coming mortification of paying 
 homage, honoured even in being conquered, and destitute 
 of every other refuge, continually asking the servants of 
 the different domestic porters who at intervals made their 
 exits and their entrances, and whose track was followed by 
 thousands of various suppliants, " Good sir, will it be 
 to-day ? will the great lord give an audience in the hall
 
 CHAPTER II. 49 
 
 after he has dined ? or will he come out into the outer 
 court ?" and thus spending the day in the hope of an 
 audience. 
 
 Other kings too were there, come from the desire of 
 seeing his glory, natives of various countries, who were 
 waiting for the time when he would be visible. There 
 were also seated by themselves Jains, Arhatas, Pagupatas, 
 mendicants of the school of Para^arya, Brahman students, 
 natives of every land, and savages from every forest that 
 fringes the ocean-shore, and ambassadors from every foreign 
 country. It seemed like a creation-ground where the 
 Prajapatis practised their skill, or a fourth world made 
 out of the choicest parts of the other three ; its glory could 
 not be described in hundreds of Mahabharatas, it must 
 have been put together in a thousand golden ages, [68] and 
 its perfection constructed with millions of svargas, and it 
 seemed watched over by crores of tutelary royal deities. 
 
 In his astonishment he thought to himself, " Surely such 
 a vast multitude of living beings as this must have involved 
 to the creating Principles a destruction of the elements or a 
 lack of atoms or a failure of time or a cessation of vital power 
 or an exhaustion of possible forms !" But Mekhalaka, being 
 recognised from afar by the doorkeepers, asked him to wait 
 a while, and himself pressed forward unrepelled and entered. 
 
 Then in a moment he came out, followed by a tall man 
 fair like a karnikara flower, clothed in a clean jacket, with his 
 waist tightly bound by a girdle ornamented with a quantity of 
 flashing rubies, with his chest broad like a rock of Mount 
 Himalaya, and having his shoulder rising over it like the 
 hump of Qiva's bull, and carrying on his breast a string 
 of pearls like a noose to tame the whole restless race of 
 deer, and gleaming with two jewelled ear-rings at his ear, 
 as if they were the sun and moon brought to be asked 
 whether even a king of the solar or lunar race were such as 
 our king ? while the sunbeams seemed to give place to him 
 through respect for his office, as though they were rebuked 
 before the stream of beauty which flowed from his face. He 
 greeted Bana from afar with his long eye as if it were a 
 C. 4
 
 50 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 wreath of full-blossomed lotuses taken up as an offering 1 , 
 set in the very centre of stern discipline and yet, 
 with his topknot bent down to the ground, lifting his 
 white turban as a token of respect, [69] and grasping in 
 his left hand his sword, its handle rough with the pearls 
 which thickly studded it, and in his right his burnished 
 golden staff of office like a lightning-flash suddenly be- 
 come motionless. Having come out, Mekhalaka said to him, 
 " This is the chief of all the doorkeepers, the king's special 
 favourite Pariyatra ; let him who pursues success treat him 
 with suitable ceremony." The doorkeeper, having come up 
 and saluted him, addressed him respectfully in a gentle 
 voice, "Approach and enter, his highness is willing to see 
 you." Then Bana entered, as he directed, saying, "I am 
 indeed happy that he thinks me worthy of this honour." 
 
 He next beheld a stable filled with the king's favourite 
 horses from Vanayu, Aratta, Kamboja, Bharadvaja, Sindh, and 
 Persia, red, dark, white, bay, chestnut, dappled like part- 
 ridges, marked with the five auspicious kinds of marks 2 , with 
 eyes spotted with white, or marked with light yellow spots 
 in groups like the Pleiads ; with long thin jaws and short 
 ears, and round delicate well-proportioned throats, [70] with 
 long upraised curved necks like sacrificial posts, with their 
 shoulders stout and robust at the joints, their chests full and 
 projecting, their legs thin and straight, and their round hoofs 
 hard like masses of iron ; their round bellies seemed solid, 
 as if they had no entrails within them, lest they should 
 be broken by their excessive swiftness, and their broad flanks 
 were divided by a long depression 3 , with the hairs like new 
 shoots swaying about in the wind 4 . They were with diffi- 
 culty restrained by the ropes fixed tightly in the ground on 
 both sides, and they seemed to grow longer as they struggled 
 with one foot thrust out of the ropes' confinement, and the 
 studs on their necks were ornamented with cords of many 
 
 1 Cf. p. 25, 1. 27. 
 
 2 Sc. on the chest, back, face and flanks. 
 
 3 Drom is doubtful, there is a reading udyacchrom. 
 
 4 Jagatl seems to be used far jagat in this rare sense.
 
 CHAPTER II. -51 
 
 strings, their eyes were closed, and they kept moving their 
 mouths, which were flecked with bits of foam dark with 
 the juice of durva grass, while the skin itched and twitched 
 about and was bitten for a moment and then let go by the 
 teeth. Some stood, lazily moving their tails, with one side 
 of their loins drooping as they rested on one hoof, seeming 
 to ponder in sleep, and slowly uttering interrupted neighs, 
 while the ground was marked by their hoofs, whose foreparts 
 rattled with the noise of their foot-rests as they struck upon 
 them ; others sought for food, having their longing excited 
 by the stray morsels of fodder scattered about, [71] while the 
 pupils of their eyes trembled for fear at the yells of the 
 angry Candalas who guarded them. They seemed to have 
 a lustration-fire always near to protect them, from their 
 bodies being yellow with a saffron unguent rubbed on them, 
 while an awning was spread over them and the tutelary 
 deity (Govinda) was worshipped before them. As he looked, 
 his mind was filled with curious wonder, and he entered a 
 little further within, and saw on his left hand an elephant- 
 stable indistinct owing to the distance, but regaling the 
 nostrils with an odour as of groves of vakula trees 1 in full 
 bloom which diffused itself far and wide, while the stable 
 was filled with streams of ichor covered with bees, and its 
 outskirts were surrounded by a grove of plantain-trees 2 , and 
 its height seemed to crowd the very sky. 
 
 He asked ''What does the king do here?" The other 
 replied, "This is his majesty's favourite elephant, his external 
 heart, his very self in another birth 3 , his vital airs gone 
 outside from him, his friend in battle and in sport, rightly 
 named Darpa^'ata 4 , a lord of elephants this is his special 
 pavilion." He replied, " O my friend, if he is called Darpa- 
 <;ata and he has no faults, I may surely see this lord of 
 elephants, will you take me to him, for I am overcome 
 by curiosity?" "Be it so," he answered, "draw near by all 
 
 1 From the mada or ichor exuding from the elephants' temples. 
 
 2 Kadall also means ' a flag carried by an elephant.' 
 
 3 Or ' veiled by a new nature.' 
 
 4 ' Keen (or perhaps attenuated and so lacking) in pride.' 
 
 42
 
 52 THE HARSA-CAR1TA. 
 
 means, what harm is there in it ? have a good look at the 
 lord of elephants." 
 
 [72] So he went fonvard in that direction, and there while 
 he was still at a distance he saw the elephant Darpagata sur- 
 rounded by the troops of cataka birds uttering their loud notes 
 in the sky as they were excited by the deep sound issuing 
 from his throat (which suggested clouds), and the domestic 
 peacocks which made the ground resound with their cries, 
 filling the surrounding space with the spirituous scent of the 
 ichor which rivalled the full-blown kadamba flowers, like a 
 rainy season out of its time wearing an embodied form, 
 throwing off the fourth period of life by an outburst of red 
 spots on his skin like a lake covered with lotuses brown with 
 thick drops of honey, chanting as it were a tune for his auspi- 
 cious entrance upon the fifth period with his shell-ornaments 
 as they mingled with the deep sound of his flapping ears, 
 seeming as if for fear of bursting the earth he tried to lighten 
 his weight by swinging his long huge body with sportive 
 oscillations on his three feet as they kept varying in constant 
 motion, as though he were rubbing his body against the 
 walls of the world, challenging the world-bearing elephants 
 of the various regions as he threw up his trunk in defiance, 
 and seeming to be cleaving the pillar of the world with a saw 
 armed with thick sharp teeth. It was as though the world 
 could not contain him and he was striving to force a passage 
 out, while his drivers tried to shew him every service which 
 could alleviate the hot season, some 1 like clouds with long- 
 accumulated stores, hurrying up with fresh juicy shoots and 
 creepers, others like lakes whose waters are variegated with 
 heaps of Vallisneria plants and lotus fibres scattered on them. 
 [73] He threatened to block up the whole world with all its 
 mountain-ranges, seas, continents and forests, with his huge bar 
 of a trunk, which was all wavy with thin lines of wrinkles 
 running, round it as if they were marks to 'reckon up the 
 number of past victories which he had won in battle, while 
 it was held aloft as if he scented the ichor of some rival 
 
 1 Read lesakaih.
 
 CHAPTER II. 53 
 
 elephant approaching, one of his tusks had its root wet with 
 spray from a thick piece of plaintain covered with leaves 
 which was enclosed in the trunk, the other seemed to have 
 dropped its bough and was as it were all horripilated with 
 the joy of battle from a quantity of lotus fibres which hung 
 from it in play. He appeared to vomit whole beds of 
 lotuses which he had eaten in his gambols in the lake, 
 through the bright colour of the two tusks together, and 
 spread his own glory through the four quarters of space ; 
 and he seemed to laugh to scorn the lions who vaunted their 
 rough play with some poor scarecrows of elephants whom 
 they had worsted, while he appropriated for himself a silken 
 veil which might have been taken direct from the heavenly 
 tree. When he lifted up in play his huge trunk, he seemed 
 to drop a shower of red lotuses which he had eaten, or to 
 vomit a quantity of fresh shoots, as he then displayed his 
 palate which was soft to the touch like red silk. His bright 
 tawny eyes seemed to emit a stream of honey which he had 
 drunk up with the mouthfuls of lotuses, while his cheeks 
 poured out under the guise of ichor a rich mixture of perfumes 
 as if he had been eating groves of the pdrijdta tree of 
 heaven, together with mangoes, campakas, lavalls, cloves, 
 kakkolas, cardamoms, and sahakaras, and perfumed with 
 abundance of camphor. He seemed to be busy, night and day, 
 bestowing all the woods on the other elephants by royal 
 inscriptions of donation, made vocal with the swarms of bees 
 which hummed round them as if reading them, and scratched 
 by the half-cut branches of red sugar-cane as by a graver, 
 and which seemed by a mistake to stay on hand instead of 
 being dispersed abroad 1 ; [74] he was constantly cooled by a 
 trickling garland of ornaments cut out of the moongem* in 
 the shape of the constellations, and he carried his head high 
 as if it had been crowned with the tiara of universal empire 
 
 1 This sentence is very obscure ; hasta-sthiti seems to imply a pun, 
 as hasta means ' hand ' or ' trunk ' ; the trunk is as it were marked all 
 over with lines which the bees seem to be reading aloud. There is also 
 the usual pun in ddna as meaning " patches of ichor," and in vibhrama 
 as ' mistake ' and c haste.' 2 Or perhaps ' ice.'
 
 54 THE HAR^A-CARITA. 
 
 over all his compeers; he stood as though he were loyally 
 fanning the Guardian deity of the royal family who lay 
 pillowed on his tusks, with his huge ears, which, as they 
 flapped, seemed alternately to conceal and reveal the 
 wide world ; while his tail waved like some flyflapper 
 marked with the signs of elephant-empire and handed 
 down through a long succession of hereditary rulers 1 . 
 He seemed to pour out again from his mouth the 
 rivers which he had drunk up in his triumphal progress of 
 conquest, in the form of the clear cold water which he 
 spouted forth ; and he displayed his sensitiveness to insult by 
 loud trumpetings which followed various movements of his 
 body as he heard the drums borne by other elephants, while 
 all his limbs had been motionless for a moment as he 
 listened attentively. He seemed to pity himself for not 
 being in the thick of the fray, and as if ashamed of the 
 humiliation of bearing a driver he poured out streams of 
 ichor and scratched the ground with the tip of his trunk ; 
 his eyes were a third closed as with the languor of intoxica- 
 tion, when his driver shouted angrily, as he scornfully took 
 up and dropped the mouthfuls of food, and finally took them 
 slowly and reluctantly, [75] while the juice issued from his 
 mouth discoloured, like a stream of ichor, by the dark juice of 
 the tarriala boughs which he had eaten. He moved restlessly 
 with pride, he snorted with repressed energy, he swelled 
 with intoxication, he staggered with youth, he flowed freely 
 with ichor, he leaped about with conscious strength, he was 
 drunk with arrogance, he seemed to be ever seeking the 
 highest place with ambition, he gasped with excitement, he 
 affected all with his gracefulness, he rained influence on 
 every side by his beauty. 
 
 His nails were smooth, his hair was rough, he was 
 reverend in face but a gentle disciple in deportment ; soft 
 as to his head, but firm in his friendships ; his neck was 
 short but his life was long ; he was stinted in his belly but 
 lavishly bounteous in ichor ; a very JBalarama in his wild 
 
 1 Ayatavaifica can also suggest a pun as meaning ' the backbone.'
 
 CHAPTER II. 55 
 
 exploits, but like a highborn wife in his devotedness ; a Jina 
 in patience, a shower of fire in his storms of anger ; he was 
 Garuda in his power to lift nagas 1 , he was Narada in his 
 love of quarrels 2 , a thunderbolt without rain in his sudden 
 attacks, a Makara in his power to disturb armies 3 , a serpent 
 in the might of his teeth, Varuna in the noose which he held 
 in his hand, he was Yama's net in entangling his enemies, 
 he was Time in his buttings 4 , Rahu in his grip 5 , Mars in his 
 crooked movements, a circling torch in his rapid rounds. 
 He was to valour, a very mountain of the jewel which 
 gives all desires; to chivalrous feeling, a palace-home with 
 his tusks for two pillars of pearl; [76] to magnanimity, a 
 heavenly chariot, moving at will, and gay with ornaments, 
 chowries, and bells ; to anger, a shower-bath of scented 
 water, dark with a constant raincloud of ichor ; to ambition, 
 a temple with a golden image 6 within ; to pride, a pleasure- 
 hill with streams running down its sides ; to arrogance, a 
 diamond house with an arch of ivory ; to royalty, a moving 
 hill-fort with its high frontal-globes as so many towers; to 
 the earth, an iron wall indented with thousands of arrows 7 ; 
 to the king 8 , a tree of heaven, resonant with hundreds of 
 bees. Thus he was a music-hall for the dancing of his 
 flapping ears, a drinking-saloon for the swarms of bees, a 
 gynseceum for the display of paint and decorations 9 , a 
 festival of Kama for the sportive gambols of intoxication, 
 a faultless evening for the sight of all the constellations 10 ; a 
 
 1 i.e. 'elephants' or 'snakes.' 
 
 2 Narada is expressly called kalahapriya and kalikdraka. Several 
 instances of his mischief-making propensities occur in the Visnu 
 Purana. 
 
 3 Vahinl is ' a river ' as well as ' an army.' 
 
 4 Parinati also means ' power to ripen.' 
 6 Or ' in his seizure of the sun.' 
 
 6 Pratima also means ' the part of an elephant's head between the 
 tusks.' 
 
 7 Or ' with loopholes from whence to discharge arrows.' 
 
 8 Bhunandana can also mean " the heavenly garden of the earth." 
 
 9 (^ringdra means "love" and "the marks with red lead on an 
 elephant's head and trunk." 
 
 10 Naksatra has been used before as an elephant's ornament.
 
 56 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 / 
 
 rainy season out of season, for the overflowing rivers of 
 ichor ; a deceptive autumn for the perfume of the saptaparna 
 trees 1 , an unprecedented cold-season for the showers of dew, 
 and a fictitious cloud for the trumpeting thunders. 
 
 As he wondered, thinking to himself, " Surely in his 
 creation the i.iountains were used up as atoms, how else 
 could this astonishing majesty have been produced ? It is 
 indeed a marvel, a Vindhya with tusks, the primeval Boar 
 with a trunk !" the doorkeeper addressed him ; " See ! 
 when his enemies, wandering in the forests, would vainly 
 try 2 by a hundred wishes to paint again their old glory gone 
 without leaving a rack behind, and when their minds are 
 bewildered with devising means to express their imagi- 
 nations, [77] this lord of elephants, if he comes by chance 
 into their recollection as they listlessly muse in despondency, 
 cannot endure as rivals even the world-supporting elephants 
 in the Manasa lake 3 . But come, you will have another 
 opportunity of seeing him ; you shall now see my lord 
 himself!" 
 
 On hearing these words he with an effort drew away his 
 eyes which had fallen on the elephant's ichor-bedewed cheek 
 and were half closed as if intoxicated with the sweet odour ; 
 and, following the path indicated by the doorkeeper, he 
 passed through three courts crowded with subject-kings, and 
 in the fourth he saw King Harsa, in an open space in front 
 of a pavilion where he used to give audience after eating, 
 surrounded at a distance by his attendants in a line, all 
 six feet in height 4 , fair like karnikara flowers, armed and 
 of old families 5 , like so many golden pillars, with his 
 special favourites seated near him. He was sitting on a 
 throne made of a stone clear like a pearl, washed with sandal- 
 wood water, and bright as the moon with its feet 6 of ivory 
 
 1 Which is like that of the ichor. 
 
 2 The Kashmir edition rightly reads alikhatam. 
 
 3 Or ' even the elephants of hope in their minds.' 
 
 4 Or ' their bodies tall through exercise.' 
 
 5 Or of the pillars, ' shaped by tools and firmly set.' 
 
 6 Or 'rays.'
 
 CHAPTER II. 57 
 
 and its surface cool to the touch like snow-water, he rested 
 the weight of his body on his arm which was placed on the 
 end of the seat, and he seemed to be sporting with his 
 subject-kings under the far-shining canopy of the brightness 
 of his body with the rays of his jewels diffused^ound, as if it 
 were in a lake delightful in the hot season^, the water of 
 which was tangled with clusters of the long soft lotus-roots ; 
 and he seemed made as it were out of the pure atoms of light. 
 [78] He was embraced by the goddess of the Royal Prosperity, 
 who took him in her arms and, seizing him by all the royal 
 marks on all his limbs, forced him, however reluctant, to 
 mount the throne, and this though he had taken a vow of 
 austerity and did not swerve from his vow, hard like grasping 
 the edge of a sword 1 ; clinging closely to duty through fear 
 of stumbling in the uneven path of kings, and attended with 
 all her heart by Truth who had been abandoned by all other 
 kings, but had obtained his promise of protection, and 
 waited on reverentially by the reflected images of a fair 
 handmaid standing near, which fell on his toe-nails, as if 
 they were the ten directions of space impersonate 2 . With 
 his long glances which penetrated space he seemed to 
 examine what the Regents of the different quarters had done 
 or left undone, while the sun seemed to seek his permission to 
 rise, as its beams rested on the back of his footstool supported 
 by jewelled feet, the day made its reverential march round 
 him, while a clear space was kept in the centre, marked out 
 by the splendour emitted from his ornaments ; he burned with 
 vexation when even the mountains did not bow before him, 
 and so displayed the ocean of his beauty which was white like 
 sandal- wood, boiling as it were into foam through the heat of 
 his heroic passion, in his isolated sovereignty feeling indignant 
 that his own image should be repeated even in the reflections 
 on the crest jewels of the prostrate kings round his feet, and 
 keeping his Royal Glory continually sighing under the guise 
 of the wind of his chowries as she sat fuming with vexed 
 pride ; [79] he was embraced by the Goddess Qri who came 
 
 1 Cf. Eaghuv. xiii. 67. 2 As reflected ill the ten nails.
 
 58 THE HAR$A-CARITA. 
 
 to him after spoiling all the four oceans of their beauty 1 ; 
 though he gave away thousands of rainbows from the 
 coruscations of his ornaments and sent them as a present to 
 Indra, yet he still in his seeming penury 2 rained ambrosia in 
 his interview? with other monarchs ; in poetical contests he 
 poured out a n'ectar of his own which he had not received 
 from any foreign source ; he ever shewed his heart in his 
 confidential intercourse even when it was not sought ; when 
 he shewed favour, he seemed to place Glory, though herself im- 
 moveable, in various positions by his patronage ; in the parleys 
 of heroes he seemed listening to the whispered kindly counsels 
 of the Goddess of battles with his cheek horripilated in joy ; 
 during the recital of the past conflicts of heroes, he ever 
 turned his eye like a shower of soft cleansing oil on the 
 loved sword ; in easy jests flashing from his bright teeth his 
 clear meaning to the circle of kings standing awed by his 
 majesty : abiding in the hearts of all the world and yet never 
 leaving his own proper place ; in his greatness, he was beyond 
 the sphere of all good qualities, out of the range of ordinary 
 successes, outside of common benefactions, beyond the possi- 
 bility of blessing, out of the reach of desires, far removed 
 from fortune, not within the scope of comparisons, out of the 
 influence of fate, and beyond the past experience of prosperity. 
 He displayed an avatara of all the gods united in one, as he 
 had the lost delicate feet of Aruna 3 , the slow-moving thighs 
 of Buddha, the brawny forearm of the Thunderer (Indra), 
 the shoulder of Justice 4 , the round lip of the sun, the mild 
 look of Avalokita 5 , the face of the moon and the hair of 
 Krisna. [80] His left foot was playfully placed on a large 
 costly footstool made of sapphires, girt round with a band of 
 
 1 Qri only rose from one ocean when she became Visnu's queen. 
 
 2 Parityaktam may be also taken as neuter with madhu. 
 
 3 The charioteer of the Sun, who was born without feet. Taking 
 the proper names as adjectives, it is to be read, " he has delicately pink 
 feet, slow gracefully-moving thighs, his forearm hard as the thunder- 
 bolt, a bull's neck, a bright round lip, a mild aspect, a moon-face and 
 black hair." 
 
 4 Represented as a bull. 
 
 6 A Bodhisattva who is especially worshipped in Northern Buddhism.
 
 . 
 
 CHAPTER II. 59 
 
 rubies, as if it were the (dark) head of Kali the demon of the 
 iron age, while the surface of the ground was dyed by the 
 rays which fell on it; like the youthful Krisna when he 
 planted his foot on the circle of hoods of the serpent Kaliya, 
 he dignified the earth by the spreading rays Q his toe-nails, 
 white like fine linen, as with the tiara of His chief queen 1 . 
 His feet were very red as with wrath at unsubmissive 
 kings, and they shed a very bright ruby-light on the 
 crowded crests of the prostrate monarchs, and caused a 
 sunset of all the fierce luminaries of war and poured streams 
 of honey from the flowers of the crest garlands of the local 
 kings, and were never even for one moment unattended, as 
 by the heads of slain enemies, by swarms of bees which 
 fluttered bewildered at the sweet odour of the chaplets on the 
 heads of all the feudal chiefs ; and they formed as it were 
 sylvan summer-houses of full-blown red lotuses for the Goddess 
 Qrl to shelter in as she acted as his shampooer, and bore signs 
 which told of his sovereignty over the four oceans in their 
 auspicious marks, such as the lotus, the shell, the fish and 
 the makara. His two thighs were like two ruby pillars, set 
 to bear the weight of the earth which rested on his heart, 
 like two sandal-trees with their roots shining with the rays 
 from the crest-jewels of the serpents clustered round them, 
 or like two streams from the ocean of beauty overflowing 
 and all covered with foam, or like two huge tusks of a 
 world-bearing elephant, bent through being used to block up 
 a yawning makara's mouth 2 . He shone, like the mountain 
 Mandara with Vasuki's skin 3 at the churning of the ocean, 
 with his lower garment which was radiant with shot silk- 
 threads, washed in pure water, clinging closely to his loins, 
 ornamented with the rays of the jewels of his girdle, and 
 white like a mass of ambrosial foam, while he appeared girt 
 with his thin upper garment spangled with worked stars like 
 the round world with its surrounding ether cloudless and full 
 
 1 Of. Bombay ed. p. 186, 8. 2 For the pun see note supr. p. 18. 
 
 3 Each of these epithets applies to Vasuki's skin as well as to the 
 king's garment ; and so too in the next sentence they similarly apply 
 to Kailasa as well as to the king's chest.
 
 60 THE HAR^A-CARITA. 
 
 of stars. [81] He shone with his broad chest, like Kailasa with 
 a cliff of crystal, able to bear the shock of various armies, 
 too sturdy to be confined within the limits of its garment 1 , 
 and made smooth in spite of its hardness by the thousands 
 of elephants' tusks which had collided against it. His neck 
 was encircled fry a necklace of pearls like the serpent Qesa, 
 now sleeping peacefully in the sense of relief at depositing 
 the burden of the whole earth on his stalwart arm, or like 
 the dividing-line which draws the boundary between the re- 
 spective empires of Qrl and Sarasvati over his bosom and face. 
 His breast was wrapped in a fold of rays from the pearls in 
 his necklace as if it were a strip of cloth put on to signify 
 the solemn conferring as a special gift of all the property 
 gained during one's whole life 2 ; he was like a jewel mountain, 
 with its outstretched wings of jewels, spread on both sides, 
 with the red rays of the bracelets as if they were the paths 
 for the passage of the glory produced by his arm or the 
 continued streams of honey from the lotuses in the ears of 
 Qri as she lay on the pillow of his arm, or as if they were 
 other arms newly budding forth in rivalry of Visnu's four 
 arms. He at once destroyed the greatness of the four 
 regions of space and their rulers by his two long arms, 
 which were as the bolts to blockade the path 8 through the 
 world-encircling Lokaloka, and as the rock -walls built outside 
 the moats of the four oceans, and as a cage of adamant to 
 confine all illustrious kings, and as a jewelled triumphal arch 
 for the festal entrance of the world's goddess of Victory. 
 The redness of his lip bedewed all the regions of space like 
 the exudation of a branch of the heavenly tree, and the lip 
 itself seemed as if it were the Kaustubha gem, taking its 
 place as a feature of his face in its desire to kiss its sister 
 Laksml 4 wt^o sat enthroned there. He displayed at intervals 
 a sudden flash of illumination to the Goddess of Empire who 
 was somewhatx dull and bewildered by nature, through the 
 
 1 Or ' the shock ,of rivers ' and ' the limits of the sky ' (ambara). 
 
 2 The Comm. do^s not explain the ceremony which this refers to. 
 
 3 Cf. Wilson's Visnu Pur. vol. ii. p. 206. 
 
 4 Both being produced at the churning of the ocean.
 
 CHAPTER II. 61 
 
 gleaming flashes of his teeth as he laughed at the sportive 
 sallies of his companions ; (when he smiled) he seemed to be 
 sending away the lotuses which had come to him in uncer- 
 tainty whether it was his face or the moon and was dismissing 
 the autumnal moonlight which had entered unc'-'flr the illusion 
 that the flash of his line of bright teeth was aoed of lotuses ; 
 [82] and he made a new anniversary of the churning the ocean 
 by the odour which exhaled from his mouth perfumed by 
 the mingled scent of wine, ambrosia, and parijata flowers, 
 which filled all the regions of space, while the perfume of 
 his breath was continually inhaled by his overhanging nose 
 which rose like a bud on his expanded lotus-face. With the 
 brightness of his milk-white eye he deluged the regions of 
 space as with a full tide of the milky ocean at the rising 
 of his unparalleled moon-face, and the chowrie-woman, as 
 reflected in his stainless cheeks, seemed to be Sarasvati who 
 inhabited his mouth taking bodily shape ; while his broad 
 forehead was reddened by the pink hue of his crest-ornament, 
 as if it were the lac dye of Laksmi's feet which had clung 
 to it, when he sought by prostration to appease her jealousy 
 at the preference shewn to Sarasvati. He was listening, like 
 one skilled in music to lute- players, to the tribes of bees in 
 his ear-rings, which with restless feet played a tiny lyre 
 consisting of the end of his ear-ring jewet with the web of 
 its rosy rays for strings ; while his locks were encircled by a 
 wreath of white jasmine flowers mimicking Durga's wreath of 
 sculls, and serving as a halo round his moon-face, like a 
 circle of moonlight from the nails of the Goddess of Empire, 
 which had remained behind as she grasped his hair in 
 amorous play. He was consecrated by the light of the pearls 
 in his top-knot and the dark rays of the emeralds, as they 
 crossed in their intermingling, as if the braid-like streams 
 of the united Yamuna and Ganges had come of their own 
 accord from Prayaga. 
 
 His imperial splendour was however eclipsed by the 
 women, as their foreheads became blackened by the darkness 
 produced through the ornamental tilaka of black agallochum 
 being melted by the drops of perspiration, as if it were 
 a dark jnark produced by their repeated prostrations at his
 
 62 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 feet to incline him to grant their coaxing requests, [83] 
 propped up 1 , as they were, by their flashing pearl-necklaces 
 which were like so many waves rising from the tossed 
 Manasa" lake 2 , seeming in jealousy to rebuke Qri herself 
 by the action of their creeper-like eyebrows, tremulous with 
 a playful motion, dragging him captive as with bonds 
 by their long sweet-scented sighs which seemed made of 
 the Malaya wind, with their great jar-like bosoms, encircled 
 with bands of large Vakula flowers, drawing from him every 
 drop of contentment with his own proper spouse, violently 
 dragging him into their hearts, by the attraction of the 
 rays of the trembling jewels of the necklaces which were 
 set in motion by the trembling of their bosoms, embracing 
 him, as with many outstretched arms, with the rays of their 
 far-flashing ornaments, keeping their minds back, as it 
 were, which had started off too impetuously, with their open 
 hands which served as a covering over their mouths which 
 wore an additional grace from a languid yawn, skilfully 
 moving their eyes which were half-closed as fainting at the 
 arrows of Kama and had their corners contracted on account 
 of the pollen of the flowers in their ears, shaken by the bees 
 which flew about blinded by intoxication, striking the 
 lotuses in their own ears with the sidelong glances of their 
 eyes shot from under the play of their frowns through their 
 mutual jealousy, carrying the king reflected in their soft 
 cheeks, as if he had been drunk up by their eyes whose 
 lashes were motionless with the flood of joy 3 born of their 
 unblinking gaze, creating for love's assistance new moon- 
 rises by their involuntary smiles through the playfulness of 
 desire, and seeming as in anger to break ever so many of 
 Kama's useless bows in the form of the rays of the curved 
 nails as the joints of their fingers gave a loud crack when 
 their twined hands, as they gesticulated, came into close 
 contact in the rapid bendings of their limbs. He lay 
 smiling, while he languidly struck on the head with the bow of 4 
 
 1 Cf. fvltam, Pers. i. 78. 
 
 2 Or ' like so many longing regrets rising in the mind.' 
 
 3 The Kashmir ed. reads raci-.
 
 CHAPTER II. 63 
 
 a lute the shampooing attendant, as his lotus feet dropped 
 from her spray-like hands which were trembling in her per- 
 spiring emotion ; [84] while he taught the Goddess of Empire 
 as well as the lute (both equally dear) while each^had its 
 kona 1 firmly grasped in his hand. Single as he^lay there, he 
 was viewed in very different lights by different spectators, 
 riches called him cold, all faults turned from him as 
 inaccessible, the senses felt awed at his love of self-control, 
 the genius of the iron age said ' he is beyond my reach,' all 
 vices pronounced him as passionless, dishonour looked on him 
 as timid ; Love said, ' the workings of his mind are hard to 
 be understood'; Sarasvati complained that 'he is uxorious' 2 , 
 other men's wives that 'he is impotent'; ascetics said that 
 'he is a seer of the highest order,' harlots that 'he is a 
 deceiver'; his friends thought that 'he is easily led by 
 others ' ; Brahmans that ' he is our ready servant ' ; and 
 his enemies' soldiers that 'he has faithful allies.' More 
 truly the lord of Vahim 3 than Qantanu 4 , more illustrious for 
 victory 5 than Bhisma, more delighting in the bow 6 than 
 Drona, more unerring with the arrow 7 than A9vatthaman, 
 dearer to Mitra 8 than Karna, more forbearing 9 than Yudhi- 
 sthira, possessing the might of more elephants than Bhima, 
 more worthy of figuring in the war of the Mahabharata than 
 Arjuna. He was as it were the cause of the Golden Age, 
 the source of the creation of the Gods, the native land of 
 pride, [85] the home of compassion, the close neighbour of 
 Purusottama 10 , the mine-mountain of valour, the assembly- 
 
 1 Kona seems to mean here the 'bow of the lute and also 'an inter- 
 mediate direction of the compass ' for the empire. 
 
 2 As devoted to his lawful spouse, Empire ? 
 
 3 Vahinl means an army as well as the Ganges. 
 
 4 ^antanu was the father of Bhisma by the goddess Gaiiga, 
 Visnu Pur. iv. 20. 
 
 5 Bhisma conquered his senses when he resigned the kingdom to his 
 half-brother's children. 
 
 6 Or ' more averse to desire.' 
 
 7 Or ' more certain to help suppliants.' 
 
 8 His friends or the Sun ; Karna was the son of the Sun. 
 
 9 Or 'possessing more land.' 10 Krisna or 'the best of men.'
 
 I 
 
 64 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 room for all sciences to Sarasvati, an anniversary of the 
 churning of the Ocean for ambrosia to Laksmi, an exhibition 
 of power to Dexterity, a common meetingplace of the 
 proprieties, a valuation of her treasures to Beauty, final 
 perfection to^.the creation of the atoms of form, an expiation 
 of all past ev*J deeds to Empire, a challenge against all 
 opposing power to Kama, a means for displaying Indra to 
 all men as 'the city-stormer,' a visible return of ideal 
 justice, the seraglio of the fine arts all together, the ultimate 
 authority for defining good fortune, the final bath which 
 completes the rites of installation to all monarchs, the 
 grave and gracious, the awe-inspiring and affable, at the 
 same moment a holiday and a holy day, the universal 
 Monarch. 
 
 Having seen him, feeling, as it were, at once welcomed 
 and checked, full of desire and yet satisfied, with his face 
 horripilated with awe, and with tears of joy falling from his 
 eyes, he stood at a distance smiling in wonder and pondered, 
 "This then is the Emperor Qri Harsa, that union of 
 separate glories, noble in birth and of well-chosen name, 
 the lord of the field bounded by the four oceans, the 
 enjoyer of all the fruits of Brahma's pillar, the world, the 
 surpasser of all the victories won by all the kings of ancient 
 times. Through him the earth does indeed possess a tine 
 King! His youthful exploits, unlike Krisna's, transgress 
 not right 1 ; [86] his freaks of power cause no offence to the 
 man of refinement 2 as did those of Qiva ; his boasts lead to no 
 destruction of families as did those of Indra to that of the 
 cowpens 3 ; unlike Yama, he is not too fond of wielding the 
 rod of punishment; unlike Varuna, his treasure-houses are 
 not guarded by thousands of pitiless sea-monsters 4 ; unlike 
 Kuvera, seeking an interview with him is never fruitless; 
 unlike Jina, the sight of him is never without solid result 5 ; 
 
 1 Vrisa may also mean a demon slain by Krisua, cf. Visnu P., V. xiv. 
 
 2 Or ' Daksa,' Diva's father-in-law. 
 
 3 Alluding to Indra's name gotrabhid. 
 
 4 Or ' sword-bearers.' 
 
 6 Or ' his darcana (system) has arthavdda.' Should we read 
 arthdpatti, as the Jainas do not accept this as a pramana ?
 
 t CHAPTER II. 65 
 
 unlike the Moon, his glories do not wane. Wonderful is his 
 royalty, surpassing the gods ! His liberality cannot find 
 range enough in suppliants, nor his knowledge in doctrines 
 to be learned; his poetical skill finds words fail^'as his 
 valour lacks opportunities to exercise it ; his pergy wants 
 scope and his fame sighs for a wider horWn, his kindly 
 nature seeks in vain more hearts to win, his virtues exhaust 
 the powers of number, and all the fine arts 1 are too narrow a 
 field for his genius. 
 
 Under this monarch are found only the cloths worn by 
 devotees in meditation, and not forged documents 2 ; the 
 royal figures of sculptors and not the vulgar disputes with 
 kings; only bees quarrel in collecting dews (dues) 3 ; the only 
 feet ever cut off are those in metre ; only chessboards teach 
 the positions of the four ' members 4 ,' there is no cutting off 
 the four principal limbs of condemned criminals ; only snakes 
 hate Garuda the king of birds (dvija-gunt), no one hates 
 Brahmans or gurus ; and the followers of the Mimamsa alone 
 have to ponder problems in administering justice (adhikarana), 
 while they examine the several adhikaranas or 'cases for 
 discussion' in their system." 
 
 [87] So approaching, wearing the sacred thread, he 
 uttered his good wishes. 
 
 Then on the north not far from the royal palace the 
 attendant on the elephant chanted this sweet couplet in the 
 aparavaktra metre; 
 
 " O young elephant, dismiss thy playful restlessness, follow 
 the rules of good behaviour, with bent head ; the heavy hook, 
 crooked like a lion's claws, held aloft, does not spare thee 5 ." 
 
 But when the king heard it and saw him, he asked, 
 filling the sky with his voice deep like the roar of a lion in a 
 
 1 I.e. the 64 kolas. 
 
 2 This is a double-meaning of the phrase yoga-pattakah ; and so in 
 the other sentences. 
 
 3 Lit. ' in collecting ichor ' or ' in giving and taking.' 
 
 4 Sc. caturanga 'the four members of an army,' or Chess. The 
 phrase may also mean the cutting off of the four principal limbs. 
 
 r> The lines can be also taken as a tacit rebuke to the luxurious 
 Bana. 
 
 C. 5
 
 66 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 mountain cave, "Is that Bana?" The doorkeeper replied, 
 " As my Lord commands ; it is he." " I will not see him 
 yet, as he has not as yet offered his tribute of respect," so 
 sayin^Ve turned the long brilliance of his eye, whose pupil 
 trembled ae it inclined to the corner of the eye, as if he was 
 shaking a curium variegated across with white and dark silk, 
 and said to his favourite, the son of the king of Malwa, who 
 was sitting behind, " He is a thorough petit-maUre." But when 
 the other paused for a moment in silence at this unexplained 
 speech of the king and the courtiers were all dumb, Bana 
 replied, " Why, my lord, do you thus address me, as if you 
 did not know my character and did not believe me, as if you 
 depended on others for guidance and did not understand the 
 ways of the world yourself? The nature and talk of people 
 will always be wilful and various ; but the great ought to see 
 things as they are. You surely will not regard me with pre- 
 judice as if I had no special claims. I am a Brahman born 
 in the family of the Soma-drinking Vatsyayanas. Every cere- 
 mony was duly performed, as its time came, beginning with 
 the investiture with the sacred cord ; [88] I have thoroughly 
 studied the Veda with its six angas, and as far as I was able 
 I have heard lectures on the castras, and from my marriage 
 I have been a diligent householder; what signs have I of 
 being a petit-maitre 1 ? My youth indeed was not without those 
 follies which are not directly inconsistent with either world, 
 so far I will not deny; and my heart on this point will 
 confess a feeling of repentance. But now-a-days, when your 
 highness, calm in mind like Buddha himself, one who 
 carries out all the rules for the castes and orders like Manu, 
 and bears the rod of punishment as visibly as Yama, 
 governs the whole earth girdled by the seven oceans, and 
 bearing all the continents as its garland, who would venture 
 without fear even to act in his own mind the character of 
 indecorum, that bosom-friend of open profligacy ? I will not 
 dwell on human beings, in consequence of your power even 
 the bees drink honey 2 in fear, even the ruddy-geese are 
 
 1 Or ' Kama is a petit-maitre, not I.' 
 
 2 Madhu means ' wine ' as well as ' honey.'
 
 4 CHAPTER II. 67 
 
 ashamed of their too great fondness, the very monkeys are 
 alarmed when they play their wanton tricks, and even all the 
 destructive animals eat flesh with compassion. Your highness 
 will in time know me thoroughly by yourself, for ji^is the 
 nature of the wise that their minds never act ^perversely." 
 Having said this, he was silent. & 
 
 The king also, after simply saying, " So we have heard," 
 was silent ; but he did not welcome him with any signs of 
 favour such as friendly conversation, inviting him to sit 
 down, etc. ; he only revealed his inward pleasure by a gracious 
 glance which seemed to bedew him with a shower of am- 
 brosia ; and as the setting sun was verging to the west, [89] 
 he dismissed his courtiers and entered his private apartments. 
 Baiia also went out and retired to his place of abode. The 
 day was now calm and its fierce blaze soft like polished brass, 
 and the sun 1 , the diadem of the western mountain's crest, as 
 he left the sky, was letting fall his rays like the sprays of the 
 Nicula tree 2 ; the deserted cow-stations in the forests had 
 their patches of tender grass covered with families of deer 
 lazily ruminating ; the river-banks resounded plaintively with 
 the cooing of the melancholy female ruddy-geese ; in the 
 pleasure-groves near the house all the waterpots were being 
 turned over to fill the basins near the trees, while the troops of 
 chattering sparrows were sitting on the boughs which formed 
 their home ; the companies of hungry calves were drinking 
 their mothers' flowing udders, after they had returned from 
 wandering during the day; the sun's round goblet for drinking 
 the evening libation of the western ocean was sinking covered 
 with a red glow as if it were plunged into a stream of 
 mineral veins in the western mountain ; the religious mendi- 
 cants were intent on worshipping the shrines, having washed 
 their feet and hands in the outpour of their water-pots ; the 
 fire, with the sacred grass spread round it, was blazing up,- 
 with its hands purified by the sacrificial vessels ; the devout 
 sacrificers were duly offering their libations ; the trees of the 
 groves stood with their monkeys resting from all their tricks, 
 
 1 Read in the Bombay ed. maricimati. 
 
 2 A tree with scarlet myrtle-like flowers in long pendent racemes. 
 
 52
 
 68 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 and with the nests of the crows crowded with their inmates 
 fast asleep 1 ; the owls, settled in their huts in the hollow trunks 
 of old trees, were preparing to go out on an expedition; a 
 thick&r-host of stars was indenting the expanse of the sky, 
 like a quality of water-drops scattered at the time of the 
 evening worship by the thousand hands of the sages; the 
 crest of night floated over the sky like a mountaineer- woman's 
 topknot ; the young avatar of evening, dark like Qiva's neck, 
 was devouring all that remained of the daylight ; the lines 
 of the lamps shone out as if they were the ray-fingers of 
 the sun which had entered into the earthly fire at night 2 
 and had come forth to point in scorn at the darkness; the 
 gates seemed to announce their closure by the creaking 
 of the folding leaves; [90] the children were beginning 
 to long to go to sleep, having enjoyed a good lying in bed 
 while listening to the long stories of the old nurse ; the 
 dreadful mouth of early night was beginning to yawn, 
 with its darkness as black as ink or an old buffalo, and 
 waking up 'the good people 3 .' Kama with his twanging 
 bow-string was raining a continual succession of arrows and 
 stealing the intellect of all the world, the ladies had their 
 loins jingling with the girdles of many woven threads tied 
 by their tire-women, while romantic heroines started on their 
 wanderings in the empty roads, following the guidance of 
 love ; the pleasant chatter of the geese in the ponds became 
 rare, as it was dulled by the tinkling of the anklets of the 
 women, and the notes of the cranes, as these grew longer as 
 they became deeper asleep 4 , melted the hearts of separated 
 lovers; and a number of lamps were scattered about like 
 the seeds beginning to shoot of the coming day. 
 
 He reflected to himself, " King Harsa is very gracious, 
 since he is still fond of me, though he is vexed at the 
 rumours which have naturally spread about my many youth- 
 
 1 The Comm. explains vidrdna as alasa, cf. p. 90, 1. 9, 230, 13, and 
 235, 16. 
 
 2 Taitt. Brahmana ii. 1, 2, 9 ; Raghuv. iv. 1. 
 
 3 The Yaksas or benevolent goblins who attend Kuvera are 
 so called. 4 Vidrana. *
 
 4 CHAPTER II. 69 
 
 ful follies; if I had been really under his displeasure, he 
 would not have honoured me with an audience. He wishes 
 me to be virtuous; for lords teach proper behaviour to 
 their dependents even without words by granting +l*&m an 
 appropriate reception. Shame on me, thus brigaded in my 
 mind by my own faults, and crushed by neglect, that I 
 venture to indulge in various fancies concerning this most 
 excellent monarch. Verily I will endeavour so to act that 
 he may recognise me in time in my real character." 
 
 Having made this resolve, he went out the next day from 
 the royal camp and remained for a while in the houses of 
 his friends and relations, until the king of himself learned 
 his true character and became favourably inclined to him. 
 Then he reentered again to visit the royal abode ; [91] and 
 in the course of a very few days he was received by his gra- 
 cious majesty into the highest degree of honour springing 
 from kindness, of affection, and of confidence, and shared 
 with him in his wealth, his hours of unbending, and his 
 state dignity. 
 
 Here ends the second chapter entitled The Visit to the King of 
 the Harsa-Carita composed by Qri Bana Bhatta.
 
 I 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 [92] Raining affection on their country 1 , thronged by many 
 
 devoted people 2 , 
 Even as fine seasons are kings born through the merits 
 
 of their subjects. 
 To serve the good, to behold the goddess of glory, to 
 
 tread the heavens, 
 Whose heart is not eager ? aye and to hear the fortunes 
 
 of heroes. 
 
 ON a certain occasion Bana left the king's presence and 
 went to that Brahman settlement to revisit his kin. It was 
 the beginning of autumn, when the clouds are thinned, when 
 the cataka is distressed, when the kadamba duck gives 
 voice, the season deadly to frogs, robbing the peacock of its 
 pride. Then the caravans of hamsas are welcomed back 3 , 
 the sky is like a whetted sword, the sun brilliant, the moon 
 at her clearest, tender the array of stars. The rainbow of 
 Indra fades, the girdling lightning is at rest, Visnu's sleep is 
 invaded 4 ; the waters run hued like lapis lazuli, the clouds 
 rolling light as mists leave Indra unemployed. Then closes 
 the Nlpa, the Kutaja has no flower ; budless is the plantain, 
 
 1 Or of the seasons 'bringing moisture by their rain.' 
 
 2 Or ' with people rich in rice.' 
 
 3 The wild geese fly to the hills when the inundations cover the 
 plains at the beginning of the rainy season, and they return in the 
 autumn. 
 
 4 Of. Wilson, ' Hindu Theatre,' n. 197.
 
 CHAPTER III. 71 
 
 i 
 
 soft the red lotus, the blue lotus exudes honey ; the water- 
 lily is a joy, the nights are cool with the Cephalika, the 
 jasmine [93] becomes fragrant ; the ten regions are all 
 ablaze with opening night lotuses, grey are the wir^is with 
 Saptacchada pollen, lovely clustering Bandhujptls form an 
 unexpected evening glow. The horses h^ve undergone 
 lustration, the elephants are wild, the herds of oxen in- 
 toxicated with ferocity. The range of mud diminishes, 
 young sand isles bud forth by the river banks. The wild 
 rice is parched to ripeness, the pollen is formed in the 
 Priyahgu blossoms, the cucumber's skin is hardened, and 
 the reed grass 1 smiles with flowers. 
 
 Gratified beyond measure at the news of Bana's favour 
 with the king, his kinsmen came forth to meet him with 
 congratulations. In due course he experienced the great joy 
 of finding himself among his numerous relatives, greeting 
 some, greeted by others, kissed by some, kissing others, 
 embraced by some, embracing others, welcomed with a 
 blessing by some, blessing others. The elders being seated, 
 he took a seat brought by his excited attendants. At the 
 receipt of the flower offering and other hospitable attentions 
 his delight was still further increased, and it was with a 
 joyous heart that he made his inquiries : " Have you been 
 happy all this time ? Does the sacrifice proceed without 
 hindrance, gratifying the Brahman groups by its faultless 
 performance ? Do the fires devour oblations with ritual duly 
 and without flaw performed ? Do the boys pursue their 
 studies at the proper time ? Is there the same unbroken 
 daily application to the Veda ? The old earnestness in the 
 practice of the art of sacrifice ? Are there the same classes in 
 grammar exposition, showing respect by days not idly spent 
 in a series of emulous discussions ? Is there the old logic 
 society, [94] regardless of all other occupations ? The same 
 excessive delight in the Mhnamsa, dulling all pleasure in 
 other authoritative books ? Are there the same poetic 
 addresses, raining down an ambrosia of ever-new phrases ?" 
 
 1 Cf. Wilson, Hindu Theatre,' n. 196 n.
 
 72 THE HARSA-CARITA. f 
 
 They replied: "Son, the affairs of us people devoted 
 to contentment, whose intellectual pastimes are always at 
 command, and whose only companion is the sacrificial fire, 
 are of<Jittle importance, so long as the earth is happily 
 protectedSVy our monarch's arm, swaying the whole world 
 and long as the body of the king of serpents. We are in 
 any case happy, but especially now that you, having cast 
 aside indolence, occupy a cane seat beside our sovereign 
 lord. All the ceremonies proper to Brahmans are fully 
 carried out as far as our powers and means permit and in 
 due season." 
 
 Mid such conversations as these, court news, remembrances 
 of past boyish sports, and stories of the men of old he amused 
 himself with them for some time ; at length rising at noon, 
 he complied with the usual observances. After dinner his 
 kinsmen gathered round him. Soon the reader Sudristi was 
 observed approaching, wearing a pair of silken Paundra 
 cloths pale as the outer corner of the peacock's eye : his sec- 
 tarial lines were painted in gorocana and clay from a sacred 
 pool blessed at the end of his bath ; his hair was made sleek 
 with oil and myrobolan, a thick bunch of flowers, kissing his 
 short topknot, added a touch of spruceness, the glow of his 
 lips had been heightened by several applications of betel, 
 and a brilliance imparted to his eyes by the use of a 
 stick of collyrium : he had just dined [95] and his dress was 
 decorous and respectable. He seated himself on a chair not 
 far away, and, after waiting a moment, set down in front of 
 him a desk made of reed stalks, and laid upon it a manuscript 
 from which he had removed the tie, but which still seemed 
 encircled by the rays of his nails like soft lotus fibres. Next 
 he assigned a place to a bee and a dove, which he set down 
 close behind him. Finally, having turned over the inter- 
 vening leaves marked by the end of the morning chapter 1 , 
 he took a small light block 2 of a few leaves, and read 
 with a chant the Purana uttered by Vayu, the rays of his 
 teeth seeming to cleanse the ink -stained syllables, and to 
 
 1 Which had been already read. 
 
 2 Literally ' small door-panel,' from the shape.
 
 o 
 
 CHAPTER III. 73 
 
 o 
 
 worship the volume with showers of white flowers, and his 
 honeyed intonations 1 , like the anklets of a Sarasvati brought 
 near his mouth, charming the hearts of his hearers. 
 
 While Sudristi was thus reading with a chant deMghtful 
 to the ear, the minstrel Sucivana, who was r\$ far from 
 him, accompanied the modulation of the charjt by reciting in 
 a voice loud and sweet this arya, couplet 2 : 
 
 ' Itself sung by sages, itself widespread 3 , embracing the world, 
 cleansing from sin, 
 
 'Methinks this Purana differs not from the achievements of 
 Harsa ! 
 
 'Following the law of heredity 4 , free from discord, noised abroad 
 by its deeds 5 , including all India under its sway, 
 
 ' Issuing from a Crlkantha 6 , this chant resembles the sove- 
 reignty of Harsa !' 
 
 [96] Hearing this Bana's cousins, who had previously ar- 
 ranged together, looked meaningly at each other, while a smile's 
 ambrosia whitened the convex of their cheeks 7 . There were 
 four of them brothers, Ganapati, Adhipati, Tarapati, and 
 Qyamala, and their aspect was, like Brahma's four faces, 
 made pure by the study of the Veda 8 , their looks, like the 
 four methods 9 , endearing from the employment of con- 
 ciliation; men of mild manners, and culture, holding the 
 
 1 The Comm. explains gamakah as ' points of transition from note 
 to note ' ; the Vacaspatya Diet, says svaro yo murchanam eti gamakah 
 sa ihocyate | Kampitah sphurito lino bhinnah sthavira eva ca \\ ahatan- 
 dolitau ceti gamakah sapta klrtitah. | 
 
 2 The couplet is replete with puns. 
 
 3 Or ' surpassing Prithu,' the primaeval king. 
 
 4 Or < sound of the flute.' 
 
 5 Or 'with clear rhythm.' Bharatamargabhajanaguru contains a 
 punning ref. to (1) Bharata, the divine sage of music, (2) the Bharata- 
 varsa, ' India.' 
 
 6 I.e. ' an honoured throat ' ; Crlkantha is the name of Harsa's 
 ancestral kingdom. 
 
 7 This paragraph is full of untranslateable puns. 
 
 8 Each Veda being promulgated by a special mouth, see Visnu 
 Pur. i. v. 
 
 9 For the four Methods of Policy cf. Manu 7. 109 : the compound 
 may also mean ' with their commencement endearing from the employ- 
 ment of conciliation ' as the first Method, or ' with mouths endearing 
 from repeating the Sanaa- Veda.'
 
 74 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 status of preceptors, expounders of Nyaya, deep in the study 
 of able works, receiving only good words 1 both in the world 
 and in grammar, versed in the acts of all monarchs and sages 
 of old*~inspired in mind by the Maha-Bharata, acquainted 
 with all legends, great in wisdom and poetry, full of eagerness 
 to know stories^of heroes, thirsting 2 for no elixir but that of 
 listening to well-turned phrases, foremost in years, speech, 
 distinction, asceticism, the conference, the festival, in person, 
 and in sacrifice. 
 
 At a signal from the others the youngest of them with 
 eyes long as lotus petals, Qyamala by name, much loved by 
 Bana and disposer almost of his soul, respectfully spoke, 
 [97] bathing the heavens with the light of his teeth 3 : "Friend 
 Bana, the king of the twiceborn 4 ravished his preceptor's 
 wife. Pururavas was severed from his beloved Ayus through 
 greed for a Brahman's gold. Nahusa, lusting after another's 
 wife, became a great snake 5 . Yayati took upon himself to 
 win a Brahman! woman's hand and fell 6 . Sudyumna actually 
 became a woman 7 . [98] Somaka's cruelty in murdering Jantu 8 
 is notorious. Through infatuation for the bow Mandhatri went 
 with his sons and grandsons to hell. Even while an ascetic, 
 Purukutsa wrought a deed of shame upon the daughter of 
 Mekala 9 . Kuvalayagva, through resorting to the world of 
 snakes, avoided not the Naga-girl A9vatara 10 . Prithu, that fine 
 
 1 I.e. ' they are called good,' and as grammarians ' they receive only 
 good words.' 
 
 2 -avitrisiia = ' free from all thirst (= desire) except etc.' 
 
 3 In this speech Bana mentions the various stains on the honour of 
 all ancient heroes, only Harsa is spotless. Some of the accusations 
 however rest only on plays of words. 
 
 4 The moon carried off Tara the wife of Vrihaspati. In the next 
 sentence Ayus may also be translated ' life.' 
 
 5 Or ' rake,' cf. Mah. in. clxxxi. 6 Mah. i. Ixxxi.-lxxxiv. 
 
 7 Or ' follower of women,' cf. Visuu Pur. iv. i. 
 
 8 He offered his only son Jantu in sacrifice to obtain a hundred sons, 
 Mah. in. cxxvii. The vfordjantu also means 'living creatures.' 
 
 9 Narmada. For a legend of some connection between this king and 
 the river Narmada see Visnu Pur. iv. iii. 
 
 10 This refers to some legend of this king having been drowned while 
 bathing after hunting. Bhujahga, ( snake ' and ' rake,' contains a pun.
 
 
 
 CHAPTER III. 75 
 
 first of men, did violence to Prithivl. In Nriga's becoming a 
 chameleon 1 a confusion of castes was seen. By Saudasa the 
 earth was not protected, but confounded 2 . Nala, unable 
 to control his passion for dicing 3 , [99] was overcome f.-y Kali. 
 Samvarana had a weakness for Mitra's daughter 4 .,x'Da9aratha 
 came by his death through overfondness JOT his beloved 
 Rama 5 . Kartavirya was slain 6 for persecuting cows and 
 Brahmans. Marutta, though he performed the Bahusuvarna 
 sacrifice, involving vast expenditure, was not highly honoured 
 by gods and Brahmans 7 . Qantanu, separated through in- 
 fatuation from his (loved) river 8 , wept all alone in the forest. 
 [100] Pandu in the midst of the woods lost his life, like a fish, 
 in the heat of passion 9 . Yudhisthira, downcast through fear of 
 his guru 10 , diverged from truth in the battle-front. Thus no 
 reign has been stainless except that of this Harsa, king of 
 kings, sovereign of all continents. Concerning him indeed 
 many marvels are reported : In him we see 11 how a ' Subduer 
 of Hosts ' has set at rest the moving partisan kings 12 . In him 
 
 1 Mah. xin. vi. ; there is a pun here, as it may also mean " a 
 confusion of colours." 
 
 2 Mah. i. clxxviii. Naraksita may go with Saudasa in the sense of 
 ' murderer.' 
 
 3 Or ' without control over heart and senses.' 
 
 4 Mah. I. clxxi. By a pun the author implies ' a weakness for his 
 friend's daughter.' 
 
 5 Or 'for beloved women.' 6 By Jamadagnya. 
 
 7 Marutta wished to offer a great sacrifice, but Vrihaspati, the priest 
 of the gods, refused to officiate, and he had to submit to many indig- 
 nities before he could secure the services of the Brahman Samvartaka 
 at Benares, see Mah. xiv. vi. vii. 
 
 8 For the legend of Qantanu's love for the goddess Gaiiga see 
 Mah. I. xcvi.-xcix. Fa Ami beside 'river' may also mean 'army.' 
 
 9 Mah. i. cxxv. 
 
 10 Drona, see Mah. vii. cxci. The truthful Yudhisthira is once 
 persuaded to prevaricate, when in order to stop Drona in his career of 
 victory he tells him that Asvatthaiuan has been killed, meaning an 
 elephant of that name and not Drona's sou. Drona had said that his 
 pupil Yudhisthira would never tell a lie even for the sovereignty of the 
 three worlds. 
 
 11 He proceeds to shew by a series of plays on words how Harsa 
 fulfils the feats of mythological heroes. 
 
 12 Or 'a Balajit (Indra) has fixed fast the winged in ountains.'
 
 76 THE HARSA-CARITA. ( 
 
 a 'Lord of People' has displayed forbearance towards all 
 other rulers 1 . In him a ' Best of Men ' has won fame by 
 pounding a king of Sindh*. In him a ' Man of Might ' has 
 loosene&,a king 3 from a circling trunk and abandoned an 
 elephant VNJn him a 'Lord' has anointed a young prince 5 . 
 [101] In him a ' Blaster ' has signalized his power by laying low 
 his enemy 6 at one stroke. In him a ' Man-lion ' has manifested 
 his might by cutting down his enemy with his own hand 7 . In 
 him a ' Supreme Lord ' has taken tribute from an inaccessible 
 land of snowy mountains 8 . In him a 'World's Lord' has 
 stationed the world's guardians at the entrance to the 
 regions, and the treasure of all the earth has been distributed 
 among the first of the people 9 . These and the like great 
 undertakings do we see, resembling those of the first age of 
 gold. Therefore we are eager to hear from the beginning 
 onwards in the order of his lineage the fortunes of this 
 auspiciously named hero, rich in the merit won by noble 
 deeds. It is long since we first desired to hear. As the 
 magnet attracts hard and sapless iron, so do the qualities of 
 the great even the hard and tasteless minds of insignificant 
 people : much more those of others naturally tasteful and 
 susceptible. Who could be without curiosity regarding his 
 story, a second Maha-Bharata ? Pray relate it, your highness ! 
 Let our Bhrigu race become even more pure by the purificatory 
 
 1 Or 'a Prajapati has set the earth upon the hoods of the serpent 
 esa.' 
 
 2 Or 'a Purusottama has obtained Laksml by churning the 
 ocean.' 
 
 3 The king's name was Qrikumara or Kumara Gupta. Harsa rescued 
 him when encircled in the trunk of a mad elephant, which he then 
 let loose in the woods. The words may also mean ' a Bali has set free 
 the encircled mountain and loosened a great serpent ( = Vasuki).' 
 
 4 The great elephant's name was Darpacata. 
 
 5 Ref. to the god of war, Kumara, and to Harsa's young son. 
 
 6 There is a pun on Arati, ' king of the demons,' slain by Kumara. 
 
 7 There is an involved ref. to the story of the Dwarf Avatar of Visnu. 
 
 8 There is a punning ref. to Diva's taking Durga to wife. 
 
 9 I.e. the Brahmans. The words also refer to Visnu apportioning 
 the earth to the other deities as its regents and dividing its treasures 
 among the early kings.
 
 v CHAPTER III. 77 
 
 hearing of the deeds of the royal sage 1 ." So much said he 
 became silent. 
 
 " Sir," replied Bana with a smile, " your remarks accord 
 not with fitness. I consider the demands of your, Curiosity 
 impracticable. People absorbed in their owr^objects are 
 commonly void of discrimination between ihe possible and 
 impossible. Attracted by the virtues of others and confused, 
 I suppose, by passion for hearing stories of friends, the minds 
 even of the great lose their discernment. Consider, sir ! On 
 the one hand you have a mere student's wit of an atom's capa- 
 city, on the other his majesty's story [102] commensurate with 
 the whole edifice of Brahma 2 ; on the one hand a few sounds 
 with circumscribed letters and the five modes of word-forma- 
 tion, on the other virtues beyond calculation. Beyond the 
 comprehension of the omniscient, beyond the capacity of the 
 god of speech, beyond the strength of the goddess of eloquence, 
 how much more is he beyond such as I ! What man could 
 possibly even in a hundred of men's lives depict his story in 
 full ? If, however, you care for a part, I am ready. In what 
 way may a feeble tongue possessed of a few grains of letters 
 be of service ? Your highnesses are the audience, the 
 fortunes of Harsa the theme : what more can be said ? 
 The day, however, is near its close. The adorable sun, bright 
 with matted locks of ruddy rays trailing behind, is sinking 
 in the mass of the evening glow, like the Bhrigu Rama in 
 the great pool of all Kuraksetra's 3 blood. To-morrow I will 
 narrate the story." " So be it," they all assented, and 
 rising soon after, he proceeded to the Qona for his twilight 
 worship. 
 
 Then, with heat soft as a Malwa woman's wine-flushed 
 cheek, the day folded itself up. Red exceedingly, as if 
 through toying with the lotus beds, the sun kissing the dusk 
 declined : following the track of whose chariot horses, the 
 
 1 Or reading rajarsivam$acaritapravanena ' hearing of the for- 
 tunes of this royal sage's house.' 
 
 2 I.e. the world. 
 
 3 Samantapancaka = ' the whole land of the five lakes,' alluding to 
 Parana- Rama's slaughter of the Ksatriyas.
 
 78 THE HARSA-CARITA. f 
 
 darkness sped like Yarna's buffalo along the firmament. In 
 due course the bark dresses hanging upon the hut-roofs 
 of the house ascetics were gathered in along with their 
 patch e^of red blaze 1 . The heavens were gladdened by the 
 smoke of tie Agnihotra rite, stealing away the taint of the 
 Kali age. Th^ sacrificers preserved a rigid silence : the 
 women strolled around in the restlessness of recreation time. 
 Bundles of green panicum and rice were being strewn about 
 for the sacrificial cows after milking ; the Vaitana fires were 
 being lighted, the braided ascetics, hairy with black antelope 
 skins, were seated on their clean mats, [103] the students 
 mumbled their tasks, the meditating yogis squatted, in the 
 Brahma posture, innumerable scholars ran about with sounds 
 of clapping, while, by leave of their wearied old teacher, 
 a concourse of dolts, dandies, and boys performed their 
 twilight task 2 by blunderingly belching out the disconnected 
 lines of their books. 
 
 As the evening was now established in the sky and the 
 lamps called stars were peeping forth, Bana proceeded to the 
 house, and sate down in the same company with his loved 
 kinsmen. The first watch having been so spent, he betook 
 himself to a bed in the house of Ganapati. With all the 
 others, however, who in spite of closed eyes obtained no 
 sleep, waiting like lotus beds for the sunrise, curiosity made 
 the night wear but heavily away. 
 
 Awaking at the fourth watch of the night, the same bard 
 as before sang a couple of verses : 
 
 'Stretching out his foot behind, elongating his body upwards 
 
 to full length by bending his spine, 
 'With bowed neck leaning his mouth upon his breast, tossing 
 
 his dust-grey mane, 
 ' His projecting nostrils restlessly moving through desire for 
 
 fodder, the steed, 
 ' Now risen from his bed, gently whinnying paws the earth with 
 
 his hoof. 
 ' With bent back and loins brought near his mouth, curving his 
 
 neck sideways, 
 'His curls matted about his ears, the horse with his hoof rubs 
 
 the corner of his eye, 
 
 1 Cf. Cakuntala 32. 2 Should we read samdhyamsam ?
 
 CHAPTER III. 79 
 
 ' Inflamed by irritation in sleep, while small bits of chaff cling 
 
 to his moving eyelashes, 
 
 ' And his eye is uneasily smitten 1 by his tossing hoar-frost-scat- 
 tering forehead-tuft.' 
 
 [104] Hearing this, Bana dispelled his slumber^and having 
 arisen, washed his face, worshipped the hol^ twilight, took 
 his betel at sunrise, and sought the same place as before. 
 Meanwhile all his kinsmen collected and sat down in a circle 
 round him. Having learnt their object through the former 
 discussion, he began to relate to them the fortunes of 
 Harsha : 
 
 "Listen. There is a certain region named Qrikantha, 
 peopled by the good, a heaven of Indra, as it were, descended 
 upon earth, where the laws of caste usage are for ever un- 
 confused and the order of the Krita age prevails. Owing to 
 the number of its land lotuses the ploughs, whose shares 
 uproot the fibres as they scar the acres, excite a tumult of 
 bees, singing, as it were, the excellencies of the good soil. 
 Unbroken lines of Pundra sugar-cane enclosures seem 
 besprinkled by the clouds that drink the Milky Sea 2 . On 
 every side its marches are packed with corn heaps, like ex- 
 temporized mountains, distributed among the threshing floors 3 . 
 Throughout it is adorned with rice crops extending beyond 
 their fields, where the ground bristles with cumin beds 
 watered by the pots of the Persian wheel. Upon its lordly 
 uplands are wheat crops variegated with Rajamasa patches 
 ripe to bursting and yellow with the split bean pods. 
 Attended by singing herdsmen mounted on buffalos, pursued 
 by sparrows greedy for swarms of flies, gay with the tinkle of 
 bells bound to their necks, roaming herds of cows make 
 white its forests, revelling on Vaspachedya* grass and dropping 
 milk as if the Milky Sea had been drunk by the bull of Qiva 
 
 1 Should we read ahanyamanam 1 
 
 2 By reason of their sweetness, Comm. 
 
 3 But v. Comm. khaladJianadhamabhih Jchalapaldih ' by the owners 
 of the threshing floors.' 
 
 4 Lit. 'To be cut with tears': the name denotes the excessive 
 tenderness of the grass (cf. Pan. ii. 1. 33).
 
 80 THE HARSA-CARITA. { 
 
 and then divided up by him into many portions through fear 
 of indigestion. Like eyes let fall by Indra 1 when blinded by 
 the smoke of its divers burnt sacrifices, thousands of spotted 
 antelopes dot the districts. [105] Regions, pale with the 
 dust of K&taki beds emitting white pollen, gleam like the 
 approaches of Q ; va's City when made grey by the sprinklings 
 of the Pramathas. Pot-herbs and plantains blacken the soil 
 around the villages. At every step are groups of young 
 camels. The exits are made attractive by vine-arbours and 
 pomegranate orchards; arbours, ablaze with Pllu sprays, 
 besmeared with the juice of hand-pressed citron leaves, 
 having flower bunches formed of spontaneously gathered 
 saffron filaments, and travellers blissfully sleeping after 
 drinking the juice of fresh fruit, very hostels, as it were, with 
 wood-nymphs dispensing ambrosia : orchards, where the fruit, 
 ripe to bursting, seems coloured by the beaks of the parrots 
 attacking the seeds, and the flowers are tinged by the cheeks 
 of climbing monkey tribes. There are lovely groves where 
 woodrangers taste the cocoa-nut juice, where travelling folk 
 plunder the date-trees, monkeys lick sweet-scented date 
 juice, and partridges tear the Aruka to pieces with their 
 beaks. Not barren are the sylvan hollows of forest pools, 
 refuge of myriad travellers, encircled with avenues of tall 
 Arjuna trees and turbid at the edges through the descent of 
 herds of kine. Troops of camels and flocks of sheep form in 
 hordes under the guardianship of camel boys. Wandering 
 droves of mares, besmeared with the sap of crushed saffron 
 beds, where they roll as if to seduce the steeds of the sun's 
 chariot, visit the land, roaming like the deer of the Maruts 2 
 at will, with snorting nostrils and uplifted heads drinking in 
 the air, as it were to beget speed in the young lying in their 
 wombs. 
 
 Seen like wild geese amid the dusk of ever-smoking 
 sacrifices, the reeds are white upon the earth. The 
 land's vast resources sound through the animate world like 
 peacocks wild at the sound of drums in concert. Good 
 
 1 The god of the Thousand Eyes. 
 
 2 The Maruts are borne in their chariots by deer.
 
 j CHAPTER III. 81 
 
 men, in conduct 1 spotless as the moon's rays, adorn it like 
 pearls. [106] It has the attraction of all-welcoming hosts, 
 like huge trees 'whose rich fruit is plundered by hundreds 
 of voyagers. Great men are its bulwarks, clad, x Uke the 
 feet of the Himalaya, with the hair of deer bearing the 
 fragrance of civet. Graced is it with ponote like Visnu's 
 navel, where fine birds* are seated upon lotuses with tall 
 stalks. Its regions are filled with wide ranches 3 , which, like 
 the turmoil of the churning of the Milky Ocean, wash the 
 lands with torrents of churned milk. Such is the land of 
 Qrikantha. 
 
 There did false doctrines fade away, as if washed out by 
 a rain of tears due to the smoke of the Triple Fire. Sinful 
 ways vanished, as if consumed by the burning of the bricks 
 for altars. Demerit was scotched, as if cleft by the 
 axes which fashioned sacrificial posts. Caste confusion 
 ceased, as if cleansed by a rain from the smoke clouds of 
 oblation fires. Sin fled/ as if gored by the horns of the 
 many thousands of presented oxen. Disasters were cut away, 
 as if excised by numerous axes chiselling stone for temples. 
 Calamities sped afar, as if routed by the tumult of 
 munificent rites. Disease was dissipated, as if consumed 
 by myriad blazing sacrificial kitchens. Sudden death came 
 not near, as if alarmed by the sharp beat of holy drums 
 struck at bulls' wedlocks 4 . [107] Plagues departed, as if 
 deafened by the never-ceasing noise of hymns. Overwhelmed, 
 as it were, by the rule of law, mishap did not arise. 
 
 In such a country is a certain district called Sthanviqvara, 
 blessed, like the world's first youth, with sweet fragrance of 
 lovely flowers in divers pleasances ; bedecked, like the road 
 
 1 The Sanskrit has a play on the double sense of vrittam = (1) conduct, 
 (2) round and of gunin = (\} worthy, (2) strung on a cord. 
 
 2 Dvijottama = (1) best of birds, (2) Brahma, (3) Brahman, there being 
 an allusion to the story that Brahma reclines on a lotus springing from 
 Visnu's navel. 
 
 3 Beside ' wide ranches ' mahaghosa may denote ' mighty rumblings.' 
 
 4 For the letting loose of bulls cf. Wilson, H. D. I. p. 20 n. and reff. 
 ap. B. and R. 
 
 c. 6
 
 82 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 to Dharma's gynseceum, with many myriads of buffalos 1 
 stained from rolling in saffron ; whitened at its borders, like 
 a part of the celestial realm, with yak-tail flappers shaken 
 by the winds; blazing to all the ends of heaven, like the 
 ericampmelit of the Krita age, with thousands of flaming sacri- 
 ficial fires ; alk.-ying all inauspicious signs, like the Brahma- 
 world's first descent, by the meditation of Brahmarsis seated 
 in the posture of thought ; thronged, like a rival 2 to the 
 Northern Kurus, with hundreds of great rivers 3 uproarious 
 with tumult ; surpassing Tripura, as it were, in having all 
 its people unacquainted with the devastating might of Qiva's 
 arrow ; bright, like a replica of the moon world, with rows 
 of white houses plastered with stucco 4 ; like a claimant to 
 the name of Kuvera's City, oppressing the world with clank- 
 ing ornaments of wine-flushed beauties. 
 
 Sages entitled it a hermitage, courtesans a lover's retreat, 
 actors a concert hall, foes the city of death, seekers of wealth 
 the land of the philosopher's stone, [108] sons of the sword the 
 soil of heroes, aspirants to knowledge the preceptor's home, 
 singers the Gandharvas' city, scientists the Great Artificer's 
 temple, merchants the land of profit, bards the gaming- 
 house, good men the gathering of the virtuous, refugees 
 the cage of adamant, libertines the Rogue's Meet, wayfarers 
 the reward of their good deeds, treasure-seekers the mine, 
 quietists the Buddhist monastery, lovers the Apsaras' City, 
 troubadours the festival congress, Brahmans the stream of 
 wealth. 
 
 There are women like elephants in gait 5 , yet noble- 
 minded; virgins, yet attached to worldly pomp 6 ; dark, yet 
 possessed of rubies 7 ; their faces are brilliant with white 
 teeth, yet is their breath perfumed with the fragrance of 
 
 1 There is a pun on mahisl, which means 'a crowned queen' as 
 well as ' a buffalo.' The paragraph contains many other puns. 
 
 2 The Bombay text reads vipaksa 'rival' for viksepa ('threat'?). 
 
 3 Or punningly ' armies.' 
 
 4 Or punningly ' ambrosia.' 
 
 5 Or punningly ' visiting vile outcasts.' 
 
 6 Or punningly ' past child bearing.' 
 
 7 Or ' dark as night yet bright with red lotuses.'
 
 j CHAPTER III. 83 
 
 wine 1 ; their bodies are like crystal, yet their limbs are soft 
 as acacia flowers ; they are unattainable by paramours, yet 
 robed in bodices 2 ; wide are their beautiful hips, yet are 
 they possessed of thin waists 3 ; lovely 4 are they, yet honeyed 
 in speech ; they trip not, yet have a bright and captivating 
 beauty 5 ; they are without curiosity 6 , yet weded. 
 
 [109] Their eyes are a natural mundamdla wreath, the 
 garlands of lotus leaves are a mere burden. The images of 
 their curls in the convex of their cheeks are ear-pendants that 
 give no trouble ; Tanidla shoots are a superfluity. The talk 
 of their dear ones forms happy ear- ornaments ; rings and the 
 like are but affectation. Their cheeks alone give a perpetual 
 sunshine ; for pomp only have they jewelled lamps by night. 
 Tribes of bees attracted by their breath are their beauteous 
 veils, the duty of noble women their hair-nets. Their voices 
 alone are their sweet lutes, harp-playing is but an irrelevant 
 accomplishment. Laughs are their exceeding fragrant per- 
 fumes ; needless is camphor powder. The gleam of their lips 
 is a more brilliant cosmetic ; saffron unguent is a worthless 
 blot upon their loveliness. Their arms are the softest of 
 playfully smiting wands ; purposeless are lotus stalks. Drops 
 of the sweat of youthful warmth are their artful bosom orna- 
 ments, necklaces but a burden. Their laps are broad squares 
 of crystal slabs for their lovers; jewelled couches in their 
 mansions a needless means of repose. Bees clinging in 
 greed for such lotuses are their resonant foot-ornaments ; 
 useless are anklets of sapphire. Domestic kalahamsas, 
 summoned by the tinkle of their anklets, are the unfailing 
 companions of their walks ; attendants are but the accidents 
 of greatness. 
 
 In that country there arose a monarch named Puspabhuti, 
 
 1 Or 'with faces pure as Brahmans, yet &c.', wine-drinking being 
 forbidden to Brahmans. 
 
 2 Or punningly ' libidinous.' 
 
 3 Or punningly 'far-famed as wives (Or 'having brilliant reti- 
 nues'), yet reckoned among the poor.' 
 
 4 Or punningly ' tart in speech.' 
 
 5 Or punningly 'they are flushed with wine.' 
 
 6 Or punningly ' the marriage thread.' 
 
 62
 
 84 THE HARSA-CARITA. ( 
 
 having, like Indra incarnate, a bow supporting all castes 1 , 
 Meru-like in the attribute of a golden nature, Mandara-like 
 in attracting glory", ocean-like in observing proper bounds 8 , 
 ether-lijf.e in the noising abroad of his fame 4 , moon-like in 
 his receptivity for arts 5 , Veda-like in truthful 6 speech, earth- 
 like in [110] supporting all mankind, wind-like in sweeping 
 away the bad passions of all kings 7 , a Guru in speech, a 
 Prithu in breast, a Vigala 8 in intellect, a Janaka in asceticism, 
 a Suyatra in splendour, a Sumantra in secret council, a Budha 
 in station, an Arjuna in brilliance, a Bhisma with the bow, a 
 Nisadha in frame, a Qatrughna in battle, a Qura in vanquish- 
 ing armies of heroes 9 , a Daksa in fecundity; framed in fine as 
 it seemed of the compounded splendour of all the primaeval 
 kings. 
 
 This king, jealous of the saying " this earth was made 
 a cow by Prithu," made the earth his queen 10 . Now the 
 minds of the great are naturally wilful and follow their own 
 lights. Wherefore from boyhood upwards he, untaught by 
 any man, entertained a great, almost inborn, devotion towards 
 Qiva the adorable, readily won by faith, upholder of the 
 universe, creator of creatures, annihilator of existence. From 
 all other gods he turned away. Not even in dreams did 
 he take food without worshipping him whose emblem is the 
 bull. Devoted to the Lord of Beings, the increate, ageless, 
 guru of the immortals, the foe of the Demons' City, the lord 
 of countless Hosts, spouse of the Daughter of the Mountains, 
 him before whose feet all worlds bow, he thought the three 
 spheres void of all other deities. The dispositions of his 
 subjects also were conformable to their monarch's mind. 
 
 1 Or ' of all colours.' 
 
 2 Or ' Laksrni.' 
 
 3 Or ' rectitude.' 
 
 4 Or ' manifesting sound,' which is the property of akapa. 
 6 Or ' assemblage of digits.' 
 
 6 Or ' increate.' 
 
 7 Or 'all earthly dust.' 
 
 8 The name of a Bodhisattva, Comm. 
 
 9 Or perhaps ' in conquering Qurasena.' 
 10 Mahisl may also mean ' a buffalo-cow.'
 
 CHAPTER III. 85 
 
 Thu s : house by house the holy lord of the Cleaving Axe was 
 worshipped : the winds blowing in those pure districts were 
 fragrant with much resin melted in the sacrificial pits, they 
 dropped a rain of dew from the milk used for bathing 1 , they 
 whirled along petals of Bel twig chaplets. [Ill] K' was with 
 gifts and presents customary in Qiva's worship that the king 
 was honoured by citizens, dependants, councillors, and neigh- 
 bouring sovereigns, whom his arm's might had conquered and 
 made tributary. Thus : they gratified his heart with huge 
 Qiva bulls 2 white as Kailasa's peaks, and ringed about their 
 horn-tips with gold-leaf creepers; with golden ewers, with 
 oblation vessels, censers, flowered cloths, lamps on jewelled 
 stands, Brahmanical threads, and mukhakogas 3 inlaid with 
 bits of precious gems. His queens also complied with his 
 desire, voluntarily undertaking the threshing of the scattered 
 rice, deepening the glow of their hands by staining the 
 temples with unguents, occupying all their attendants in 
 stringing flowers. Now this monarch so devoted to Qiva 
 heard men speak of a certain great Qaiva saint named Bhaira- 
 vacarya, almost a second overthrower of Daksa's sacrifice 4 , 
 who belonged to the Deckan, but whose powers, made famous 
 by his excellence in multifarious sciences, were, like his many 
 thousands of disciples, spread abroad over the whole sphere 
 of humanity. Harmony in character conciliates good will even 
 towards unknown persons; and so, immediately on hearing 
 of this saint Bhairavacarya, the king conceived towards him, 
 though far away, a deep affection as towards a second Qiva, 
 and desired even with longing by all means to see his face. 
 One day, as the failing light was kissing the western hill, 
 the portress approached the king, who was in the harem, 
 and said : ' Your majesty, a recluse stands at the door and 
 declares that he has come by order of Bhairavacarya.' 
 
 1 I.e. bathing the god's image. 
 
 2 I.e. bulls let loose in honour of Qiva. 
 
 8 It is difficult to see what this word means : the Comm. says 
 mukhayuktah kopd mukhakofd ye lingopari diyante. Perhaps it is a 
 covering for wrapping the image of the linga. 
 
 4 The real overthrower of Daksa's sacrifice was Qiva himself.
 
 86 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 ' Where is he/ the king with profound respect inquired, 
 ' conduct him here, introduce him.' The chamberlain did so, 
 and soon the king saw the ascetic enter, a tall fellow [112] with 
 arms extending to his knees, emaciated by a mendicant's life 
 yet from *he stoutness of the bones in his limbs appearing 
 fat, broad in he head, his forehead undulating with deep 
 wrinkles, fleshless hollows beneath his eyes, which were 
 round and ruddy as wine drops, his nose slightly curved, 
 one ear very pendulous, the rows of his prominent teeth 
 distinct as seeds in a gourd, his lip loose as a horse's, his jaw 
 elongated by a hanging chin. A red ascetic's scarf 
 hanging from his shoulder formed his vaikaksaka wrap ; 
 his upper robe, consisting of a tattered rag knotted above his 
 heart and stained with red chalk, seemed to betoken the 
 knotted passions of his heart, which he had rent in pieces 1 . 
 In one hand he grasped his bamboo stool. His left held 
 a yoke pole resting on his shoulder, where its motionless 
 point of support was tied with a complicated fastening of 
 hair rope; to this were attached his dirt-scraper and sieve 
 of bamboo bark, his loin cloth at the end, his alms bowl 
 contained in its receptacle, namely a cavity of Khar jura 
 wood, his waterpot fixed in a triangular support made of 
 three sticks, his slippers disposed outside, and a bundle of 
 manuscript bound by a string of stout cord. 
 
 As he drew near, the king welcomed him with the usual 
 courtesies, and when he was seated, asked where Bhairavacarya 
 was. Charmed with the king's gracious speech, the mendicant 
 stated that he was staying near the city in a deserted house 
 contiguous with the woods on the Sarasvatl's banks ; and he 
 further added ' His reverence honours your sovereign majesty 
 with his blessing.' With which words he drew from his 
 pack and presented five jewelled silver lotuses sent by 
 Bhairavacarya, which overlaid the harem with a glow of light. 
 
 [113] The king, shrinking, as politeness dictated, from 
 slighting a friend's gift, but also unwilling to be guilty of too 
 hasty acceptance, paused a moment wavering, but at length, 
 
 1 We have here a pun on raga ' mortal passion' and also ' red 
 colour.'
 
 CHAPTER III. 87 
 
 I 
 
 yielding to his great nobleness, he took the gifts and said : 
 'Our devotion to Qiva, the source of all fruitful results, 
 produces fruits inaccessible indeed to desire, seeing that we 
 find such favour with his reverence, the guru of the world. 
 To-morrow I will see his reverence.' With these; words he 
 dismissed the ascetic, profoundly delighted at his news. 
 
 The next day he rose early, mounted his horse, and with 
 his white umbrella held above him, and a pair of white 
 chowries waving, proceeded accompanied by only a few 
 nobles to see Bhairavacarya, like the moon visiting the sun. 
 Having advanced some distance, he saw one of Bhairavacarya's 
 own disciples approaching, and inquired where his reverence 
 was staying. ' In a Bel-tree plantation,' the man replied, 
 ' north of yon old temple to the Mothers.' So he proceeded 
 to the place, dismounted, and entered the plantation. 
 
 In the midst of a great throng of recluses [116] he beheld 
 Bhairavacarya 1 , who on seeing him at a distance moved like 
 the ocean seeing the moon, and, after his disciples had first 
 risen, rose and went forward to meet the king. Having 
 presented a gift of Bel fruit, he pronounced a benediction in 
 tones deep as the roar of Ganges' flood when it was vomited 
 forth from Jahnu's ear. 
 
 The king, whose eyes, expanding their white in pleasure, 
 seemed to repay the lotuses many-fold, and whose brilliant 
 crest-jewel, declining upon his forehead, seemed to put forth 
 a third eye as a manifestation of Qiva's favour 2 , repeated his 
 salutation by a bow from a distance ; while from his ear- 
 wreath, as he bent down, bees flew away like departing sins 
 all uprooted by Qiva worship. 'Approach, be seated here,' said 
 the teacher, pointing to his own tiger-skin. ' Your reverence,' 
 the king respectfully replied in a voice flowing like a river of 
 honey and rich with the passionate throbbing utterance of 
 lovesick hamsas, 'you ought not to make me suffer for the 
 faults of other princes. It is surely the bad manners of that 
 inglorious glory which all kings regard, or else the mean 
 pride of wealth, which makes the teacher deal so with me. 
 
 1 For the description of Bhairavacarya v. Appendix. 
 
 2 Qiva himself has a third eye in his forehead.
 
 88 THE HARSA-CAR1TA. 
 
 i 
 
 I am no object for ceremoniousness. Enough of formality: 
 however far removed, in will I am your reverence's disciple. A 
 teacher's seat should be like himself respected, not desecrated. 
 Let your highness only sit here.' So much said, he seated 
 himself o*u x a rug brought by his attendants. Bhairavacarya 
 likewise, complying graciously with the king's not to be 
 resisted words, reoccupied as before his tiger skin. All being 
 seated, the nobles and retinue and also the students, he made 
 the customary offering of flowers and the like. In due course 
 captivated by the king's charm of manner, [117] he began to 
 speak, displaying teeth glittering like devotion to Qiva made 
 visible, and stainless as a piece of moonlight : ' My son, 
 your exceeding condescension of itself proclaims the majesty 
 of your virtues. You are a vessel for universal good-fortune. 
 Your undertakings harmonize with your greatness. I from 
 birth upwards have never had regard to riches. This poor 
 person of mine therefore is not sold to wealth, that fuel to 
 the fire of the whole round of vice. My life is sustained by 
 alms. A few hard-won syllables of knowledge are mine. I 
 have some small store of merit acquired by humble service 
 of the holy Master Qiva. Be pleased to appropriate whatever 
 of this deserves to be of service. Like flowers, the minds of 
 the good can be bound by very slight ties 1 . Moreover good 
 men approved by the wise, like good words, at the first 
 hearing produce a flash even in profound minds. I was being 
 borne away on the foam-white currents, as it were, of a 
 curiosity plunging into hidden depths 2 , when your nobility 
 drew me back by its array of virtues 3 .' 
 
 'Your reverence,' replied the king, 'let the bodies of 
 the good be ever so devoted, their owners alone can be our 
 friends 4 . The mere sight of you has done me infinite good. 
 By his mere coming the teacher has placed me in an enviable 
 position.' After some time spent in these and various 
 discourses he went home. 
 
 1 Or 'virtues.' 
 
 2 I.e. ' of knowledge ' : the metaphor is from a river vanishing 
 underground. 
 
 3 Or ' cords.' 
 
 4 I.e. I do not need your services, but yourself.
 
 CHAPTER III. 89 
 
 Another day Bhairavacarya on his part went to see the 
 king, who placed himself, his harem, his court, and his 
 treasury at the ascetic's disposal. But the sage with a smile 
 replied : ' What have we children of the woods to do, your 
 majesty, with power ? Wisdom withers sure enough, like a 
 creeper, under the blaze of wealth. The Brightness which 
 shines in us is like that of the firefly [118], which scorches no 
 other being. Only your majesty's peers are vessels for 
 fortune.' Then after staying some time he departed. 
 
 The mendicant as before presented five silver lotuses on 
 each occasion. One day however he entered with something 
 wrapt in white rags, and, having sat down as before, after a 
 pause spoke: 'Most fortunate king, his reverence informs your 
 majesty that he has a Brahman disciple named Patalasvamin, 
 who from the hand of a Brahmaraksasa 1 took a great sword 
 called Attahasa. Pray accept of this, a weapon befitting your 
 majesty's arm.' With these words he removed the cover- 
 ing of rags, and drew forth from the sheath a sword, like 
 the autumn sky converted to a scimitar, Kalindl's stream 
 solidified to rival Visnu's sword, the Kaliya snake in its anger 
 against Krisna become a weapon, a bit of the black cloud 
 of doomsday fallen from the heaven foreshadowing a rainfall 2 
 to dissolve the world ; resembling the smile of Hate* dis- 
 playing a circle of great teeth, or Hari's stout arm with the 
 fist 4 tightly clenched ; formed as it were of deadly poison 
 capable of taking the lives of all the world ; composed of 
 steel heated by the fiery wrath of fate; in its exceeding 
 sharpness humming as with rage at the mere touch of the 
 air; seeming, as its image fell upon the jewelled pavement of 
 the hall, to cleave its very self in twain : jagged in edge with 
 rays, like hairs left upon it after decapitating foes ; mincing 
 the day, whose light was cut in pieces by an inlay of radiance 
 flickering like the lightning's frequent flash ; a side-glance, 
 
 1 Manu xn. 60. 
 
 2 There is a punning reference to the notion of ' sword-edge water.' 
 
 3 Himsa wife of Adharma. 
 
 4 Musti may also mean ' hilt.' There is also a reference to a demon 
 of that name.
 
 90 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 as it were, of the night of doom, death's ear-lotus, the trium- 
 phal shout [119] of pitilessness, the ornament of arrogance, 
 the family friend of wrath, the body of pride, the comrade of 
 valour, the child of death, the path of approaching glory, the 
 road of departing fame. 
 
 The king took it in his hand, and gazing at it for a 
 while, seemed, as it reflected his image, to be giving the 
 weapon a loving embrace 1 . At length he gave his message : 
 ' Inform his reverence that, though too practised in the art of 
 scorning the acceptance of other people's property, my mind 
 is unable in his case to commit the impropriety .of going 
 counter to his words.' Pleased at the acceptance, the 
 mendicant answered, ' Fortune attend your majesty : I now 
 take leave of you,' and so departed. The king, naturally 
 of a warlike humour, felt that by aid of that sword the 
 earth lay in the hollow of his hand. 
 
 The days passing, Bhairavacarya on one occasion made a 
 secret petition to the king : ' The dispositions of the great, 
 your majesty, are careless of their own interests, versed in 
 serving others. To such as your majesty seeing petitioners 
 is a festival, solicitation is to confer a favour, the acceptance 
 of gifts by others a boon. You are the centre of all men's 
 wishes. Wherefore I now address you : Listen ; by a crore of 
 muttered prayers have I, in garlands, clothes, and unguents 
 all of black as enjoined in the Kalpa, performed in the great 
 cemetery the exordium of the potent rite called Mahakalahri- 
 daya. Its completion ends with the laying of a goblin. Without 
 companions this is unattainable. You are capable of achiev- 
 ing this. Should you undertake the task, there will be three 
 other assistants : one the friend of my boyhood, Tltibha, the 
 mendicant who visits your majesty; the second Patalasvamin ; 
 the third a Dravidian disciple of mine, Karnatala by name. 
 If you approve, let this arm of yours, long as a sky elephant's 
 trunk, take Attahasa and for one night become the bolt of 
 one quarter of the heavens.' 
 
 To this speech the king, delighted, like one in darkness 
 
 1 We might, however, translate " embracing it with his hand which 
 remained motionless as if painted."
 
 CHAPTER III. 91 
 
 [120] who sees a light, at the opportunity of conferring a 
 favour, replied : ' I am highly honoured, your reverence ; I 
 consider myself favoured by a charge to be shared with your 
 disciples.' Overjoyed at the king's words, Bhairavacarya 
 proceeded to make an appointment ; ' Your honour, armed 
 with your sword, will find us in the empt^ house near the 
 great cemetery here at this hour on the approaching four- 
 teenth night of the dark fortnight.' 
 
 The days having passed and the fourteenth having 
 arrived, the king after initiation in the Qaiva ritual fasted. 
 The sword Attahasa he perfumed and honoured with scents, 
 frankincense, and wreaths. The day came to a close. A 
 ruddy hue spread over the heaven, as though some one had 
 performed a Bali ceremony with sprinkled blood to ensure the 
 success of the rite. The sun's rays hung down like vampires' 
 tongues greedy for the scattered blood. As though out of 
 attachment to the king he too wished to become a warder 
 of the sky, the sun had occupied the western quarter; 
 like goblins seemed the lengthening shadows of the trees. 
 The encircling darkness started up like hell-haunting fiends 
 to stay the rite. In the firmament the starry clusters 
 gathered close, as if to look upon a horrid act. Thus at the 
 dead of night, in the soundless stillness of a sleeping world, 
 the king, eluding his court and harem, a dagger gleaming in 
 his left hand, Attahasa drawn in his right, cloaked from head 
 to foot in the spreading radiance of his sword like a dark 
 blue silken robe assumed to escape detection, set forth alone 
 from the city, and reached the appointed spot ; royal majesty 
 attending unbidden, [121] and success dragged, as it were, 
 by the hair behind in the shape of braids of bees attracted 
 by his fragrance. 
 
 Then the three, Titibha, Karnatala, and Patalasvamin, 
 came up and announced themselves, armed like Drona's 
 son, Kripa, and Kritavarman in the Night Assault, bathed, 
 garlanded, and strangely attired. About their topknots 
 of flowers ranged murmuring bees, which formed as it were 
 a magic hair tie. On their heads they wore turban wraps 
 with large Svastika knots fastened in the centre of their
 
 92 THE HARSA-CAR1TA. 
 
 foreheads, and resembling huge mystic seals. Their cheeks 
 were lit with the light of dazzling earrings pendant from the 
 cavity of one ear, while their mouths were as it were drinking 
 up the gloom of night in the wish to weaken its roaming 
 goblins. Jewelled rings dangling from the other ear anoint- 
 ed them with sparkling lustre like a spell-charmed gorocana 
 pigment. Brandishing sharp swords, wherein their images 
 were reflected, they seemed offering human sacrifices to 
 ensure the success of the rite, while the long-continued 
 flashes of the steel lined the darkness, as if they would 
 cleave the night in three with a view to guarding their 
 several quarters of the horizon. Their bucklers, bearing 
 crescents and scintillating starlike groups of silver globules, 
 might be compared to bits of darkness sheared by the hard 
 sword's edge and forming a second and artificial night. 
 They wore thick new cloths girt with golden chain-belts, 
 and daggers were fastened to their waists. 
 
 'Who goes there?' demanded the king of the three. 
 They severally announced their names, and with them at his 
 heels he proceeded [122] to the silent, deep, and awful grave- 
 yard, where all was in readiness and pounded resin, flaming in 
 magic lamps, filled the heavens with incense and smoke, as if 
 the night were fleeing away with its gloom half-burned by a 
 scattered mustard charm 1 . 
 
 In the centre of a great circle of ashes white as lotus pollen 
 Bhairavacarya could be seen, a form all aglow with light, like 
 the autumn, sun enveloped in a broad halo or Mandara in 
 the whirlpool of the churned Ocean of Milk. Seated on the 
 breast of a corpse which lay supine anointed with red sandal 
 and arrayed in garlands, clothes and ornaments all of red, 
 himself with a black turban, black unguents, black amulet, 
 and black garments, he had begun a fire rite in the corpse's 
 mouth, where a flame was burning. As he offered some 
 black sesamum seeds, it seemed as though in eagerness to 
 become a Vidyadhara he were annihilating the atoms of 
 defilement which caused his mortal condition. The gleam of 
 
 1 The luminous smoke is compared to the half-burnt night fleeing 
 away into the sky.
 
 CHAPTER III. 93 
 
 his nails falling on the oblation appeared to cleanse the 
 flames of the pollution due to contact with the dead man's 
 mouth, while his smoke-inflamed eye flung as it were an 
 offering of blood upon the devouring blaze. His mouth, show- 
 ing the tips of white teeth as he slightly opened his lips in his 
 muttering, seemed to display in bodily shajjg the lines of the 
 syllables of his charms. The lamps near him were imaged 
 in the sweat of his sacrificial exertions, as if he were burning 
 his whole body to ensure success. From his shoulder hung 
 a Brahmanical thread of many strands, encircling his form, ' 
 like a multiple Vidyaraja charm. 
 
 Having approached, the king saluted, and being welcomed 
 set about his own task. [123] Patalasvamin chose Indra's 
 quarter, Karnatala that of Kuvera, the mendicant that of 
 Pracetas, while the king himself adorned that marked by 
 Tri9ariku's light 1 . 
 
 The warders of the regions having taken their stations, 
 Bhairavacarya confidently entered the cage composed of 
 their arms, and proceeded with his awful work. The 
 opposing fiends having after fruitless resistance and much 
 uproar been allayed, suddenly at the very instant of midnight 
 the earth was rent open to the north and not far from the 
 magic circle, displaying a fissure like the jaws of the mighty 
 boar of doomsday. Forthwith, like a copper post torn up by 
 the sky elephants, there ascended out of the chasm a spirit 
 dark as a blue lotus, with shoulders thick and square as the 
 Great Boar's, a fiend, as it were, risen from the womb of earth 
 or the demon Bali springing up from the cloven hell. The 
 gleam of&Mdlati wreath amid locks of crisp curled hair, sleek, 
 dark and growing thickly, produced the effect of a sapphire 
 temple crowned with the blaze of a jewelled lamp. A 
 throbbing voice and an eye naturally red suggested one 
 drunk with the vapours of youth. A necklace tossed about 
 his throat. Ever and anon he smeared shoulders comparable 
 to the sky elephants' frontal globe with clay crushed in his 
 clenched hand. Irregularly bespotted with moist sandal 
 
 1 Tri9anku is suspended in the southern heavens, see Ramay. I. 60.
 
 94 THE HARSA-CARITA. , 
 
 paste, he resembled a tract of autumn sky speckled with bits 
 of very white cloud. Above a petticoat white as the Ketakl 
 petal his flank was drawn tight by a scarf, the long white 
 cotton fringe of which, carelessly left loose, hung to the 
 ground just as if it were the serpent Qesa supporting him 
 from behind. Hjs stout thick thighs [124] planted slow paces 
 as if he feared to break through the earth : yet they could 
 scarce support his mountain-like form with its burden of 
 overmastering pride. Again and again he doubled his left 
 arm athwart his breast, raised the right cross- wise, bent his 
 leg, and furiously slapped his arms 1 with such a noise as 
 though he would raise a storm to hinder the rite and maim 
 the animate world of one sense. ' Ho, my would-be para- 
 mour of Vidyadharis,' he sneeringly shouted in tones awful 
 as the echo of Narasimha's roar, ' whence this conceit of 
 knowledge or blind reliance on your helpers, that without 
 making an oblation to me you aspire fool that you are to 
 success ? What madness is this ? Has no mention come to 
 your ears after all this time of me, the Naga Qrikantha, after 
 whom this region, whereof I am lord, is named ? Against 
 my will what power have the very planets to move in the 
 heavens ? What a miserable unkingly king is this, who 
 accepts favours from such Qaiva outcasts as you ! Receive 
 now along with this wretched monarch the reward of your 
 misconduct.' When he had said thus much, the three, 
 Titibha and the rest, rushed upon him ; but with furious 
 buffets he dashed them, armour, swords and all, to the 
 ground. 
 
 Never before had the king heard himself reviled. His 
 limbs, albeit unwounded, poured forth a stream of furious 
 sweat, water of the sword-edge, as it were, drunk in many a 
 battle. His hair bristled like an array of arrow heads shot 
 out in hundreds to lighten him for the fray. Even Attahasa, 
 mirroring the constellations, seemed to proclaim his un- 
 bending spirit by a contemptuous smile showing clearly a 
 row of white teeth. As his hands moved restlessly in the 
 
 1 An Indian challenge to combat.
 
 CHAPTER III. 95 
 
 act of tightening his girdle, their horizon-like gleam of nails 
 [1 25] seemed a demon-quelling charm circle, blocking the wide 
 heaven to guard against escape. Scornfully he cried, 'Ho, 
 serpent, crow, are you not ashamed to demand an oblation in 
 the presence of such a royal flamingo as I ? But what avail 
 these taunts ? Valour dwells in the arm, ot in the voice. 
 Take to your weapon. Not thus are you my match. My 
 arm is untaught to smite the weaponless.' With still greater 
 disdain the Naga replied : ' Approach, what care I for 
 swords ? With my two arms will I crush your pride,' and so 
 slapped his arms. Ashamed to vanquish a weaponless foe 
 with weapons, the king, flinging away sword and buckler, girt 
 up his loins outside his cloak for a fight with fists. So they 
 fought till their furious slapping had bedewed them with a rain 
 of blood from lacerated arms, which falling like stone pillars 
 almost converted the whole world into sound. Soon the king 
 smote the serpent to the earth, and having seized him by the 
 hair, had drawn Attahasa to strike off his head, when amid the 
 wreath on his shoulder he detected the sacred thread. For- 
 bearing his weapon, ' Villain,' he cried, ' this then is the seed 
 of your career of ill-doing, this is whence you proceed without 
 fear in your wicked courses,' and so let him go. Straightway 
 as in a moment he beheld a great brightness ; a perfume as 
 of lotus beds opening in autumn smote upon his nostrils; 
 instantaneously he heard a tinkle of anklets, and guided his 
 glance in pursuit of the sound. 
 
 In the centre of the sword resting in his hand, like a 
 lightning flash in the womb of a black cloud, he beheld a 
 woman whose radiance seemed to swallow up the night. 
 Her hands were like red lotuses. Like seaside coral beds 
 clinging to her feet trailed the web-like rosy glow of her soft 
 toes. [126] Disguised as her white toe-nails she bore along 
 the splintered moon-disk, as if for fear her lotus hands should 
 close 1 . Clasped anklets lay about her ankles, as though in 
 her coming she had burst from a prison of thick linked 
 chains. Out of a dazzling white silken robe, embroidered 
 
 1 The night-lotus would close in the absence of the moon.
 
 06 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 with hundreds of divers flowers and birds, and gently rippled 
 by the motion of the breeze, her form rose up as from an 
 ocean's waters. The tribali clasped her waist like the three- 
 fold Ganges pleased at her birth from the deep 1 . Her round 
 bust with its prominent bosoms was like the sky displaying 
 the sky- elephants' frontal bones, and across her bosom, like 
 the dew on the trunk of Airavata in his time of rut, lay a 
 necklace with lustrous pearls like stars of autumn. Swayed 
 like white chowries by her soft, soft breathing, the light of 
 the necklace seemed to fan her. Her hands bore a naturally 
 rosy tint, as if they had caught a vermilion tinge from slap- 
 ping the forehead of a rut-blinded scent elephant 2 . Her 
 flashing ear-ring shone like the second 3 half of Hara's crest 
 the moon, curved to a circle. Clinging about her ear was an 
 ornament of Apoka shoots like a cluster of the Kaustubha's 
 brightness. Her forehead lacked not a great sectarial line 
 dark as elephant's ichor, like an unseen umbrella's circular 
 shadow 4 . Moon- white sandal, like the glory of the kings 
 of old, brightened her form from hair-parting to feet. 
 Flowery wreaths, dangling from her throat and kissing the 
 ground, flowed over her like rivers finding their repose in 
 ocean 5 . Limbs soft as lotus fibres voicelessly proclaimed her 
 lotus birth. 
 
 ' Who art thou, lady ? ' cried the king unappalled, ' and 
 wherefore hast thou come within my sight ? ' ' Hero,' she said, 
 almost overpowering him with an unabashed ness at variance 
 with her sex, ' know me to be that deer whose pleasure haunt 
 is Narayana's breast, the banner-pennon of Prithu, Bharata, 
 Bhagiratha and the other kings of old, [127] the gay doll upon 
 the victory columns of heroes' arms, the flamingo wantoning 
 
 1 Laksm! rose from the deep at the churning of the ocean. 
 
 2 Laksml's elephant is referred to. The gandhadvipa is a particularly 
 powerful kind of elephant. 
 
 3 Civa wears a crescent moon this was the second or absent half. 
 
 4 The umbrella being a sign of sovereignty. Mada is described as 
 dark like Tamala shoots in Kadambar! p. 243 I. ; tamala-pallava-rasa- 
 fydmena madajalena. 
 
 6 I.e. as if they were the rivers which had flowed into the ocean from 
 which she had risen at its churning.
 
 CHAPTER III. 97 
 
 with yearning to sport upon the waves of battle's bloodshed 
 stream, the peacock of the thickets of kings' white umbrellas, 
 even Qri, the lioness whose caprice is to roam in the forest of 
 sharp scimitar edges, the lotus bed of the pools of sword-edge 
 water. I am ravished by this thy valorous spirit. Crave of 
 me a boon : I will give thee thy heart's desirg,' 
 
 Heroes are unwearied in serving others. So the king 
 bowed to her, and heedless of his own advantage, besought 
 the success of Bhairavacarya. Highly gratified, the goddess, 
 anointing the king with her wide-open eyes like a milk ocean 
 thrown over him, replied ' So be it/ and added, ' Because of 
 this magnanimity of thine and because of thy superlative 
 devotion to the holy Lord Qiva thou, like a third added to 
 the Sun and Moon, shalt be the founder of a mighty line of 
 kings persisting unbroken upon earth, daily increasing in 
 greatness, full of matchless heroes elate with purity, high- 
 fortune, truth, munificence, and fortitude. Wherein shall 
 arise an emperor named Harsa, governor like Hari9candra 
 of all the continents, world-conquering like a second Man- 
 dhatri, whose chowrie this hand, spontaneously abandoning 
 the lotus, shall grasp.' So saying she vanished. 
 
 The heart of the king was beyond measure gratified to 
 hear this. Bhairavacarya himself, having by the words of 
 the goddess and the full performance of the rite instantly 
 acquired the hair-lock, diadem, earring, necklace, armlet, 
 girdle, hammer, and sword, became a Vidyadhara. Address- 
 ing the king he said : ' The wishes, O king, of indolent 
 feeble-minded people embrace not remote objects : but the 
 favours of the good are of their very nature far-reaching. 
 [128] To bestow this boon, unimagined even in dreams, who 
 except your majesty had power ? A man of light qualities is 
 lifted up like a scale by the acquisition of a mere particle of 
 success. Having been served by your virtues and having at- 
 tained my purpose through none other than you, I am inspired 
 by the immodesty of an infatuated heart. And so it is my 
 wish to win remembrance by endeavouring in whatever way 
 I can to afford you some grain of assistance.' The stout 
 hearts of the wise, however, are proof against reciprocation of 
 C. 7
 
 98 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 favours, and the king therefore refused, saying, ' By your 
 reverence's success my task is finished ; let your reverence 
 proceed to a station according with your wish.' 
 
 After this reply from the king, Bhairavacarya, now on 
 the point of departure, warmly embraced Titibha and the 
 others, and regarding the king with a tearful eye like a 
 blue lotus-bed streaming with frosty dew, " Friend," he re- 
 sumed, " should I say ' I am going,' that were a poor token of 
 affection 1 ; if I say ' my life is yours,' 'tis superfluous ; ' make 
 this poor body your own' would imply the creation of an un- 
 real distinction ; ' you have purchased me bit by bit,' the bits 
 fall short of your kindnesses ; ' you are my kinsman ' would 
 place a distance between us ; ' my heart remains with you ' 
 would want evidence ; ' a success which severs us is torment ' 
 would not find credence; 'your kindness was unmerited' a 
 mere reiteration ; ' keep me in remembrance ' a command. 
 At least in all talk of ingrates and all narrations of ignoble 
 people let me be remembered as one remorselessly bent on 
 his own advantage." So speaking, he mounted to the sky, 
 lashing the constellations with pearls that started from a 
 necklace burst in his speed, and passed in an orbit cleaving 
 the planet clusters to a station fitting his good-fortune. 
 Qrlkantha also spoke ; ' Deign, O king, whenever necessary to 
 favour with your commands one bought by your valour and 
 taught discretion,' [129] and so with the consent of the king 
 entered again the same fissure in the earth. 
 
 By this the night was nearly spent. Fragrant with the 
 breath of opening day-lotus beds, frosty as if with sweat from 
 the sport of ravishing shawls from the bosoms of forest 
 nymphs, the sylvan breeze had begun to blow, attracting the 
 bees by its perfume, lulling the night-lotuses to sleep, chilled 
 
 1 '?JT and fT are roots of ill-omen, which must not be used in 
 conversation. When Macaulay talks of the Lucknow people singing 
 songs in Hastings' honour 
 
 ' Hdthl par hauda ghore par zin 
 ' Jaldl jdo jaldl jdo Warren Ifusti/t.' 
 1 Howdah on elephant, saddle on horse 
 'Ride on in triumph W. H.' 
 they meant ' Go to hell, go to hell quickly, W. H."
 
 CHAPTER III. 99 
 
 by the night's ending, and interspersed with rime. Scorched 
 as it were by the sighs of ruddy-geese in the anguish 
 of their severance, the night subsided into the western 
 ocean. The lotus beds peeped forth, as if curious to view 
 the bodily presence of Laksmi. As the birds awoke, the 
 forest, quivering in all its creepers beneath he soft breeze, 
 rained down showers of hoar-frost, like bunches of flowers. With 
 their noisy imprisoned bees the closing night-lotuses hummed 
 like auspicious horns to awake the beauty of the day-lotuses. 
 The stars, buds of the creepers of night, clustered together in 
 the western sky, as if wafted on by the panting breath of 
 the rising sun's chariot-horses. Occupying Mandara's peak, 
 the Seven Sages became grey, as if coated with pollen from 
 thickets of heavenly creepers rocked by the gentle breeze. 
 The Starry Deer as it sank seemed like a fallen goad 1 of the 
 gods' elephant. 
 
 Taking Titibha and the others, the king, whose limbs 
 were befouled by the give and take of battle with the demon, 
 bathed in the pure water of a sylvan pool. He then entered 
 the city, and next day gratified all three with unguents, food, 
 and clothing immediately after his own person 2 . 
 
 After the lapse of a few days the mendicant, despite the 
 king's remonstrances, departed to the woods. Patalasvamin 
 [130] and Karnatala, men of a warlike spirit, remained in the 
 king's service. Elevated to a fortune beyond their wildest 
 dreams, drawing their swords in the midst of the royal guard, 
 occupying the front rank in the battle, now and then on occa- 
 sion of story-telling appointed to narrate various actions of 
 Bhairavacarya and incidents of their own childhood 3 , they 
 arrived at old age by the king's side. 
 
 Here ends the third Chapter entitled The Exposition of The King's 
 Ancestry of the Harsa-Carita composed by Cri Bana Bhatta. 
 
 1 A reference to the shape of the constellation, i.e. Capricorn, Comm. 
 
 2 According to the Comm. he first makes the ascetic's friends bathe 
 and then bathes himself. 
 
 3 Caicaeavntttintah seems to be here used much in the same way as 
 the Welsh Mabinogion, which originally meant ' amusements of youth ' 
 but came to be the name for the collection of Welsh heroic legends. 
 
 72
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 [131] No alliance 1 wish they even in dreams, they make no joining 
 
 of hands 2 ; 
 By the sole power of their name do the great become liege 
 
 lords of the wedded earth ! 
 Like thetusk set at a wide interval 3 in the capacious month 
 
 of the elephant-headed god, so in a royal house though 
 
 populous 
 There arises but one like to Prithu, causing all monarchs 4 to 
 
 shake ! 
 
 From 5 this Puspabhuti there issued a line of kings, as 
 from Visnu a lotus whose calix the best of the twice-born 
 voluntarily occupied 6 , as from the ocean a treasure of jewels 
 attended by Laksmi 7 , as from the orient mount a troop of 
 planets including Jupiter, Mercury, Venus, the Moon, the Sun, 
 and Mars 8 , as from the might of Sagara a sea capable of 
 supporting a commerce of greatness, as from Qura a Hari 
 race boasting a Durjaya and a Bala 9 . In which line were 
 
 1 Or punningly ' strategy.' 
 
 2 Or ' grasping of taxes.' 
 
 3 There is a pun on pratimd = (l) likeness, (2) the space between 
 the tusks in an elephant's mouth. Ganesa has only one tusk. 
 
 4 Or 'mountains.' 
 
 5 Only a smalL '}art of the puns in this paragraph is susceptible of 
 trapj^iojii. ' The w>rds for Visnu ('lotus-eyed'), ocean ('collection of 
 'jewels'), Orient Mou\it ('source of greatness'), might of Sagara ('one 
 mighty as Sagara'), Uiira ('hero') may all apply to Puspabhuti, the 
 others similarly to the race. 
 
 Or ' whose treasures were grasped at will by the best of the twice- 
 born ( = Brahmans).' Brahma is the best of the twice-born. 
 
 7 Or 'attended by splendour.' 
 
 8 Or ' including teachers, wise men, poets, artists, men of might, and 
 kings.' 
 
 9 Or ' boasting invincible might.' Durjaya and Bala are Visnu and 
 Bala-Rama.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 101 
 
 
 
 born kings free from the stain of violating Dharma, [132] as 
 living beings came from the commencement of the golden age ; 
 dominating the world by their splendour, like the rays from 
 the source of light ; thronging the regions with their armies 
 in array, like the hills sprung from Brahma ; strong to 
 support the world, like the sky elephants borr^from Brahma's 
 hand ; rising in might to guard 1 the oceans, like clouds from 
 the season of rain ; bestowing the fruits of desire, like trees 
 of Paradise from the Heavenly Garden; embracing all beings, 
 like the variations of existence sprung from Visnu. 
 
 The line so proceeding, there was born in course of time 
 a king of kings named Prabhakaravardhana 2 , famed far and 
 wide under a second name Pratapa9ila, a lion to the Huna 
 deer, a burning fever to the king of the Indus land, a troubler 
 of the sleep of Gujarat, a bilious plague to that scent-elephant 
 the lord of Gandhara, a looter to the lawlessness of the Lats, 
 an axe to the creeper of Malwa's glory. From his members 
 of royalty the coronation water purged no foulness but filthy 
 lucre 3 . Even an enemy's life, that coward's darling, when 
 kept like a straw in the mouth of battle 4 , filled him with 
 shame. It was torture to him to be accompanied in battle 
 even by his image in the sword-blade which his hand bore, 
 torture that even his bow bent to the foe in conflict. A 
 proud man, he was vexed by his proud ambitions. Steadfast 
 he kept his royal majesty, as if pinned by the implanted 5 
 arrow-points of countless foes. [133] Levelling on every side 
 hills and hollows, clumps and forests, trees and grass, thickets 
 and anthills, mountains and caves, the broad paths of his 
 armies seemed to portion out the earth for the support of 
 his dependants. By deterring all enemies his own prowess 
 
 1 Or 'drink.' 
 
 2 Ou the Sonpat seal (Corpus Inscr. Ind. in. pp. 231-2) Harsa 
 mentions his father under this name. 
 
 3 Meaning that at his coronation his ministers distributed money. 
 
 4 To carry a straw in the mouth was a sign of surrender : cf. 
 Acworth's ' Maratha Ballads,' p. 43 : 
 
 ' And 'twixt the teeth a straw is fit 
 For curs who arm but to submit.' 
 6 There is a play on antaryata, which, taken with 'foes,' means 'dead.'
 
 102 THE HAR.<?A-CARITA. 
 
 annoyed him as much as that of others, leaving his passion 
 for battle ungratified. In the seraglios of slain rivals his 
 valour was, as it were, materialized in the form of the five 
 elements, fire in the women's hearts, water in the hollows of 
 their eyes, wind in their sighs, earth upon their forms, ether 
 in the vacant^ solitude 1 . As in a mirror, his glory was 
 matched in those gems among ministers who attended him-. 
 Once more : his greatness was made to glow by the fire of 
 his valour, his success was digested by the heat of his courage, 
 the growth of his race was fostered like a bamboo by the 
 water of the sword's edge, his valorous deeds were proclaimed 
 by the mouths of the wounds which his steel dealt, his 
 grasping of tribute 3 by the callosity of the bow string. A 
 furious onslaught he counted a present, war a favour, the 
 approach of battle a festival, a foe the discovery of a treasure, a 
 host of enemies the acme of prosperity, a challenge to conflict 
 a boon, a sudden onset an ovation, the fall of sword strokes a 
 shower of wealth. Beneath his rule the golden age seemed 
 to bud forth in close packed lines of sacrificial posts, the evil 
 time to flee in the smoke of sacrifices meandering over the 
 sky, heaven to descend in stuccoed 4 shrines, Dharma to 
 blossom in white pennons waving over temple minarets, the 
 villages to bring forth a progeny of beautiful arbours erected 
 on their outskirts for meetings, alms' houses, inns, and women's 
 marquees 5 , [134] Mount Meru to crumble in a wealth of 
 utensils all of gold, a very cornucopia to bear fruit in bowls 
 of riches lavished upon Brahmans. 
 
 This king had a queen, YacovatI 6 by name, noble as 
 Qahkara's Parvati, but remaining SatI in another incarnation 7 , 
 holding the heart fast like Visnu's LaksmI, with sparkling 
 
 1 Or ' their vacant hearts.' 
 
 - His ministers were gems reflecting his greatness. 
 
 3 Or punningly ' his hand's grasp.' 
 
 4 Sudhd = (l) stucco, (2) ambrosia. 
 
 5 Pragvamcahpatiiicdh'i is a hut erected on the sacrilicial ground 
 for the sacrificer's family. 
 
 6 The Sonpat seal has Yacowatl. 
 
 7 I.e. she was sati (l) noble, (2) cobkunCt ' blonde,' whereas Parvatl's 
 other incarnation was <;y<~i.m<~t ' brunette.'
 
 CHAPTER IV. 103 
 
 
 
 glancing eyes 1 like the moon's Rohim, mother of all her 
 people like Prajapati's Buddhi, descended from towering 
 kings 2 like the ocean's Ganges, deft in compliance to his 
 will 3 like the hanisa-kings Hamsi, with an adoring world 
 at her feet 4 like Dharma's Triad, never abandoning his side 
 night or day like Vasistha's Arundhatl. She was endowed 
 with the gait of a hcvnisa, the voice of a cuckoo, the 
 answering love of a ruddy-goose, the full bosoms 5 of the rainy 
 season, the laugh of wine, the manifold worth of a treasure, 
 the rich gifts of a golden shower, the enfolded charms of a 
 lotus, the fruitfulness of a flower, the adorableness of the 
 twilight, the moon's freedom from heat, a mirror's responsive- 
 ness to all creatures, Samudra's 6 intuition of character, the 
 Supreme Spirit's universal penetration, the scriptures' stain- 
 less principles. She was honey in converse, ambrosia to those 
 who sought delight 7 , rain to her servants, beatitude to her 
 friends, bamboo-like to her elders. The pride was she of the 
 family of smiles, the penance purity of womanhood, the 
 fulfilment of Kama's ordinances, [135] the Eureka 8 of loveli- 
 ness, the ovation of passion, the fruition of beauty's wishes, 
 the special providence of charm, the genesis of affection's 
 ancestry, love's boon-winning, grace's perfect creation, youth's 
 majesty, intelligence's cloudless rain 9 , glory's lustration, good- 
 ness' bloom of beauty, Dharma's heart's delight, Prajapati's 
 creation of the atoms of bliss : the quietude of quiescence, 
 the decorousness of decorum, the nobility of high birth, the 
 temperateness of temperance, the stand of steadfastness, the 
 witchery of grace. Such was the queen, the centre of all 
 
 1 Or punningly 'stars.' 
 
 2 Or ' mountains.' 
 
 3 Or ' visiting Manasa.' 
 
 4 Or ' schools ' : the Triad is the three Vedas. 
 
 5 Or ' clouds.' 
 
 6 He is the inventor of palmistry : a literal rendering would be ' in 
 knowledge of the characters of others she was the essence of Samudra's 
 book.' 
 
 7 Or reading trisyatsu ' to the thirsty.' 
 
 8 Vyuttkdnabuddhir = thQ resultant thought of a yogin's meditation. 
 ' Cloudless rain ' is a synonym for ' a marvel.' Comm.
 
 104 THE HAKSA-CARITA. 
 
 I 
 
 creatures' love, confidence, duty, and felicity, who upon the 
 king's bosom shone like Laksmi on the bosom of Hell's 
 Vanquisher. 
 
 The king was by natural proclivity a devotee of the sun 1 . 
 Day by day at sunrise he bathed, arrayed himself in white 
 silk, wrapt his head in a white cloth, and kneeling eastwards 
 upon the grourKI in a circle smeared with saffron paste, 
 presented for an offering a bunch of red lotuses set in a pure 
 vessel of ruby and tinged, like his own heart, with the sun's 
 hue 2 . Solemnly at dawn, at midday, and at eve he muttered 
 a prayer for offspring, humbly with earnest heart repeating 
 a hymn having the sun as its centre 3 . 
 
 The heavenly will can be won to favour its worshippers. 
 So it happened that on the occasion of one hot season the 
 king slept on his palace roof white with stucco spotless as 
 the moon-light ; and the queen lay on a second couch at his 
 side. [136] The night was near its close, and the lord of stars 
 was declining with faded radiance, robbed of his beauty by 
 the approach of dawn. A cool frosty dew was falling, like the 
 moon's sweat evoked by his delight as his finger tips 4 touched 
 the lotus beds. Smit by the breath of intoxicated sleeping 
 beauties, the seraglio lamps staggered as if drunk. The 
 king slept. The stars mirrored in his white nails seemed to 
 be stroking his feet. His limbs were carelessly extended, as 
 if consigned to the queens of the quarters. The beauty of his 
 lips 5 fanned him with wine-perfumed breath like the wind of 
 her own lotus-like hand acting as a fan. In the clear surface 
 of his cheek the imaged moon shone like a topknot of white 
 flowers displaced by the clutching of hair in amorous dalliance. 
 
 Suddenly with a cry ' Help, my lord ! help ' the queen 
 leapt up, a tremour swaying her willowy form, and her 
 tinkling anklets seeming to call out to her attendants. 
 
 1 On the Sonpat seal Harsa attaches the epithet param&dityabhak- 
 tali to his father, brother, and other members of the family. 
 
 2 There is a pun on anurakta = (I) devoted, (2) reddened. 
 
 3 Of. Weber Ind. Stud. ix. 91. 
 
 4 I.e. 'rays.' 
 
 5 I.e. the personified beauty of his face.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 105 
 
 
 
 Instantly, scorched as it were in both ears by a cry for help 
 such as never in all the world he had heard, much less in his 
 queen's mouth, the king awoke from sleep. With a right hand 
 that trembled with rage he drew from beside his head a sword 
 whose glittering edge drew a line like a prolongation of his 
 ear- wreath across the night. His left hand swept aside his 
 robe of fine muslin, as if it were the intervening ether. 
 Loosened by his hand's furious movement, his golden 
 bracelet flashed upon the heavens, as if his heart were 
 roaming in search of the cause of alarm. He brought his 
 left foot furiously down with a stamp that shook the palace. 
 His necklace, which had fallen in front of him, having come 
 within range of his sword edge, shone like a severed portion 
 of the moonlight. Inflamed with rage and sleep, as if 
 stained with betel from Laksnri's kisses, his eyes cast a 
 glow upon the whole circle of the heavens, [137] while a 
 dark trident-shaped frown seemed to bring night back 
 again, as he leapt up hastily crying, ' Fear not, my queen, 
 fear not'. When however on casting his glance in every 
 direction he saw nothing, he inquired of the queen the cause 
 of her fright. 
 
 By this the women of the night watch had run up like 
 family goddesses, and the servants who slept near were all 
 awake. So now that the alarm which had made her heart 
 tremble had subsided, the queen replied : ' I know now, 
 my lord. I saw in a dream two shining youths issue 
 from the sun's disk, filling the heavens as with radiance of 
 morning, and turning the whole world as it were into light- 
 ning. They wore crowns, earrings, armlets, and cuirasses : 
 swords were in their hands: they were bathed in blood 
 cochineal red. All the world bowed before them with up- 
 turned faces and hands joined reverently at their foreheads. 
 Accompanied by one maid like a moon incarnate, who 
 issued from the ray Susumna, they lighted upon the earth, 
 and while I screamed, cut open my womb with a sword and 
 essayed to enter. My heart quaked, and I awoke with a cry 
 to my lord.' 
 
 At that juncture the morning horn rang out at the porch, 
 t
 
 106 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 < 
 
 like the first utterance of the king's glory proclaiming the 
 vision's fulfilment. Briskly sounded the tom-toms, as if to 
 announce a coming exaltation. The daybreak drum boomed, 
 as if pleased to be struck with the stick. ' Victory ! Victory ! ' 
 pealed the loud voices of those who recited well-omened calls 
 from sle'ep. In the stable yard of the favourite horses the 
 slowly rising marshal chanted a Vaktra and an Aparavaktra 
 verse, as before the sweetly neighing steeds he scattered 
 emerald grass a-drip with frosty water : 
 
 [138] 'By misshapen trees a treasure, by flashing light a tine 
 
 jewel, 
 'By an omen the approach of luck is clearly in the 
 
 world revealed ! 
 'As the dawn, his harbinger, announces the sun, as the 
 
 speeding blast the rain's approach, 
 ' Even so the appearance of a previous vision foretells 
 
 good, yea and evil hap to men ! ' 
 
 At these words the king's heart was filled with delight. 
 'Queen,' said he, 'you are dejected at the hour of joy. Your 
 parents' prayers are answered. Our wishes are fulfilled. Our 
 family goddesses have accepted you. In his graciousness 
 the holy god of the radiant crown 1 will grant you joy, and 
 that soon, by the gift of three noble children.' So much said, 
 he descended and performed the customary ceremonies. 
 Yasovati also was cheered by her husband's words. 
 
 After the lapse of a short period of time his majesty 
 Rajyavardhana came first of three to being in the queen's 
 womb. Even as he lay in the womb his glory shed a pallor 
 over his mother. Oppressed as it were by the weight of his 
 virtues, she could not support her frame. As if satisfied 
 with the ambrosia of his outpouring loveliness, she became 
 averse to food. Languid with the slowly growing burden of 
 her child, she yet insisted on being conveyed with the sup- 
 port of friendly hands to salute her parents, who would have 
 stayed her. In her lassitude she could be seen, like a doll- 
 figure, propped against the nearest walls and trunks of trees. 
 She could not lift her feet, which seemed checked by bees 
 
 1 I.e. the Sun.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 107 
 
 
 
 greedily settling upon such lotuses. Slow, slow was her 
 gait, as if she were conducted by domestic hcntisas clinging 
 in greed for lotus threads to the rays of her toe-nails. Seek- 
 ing a support, she would put forth a lotus hand even towards 
 forms reflected in jewelled walls, much more then towards 
 her women friends. She longed to clasp^even the rays of 
 gemmed pillars, much more the house-creepers. Her house- 
 hold duties she had scarce strength to command, not to 
 speak of performing them. Needless to say that her feet 
 were wearied by the burden of her anklets, even her 
 imagination failed to mount the palace. She could not 
 support even her limbs, much less her ornaments. [139] 
 The very idea of climbing play hills made her bosom 
 tremulously heave. When she should have risen in welcome, 
 her child, as if through pride, kept her motionless with slender 
 hands in vain applied to the points of her knees. All day 
 long her downcast glance was turned in joy upon her zone, 
 her lotus face brought near her bosom as if longing to see her 
 child had drawn it inwards. With her child in her womb, 
 arid her husband in her heart, she bore as it were a double 
 majesty. Resigning her form to her friends' bosoms, she set 
 her feet on the laps of her handmaids, on the heads of her 
 co-wives. When the tenth month arrived, she brought forth 
 my lord Rajyavardhana, a prince composed as it were of 
 lightning atoms to quell the cabals of all kings 1 ; capable of 
 supporting the whole world's weight, as if endowed with the 
 mechanism of ^esa's hood ; heart-shaker of all kings 2 , as if 
 constructed with the limbs of sky elephants. His birth was 
 a birth of joy to the people, who became as it were dancing 
 incarnate. For one month, which seemed a day, the king 
 held a great festival, innumerable blown horns noisily 
 sounding, hundreds of beaten tom-toms merrily booming, 
 a world filled to overflowing with the burden of deep- 
 rumbling drums, the hearts of all mankind ravished in a 
 madness of delight. 
 
 1 Or punuingly ' to clip the wings of all mountains,' referring to 
 a feat of Indra. 
 
 a Or ' mountains.'
 
 108 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 
 
 A second period having elapsed, in the month 1 of plan- 
 tains, when the bud is on the Kadamba tree, the barley 
 blades grow in clusters, the red-lotus stands erect, the cdtaka's 
 heart expands, and the dwellers in Manasa are dumb, in that 
 month Harsa came to being at once in the heart and womb 
 of Ya9ovatl, even as Krisna in Devaki. Gradually once more 
 her willowy form, arrayed as it were in all her child's pure 
 worth, assumed a pallid hue. As pregnancy came on, her 
 cup-like bosoms grew dark in their tender nipples, as if 
 stamped for an emperor to drain. Like a river of milk let 
 into her face for her bosom's supply, her eye, long, moist 2 and 
 white, assumed a sweeter expression. Slow grew her gait 
 beneath the load, as it were, of a frame weighed down by the 
 whole array of auspicious marks. As she moved tardily 
 about, [140] the earth, clasping her lotus feet mirrored in 
 the spotless mosaic, seemed to pay her a prelude of worship. 
 All day long as she lay on her couch, the reflection of figures 
 embroidered in the awning rested on her cheek's clear round 8 , 
 like a Laksmi awaiting the child's birth. In the night time, 
 when she had mounted the roof, the moon's disk imaged in 
 her round bosom, when bared of her shawl in the pangs of 
 pregnancy, appeared like a white umbrella mysteriously held 
 above her child. Even the chowrie women on the painted 
 walls waved their chowries while she slept in her apartment. 
 In her dreams all the four sky-elephants seemed to con- 
 secrate her, bearing water in folded lotus leaves held by 
 their trunks. When she awoke, the puppet servants in the 
 chamber on the roof raised not once alone the cry of 
 ' Victory ! ' If she called to her maids, incorporeal voices 
 went forth, crying ' Say your commands.' Even in play she 
 would suffer no violation of her will 4 . Moreover a wish grew 
 upon her to bathe even in the united waters of the four great 
 
 he month Qravana, i.e. July August. The plantain 
 flowers all the year, but especially in the rains. 
 
 2 There is a pun in snigdha = (l] charming, (2) viscous. 
 
 3 Cf. Da9akumaracarita I. p. 73 (Bomb.) 1. 12. 
 
 4 This and the following contain allusions to the superstition that 
 the mother's mind echoes the thoughts of her child : hence the reference 
 to the four oceans the limits of Harsa's empire &c.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 109 
 
 
 
 oceans. It was her heart's desire to roam round sand isles 
 in creeper arbours by the sea shore. Even on occasions of 
 urgency her brow would capriciously move. Despite the 
 jewelled mirrors close to her hand she was bent on seeing 
 her face in a drawn sword's blade. Supplanting the lute, the 
 bow's twang, ill-suiting a woman, was pleasing in her ear. 
 Her eye was gratified by lions in their cages. Even in 
 saluting her parents she scarce could bend her apparently 
 stiffened head. Her friends, never for an instant leaving 
 her side, brightened the house, as in anticipation of the 
 approaching birth festival, with eyes wide-open in joy, as 
 though strewing on every side a ceaseless protective charm 
 in the shape of a rain of blooming lotus petals, white, 
 red and blue. Great physicians holding various herbs 1 sat 
 in their proper places, supporting her as the mountains 
 support the earth. In the knots of her necklace-cord were 
 fixed fine jewels, [141] like the hearts of the oceans come 
 with Laksmi. 
 
 At length in the month Jyaistha, on the twelfth day of 
 the dark fortnight, the Pleiads being in the ascendant, just 
 after the twilight time, when the young night had begun to 
 climb, a sudden cry of women arose in the harem. Hurriedly 
 issuing forth, Suyatra, daughter of Yagovatl's nurse and her- 
 self dearly beloved, fell at the king's feet, crying ' Good news ! 
 your majesty, you are blessed with the birth of a second sou,' 
 and carried off the customary festal spoil 2 . 
 
 At that very instant approached the astrologer Taraka, a 
 man very highly esteemed by the king. Hundreds and hun- 
 dreds of times he had shown supernatural insight by announc- 
 ing facts beyond the ken of man, a calculator, deeply read in 
 
 1 Vividhosadhidharas applies also to the mountains. So also pra- 
 castaratnani in seqq. has a twofold application. 
 
 2 For purnapatra the Comm. quotes 
 
 anandado hi sauhardad etya vastrddikam baldt \ 
 ajdnato haraty eva purnapatram tu tat smritam \\ 
 The Vacaspatya quotation is clearer, if we read eva in the second line. 
 
 harsdd utsavakale yad alaiikdrdm^ukddikam \ 
 Ctkrisya grihuate purnapatram p&rnakaqi emt tat \\
 
 110 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 all the treatises on astronomy, extolled and liked among all 
 astrologers, endowed with knowledge of the three times, and a 
 Maga 1 . ' Give ear, king!' he cried; 'it was on a day like this, 
 free from the taint of all evil conjunctions such as malignant 
 aspects of the sun and moon, at a moment like the present, 
 when all the planets were similarly at their apexes, that 
 Mandhatri came to birth. Since then in all the intervening 
 time no second has in the whole world been born at a conjunc- 
 ture so fit for an universal emperor's birth. [142] The son 
 now born to your majesty shall be coryphaeus of the Seven 
 Emperors 2 , bearer of the Seven Imperial Signs 3 and the 
 Great Jewels 4 , lord of the Seven Oceans, performer of all 
 sacrifices of Seven Forms 5 , the peer of him of the Seven 
 Steeds 6 .' 
 
 Instantly unblown horns rang out spontaneously loud and 
 sweet. Unbeaten boomed the consecration drum deep as the 
 roar of oceans in turmoil. Unstruck the auspicious tabors 
 pealed. Like a timbrel proclaiming security to all the world, 
 the tabor's echo thrilled through the aerial spaces. Tossing 
 their manes, the horses neighed with joy, while their muzzles 
 were graced by wisps of green Durvci sprays which they 
 haughtily took. Sportively uplifting their trunks as if 
 dancing, the elephants trumpeted in sounds grateful to the 
 ear. Soon a heavenly breeze, fragrant with perfumes of wine, 
 blew like a sigh of Laksmi letting fall the disc 7 . In the courts 
 of the sacrificers the unfed Vaitana fires blazed up with flames 
 curving to the right to foretell the coming luck. From the 
 earth uprose great treasures, enclosed in cups bedecked with 
 
 1 For the Bhojakas or Magas see Wilson's Visnu P. (Hall's ed.), 
 vol. v. p. 382. 
 
 2 These are Bharata, Arjuna, Mandhatri, Bhagiratha, Yudhisthira, 
 Sagara, Nahusa. 
 
 3 The signs are peculiar formations in hands, feet, &c. 
 
 4 The six great jewels are enumerated in the verse 
 
 manyacvakaricakrdni vara strl parinayakah \ 
 sad etdni tu ratnuni 1artita.nl manlsibhih \\ 
 
 6 Rig. V. x. 124. 1 (Sayana), and Weber Lul Stud. ix. 120. 
 8 = the Sun. 
 
 7 The weapon of her husband, Visnu. ,
 
 CHAPTER IV. Ill 
 
 
 
 chains of gold. In the shape of echoes from the beaten tabors 
 the regents of the sky seemed joyfully to give forth a clamour 
 of congratulation to the heavens. At that moment white-clad 
 Brahmans approached with the Veda on their lips 1 , like the 
 Prajapatis of the golden age, to foster the new-born life. Like 
 Dharma incarnate came the family priest jyith lustral water 
 and fruits ready in his hand. Like immemorial customs the 
 arriving elders of the family could be seen. Away ran dis- 
 orderly crowds of freed prisoners, their faces hairy with long 
 matted beards, their bodies black with many a miry smirch, 
 like the kindred of a waning Kali age. Like camp lines of a 
 now departed wickedness [143] seemed the rows of shops, given 
 up to general pillage 2 . In a great throng of boys danced the 
 old nurses, encircled, like the young mother's tutelary deities 
 incarnate, in a troop of dwarfs and deaf people with laughing 
 upturned faces 3 . So proceeded the great birth festival, the 
 order of the royal household gone, the pretence of chamber- 
 lains laid low, the macebearers robbed of their maces, entrance 
 to the harem in no wise criminal, master and servants reduced 
 to a level, young and old confounded, learned and . unlearned 
 on one footing, drunk and sober not to be distinguished, noble 
 maidens and harlots equally merry, the whole population of 
 the capital set a-dancing. 
 
 From the morrow onwards the wives of the neighbouring 
 kings could be observed in thousands approaching the palace 
 from every side. Amazonian nations they seemed, pouring 
 onwards, wide-opened mines, Krisna's mistresses on the march, 
 families of Apsarases lighted upon the earth. After them 
 followed servants bearing garlands in wide baskets, with bath 
 powder sprinkled upon the flowers ; dishes laden with bits of 
 camphor, clear as crystal granules ; jewelled caskets of saffron 
 scents ; ivory boxes, studded with rows of sandal-hued Areca 
 nuts and tufted with slim Khadira fibres dripping mango oil ; 
 
 1 Brahmamukhas has two senses, (1) as in text, (2) 'headed by 
 Brahma.' There are other puns in addition. 
 
 2 Cf. Carlyle, Frederic, n. 195. 
 
 3 JatamatridevatdmarjarananCi bahuputraparivdrasfttikagrihe sthap- 
 yate. Comm. ' the tutelary deity of a new mother, with a cat's face and 
 surrounded by a crowd.of children, is set up in the lying-in chamber.'
 
 112 THE HAUSA-CARITA. 
 
 < 
 
 vermilion and powder boxes red and pink, with murmuring 
 bees sipping Parijata perfumes ; betel trees with bundles of 
 nuts 1 hanging from the young slips. As they danced, the 
 quarters of the heavens rang with jewelled anklets clashing as 
 their feet knocked together 2 . 
 
 [144] Thus r the festal jubilation gradually blossomed 
 forth. Here young people, of ancient noble houses and 
 unused to dancing, showed by frolics their love for the 
 king. There drunken slave women allured the favourites, 
 while the monarch himself looked on with a secret smile. 
 In one place respectable old feudatories were, much to his 
 amusement, clasping the necks of the intoxicated bawds 
 of the capital in a furious dance. In another place naughty 
 slave boys, set on by a glance from the sovereign, betrayed 
 in songs the secret amours of the ministers of state. Else- 
 where wanton water-girls raised a laugh by embracing aged 
 ascetics. Elsewhere again in the eagerness of ardent rivalry 
 throngs of slaves carried on a war of foul language. In 
 another place chamberlains knowing nothing of dancing 
 were, to the entertainment of the maids, violently forced 
 to dance by the king's women. The festival showed moun- 
 tains of flower heaps, rum -booths like shower-baths, Nandana 
 forests of Parijata scent, a hoar-frost of camphor dust, a 
 booming of drums like Qiva's laugh 3 , a hubbub like the 
 ocean-churning, vortexes of dancing rings, a horripilation of 
 rays from jewelled ornaments, a very tiara of sandal forehead 
 marks, a never ceasing propagation of echoes, an endless 
 efflorescence of tokens of favour. 
 
 Young men frolicked in thousands, prancing, like Kam- 
 boja steeds, with garlands of Kecaras* hanging upon their 
 shoulders, leaping with dancing eyes like spotted antelopes 5 , 
 
 1 Read -vltikuvltakdmcca. \ 7 ltilca is explained by B. and R. as ' cut 
 areca nuts in cube form covered with roots and folded in a betel leaf.' 
 
 2 Read caranakuttana- in place oicaraiian! h/ftana-. 
 
 3 Literally 'possessing a Qiva (Attalutsa "the God of the loud 
 laugh") in its booming drums.' 
 
 4 Or punningly ' manes.' 
 
 5 Their eyes are compared to the spots of the antelope.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 113 
 
 
 
 rending the earth with furious stamps, as did the sons of 
 Sagara with spades. Scarce could the earth sustain the tramp 
 of troubadours dancing to time. Smash went the pearls 
 in the ornaments of the young princes slapping each other 
 in their play. [145] Minium dust crimsoned the shell of 
 Brahma's egg 1 in every part, as with the l^ood of a repro- 
 duced Hiranya-Garbha foetus. The heavens gleamed with 
 clouds of perfume powder, as if Mandakim had disclosed a 
 thousand sand isles. Yellowed with scattered scent dust, the 
 daylight glowed, as though Brahma's lotus, ground by the 
 rocking world, had stained it with clouds of pollen from its 
 filaments. Men tripped over heaps of pearls that fell from 
 necklaces broken in collisions. 
 
 In this place and in that harlot-women danced to the 
 accompaniment of instrumental music. Tambourines were 
 slowly, slowly thumped ; reeds sweetly piped, cymbals tinkled, 
 string drums were belaboured, the low gourd lute sang, gently 
 boomed the kahalas with their brazen sounding boxes, while 
 all the time a subdued clapping proceeded. Even the clank 
 of jingling anklets kept time pace by pace, as if intelligent, with 
 the clapping. Whispering softly, like cuckoos, in low passion- 
 ate tones, they sang the words of vulgar mimes, ambrosia to 
 their lovers' ears. Wreaths were about their brows, and 
 chaplets round their ears, upon their foreheads sandal marks. 
 With upraised creeper-like arms, vocal with rows of bracelets, 
 they seemed to embrace the very sun. Like Kashmir colts, 
 they leapt all aglow with saffron stains*. Great garlands of 
 amaranth hung down upon their round hips, as if they were 
 ablaze with passion's flame. Their faces, marked with rows of 
 vermilion spots, seemed to wear the rubric of the edict plates 
 of Love, [146] whose ordinances none may resist. Dusty 
 were they with camphor and perfumes scattered in handfuls, 
 like roads frequented by the desires 3 of youth. Like women 
 chamberlains of a children's festival, they lashed the young folk 
 
 1 =the world. 
 
 2 As applied to the colts kunhmapramristi means ' rolling in saf- 
 fron.' 
 
 3 Lit. ' mind-chariots.' 
 
 C. } 8
 
 114 THE HARSA-CAR1TA. 
 
 with great wreaths of flowers. With tossing forehead marks 
 and earrings they swayed 1 like creepers of Love's sandal tree. 
 Like waves of passion's flood, they gleamed all resonant with 
 the cries of anklets 2 adding music to their steps. As to what 
 was proper to be said or not, they were as void of discrimination 
 as the childish flay of happiness. While the rapid booming of 
 the drums 3 thrilled through their lithe frames, they cast off 
 flower pollen, like Ketakls. All day their faces were, like red 
 lotuses, abloom ; by night they slept no more than night 
 lotuses. As if possessed, they were surrounded by throngs 
 of princes 4 . Like endearments, they stole away the heart ; 
 like songs, they kindled the flame of desire; like the symptoms 
 of stoutness 5 , they gave rise to joy. Adding passionateness 
 to passion itself, a glow to love, a joy to joy, a dancing motion 
 to dancing, festivity to festival, in ogling they seemed to 
 drink with the white (shells) of their eyes, in scolding to im- 
 prison in cages of rays from their nails, in gestures of anger 
 to lash with curling eyebrows, in making love to pour a rain 
 of all (sweet) feelings, in deftly moving to scatter transfor- 
 mations. 
 
 In other places, where under the terror of chamberlains' 
 wands the people had made room, [147] the king's wives 
 essayed the dance, a brilliant 6 throng with a forest of white 
 parasols held above them, as if they were wood nymphs roam- 
 ing beneath trees of paradise. Some, wrapt in loose shawls 
 hanging from both shoulders, swayed as if mounted on play 
 swings. Some, with wavy robes torn by the edge of golden 
 armlets, were like rivers lined by crossing ruddy-geese. 
 Others, whose bright side glances were bounded by earrings 
 entangled in tufts of white waving chowries, were like pools 
 
 1 The Bombay text has lasantyo ' flashing.' The words for ' forehead 
 marks' and 'earrings' may be for the sake of the simile translated 
 ' bunches of leaves.' 
 
 2 Or punningly ' of hamsas.' 
 
 3 Or punningly with the ketak'is ' the booming of clouds.' 
 
 4 Or ' magicians.' 
 
 5 It is a great cause of congratulation when a Hindu grows fat, 
 they hold it implies a virtuous life and a good conscience. 
 
 6 The Bombay text has vilesur for virejur.
 
 CHAPTER IV. / 115 
 
 with hamsas plucking at forests of blue lotuses 1 . Others, from 
 whose tripping feet 2 trickled a dew of lac-reddened sweat 
 that besprinkled the palace hanisas, resembled moonlight 
 nights when the twilight casts a glow upon the moon's disk. 
 Others, with brows curved in derision at the contortions of 
 chamberlains bending beneath golden girdles placed about 
 their necks, seemed love-nets with outstretched arms for 
 toils. 
 
 All womankind being thus set dancing, the earth, crimsoned 
 by trickling lac from their feet, seemed rosy with the flush of 
 love. Their round gleaming bosoms made the festival like a 
 mass of auspicious pitchers 3 . Their tossing arms caused the 
 world to seem nought but rings of lotus roots. Their sparkling 
 playful smiles created as it were a season all of lightning 
 flashes. The days seemed dappled by the light of dancing 
 eyes. Brilliant ear chaplets of Cirlsa flowers cast a green 
 tint upon a daylight seemingly of parrots' tails. Dark 
 hanging Tamala sprays of braided hair shed a blackness as of 
 collyrium on the prospect. Uplifted tendril-like hands made 
 all creation gleam like one red lotus-bed. The radiance of 
 rainbow-tinted gems infused a colour of jays' wings into the 
 sunlight. Echoing with clusters of tinkling ornaments, the 
 heavens seemed nought but clanging bells. Even old ladies 
 shouted like maniacs. [148] Old men even lost all shame, 
 as though bewitched. The wise forgot themselves, as if 
 intoxicated. Even hermits' hearts were all agog for a dance. 
 The king gave away all his fortune. Heaps of wealth, like 
 Kuvera's treasuries, were plundered by the folk on every side. 
 
 This great festival ended, another period of time passed 
 gradually by. Rajyavardhana was now nearing his sixth year, 
 while his majesty Harsa could just manage five or six paces 
 with the support of his nurse's finger. His majesty wore upon 
 his head a mustard amulet, like a spark of his valour's fire just 
 peeping forth. His form was stained yellow with gorocaria, 
 
 1 Their eyes are the blue lotuses, the white chowries the hamsas, and 
 the earrings their beaks. 
 
 2 Or punningly ' speeding rays.' 
 
 " A pitcher full of water is an auspicious onien. 
 
 82
 
 116 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 as if his inborn warrior's prowess were coming to light. His 
 neck was ornamented with a row of great tiger's claws linked 
 with gold, like buds of pride bursting from his heart. He 
 could manage a child's first indistinct cries, the prelude as it 
 were of truth. His innocent smiles won his kinsmen's hearts, 
 as flowers do bee c s,. Tiny teeth, growing like buds of happy 
 smiles and watered with the dew of his mother's cuplike 
 breasts, were beginning to adorn his lotus mouth. The 
 womenfolk in the harem safeguarded him like honour; the 
 ministers of state preserved him like a state secret ; the 
 young nobles held fast to him as to virtue ; his kindred 
 cherished him like the family prestige ; the swords of guards 
 caged him in like a lion's whelp. 
 
 It was at this time that queen Ya9ovatl became pregnant 
 with Rajya9ri, even as Naray ana's form with the earth. And 
 when the time of her delivery was come, as the pool gives 
 birth to the lotus bed with its long red stalks and roots 1 , as 
 the rains to the autumn sweetly vocal with wild geese 2 , as the 
 spring to woodrows with their limbs all fair with 3 flowers, [149] 
 as the sky to the shower of wealth flashing with grains of 
 gold, as the tide to gems with a flood of light, as the new- 
 moon time to the crescent which delights all men's eyes, as 
 QacI to Jayanti a sight for a thousand eyes 4 , as Mena to 
 Gauri wooed by all mountains 5 , so YaQovati gave birth to a 
 daughter, who added to the two sons formed a further orna- 
 ment, like the line of a necklace above her two bosoms. 
 
 About this time Ya^ovatl's brother presented his son 
 Bhandi, a boy about eight years of age, to serve the young 
 princes. Tufted with tossing side-locks of curly hair, the 
 boy was like a reborn Kama with his head encircled by the 
 smoke line of the flame of (Diva's anger. Darkened on one 
 side of his body by an earring of sapphire, whitened on the 
 other by the light of a pearl in his ear-ornament, he was like 
 
 1 Or punningly ' with long lotus eyes.' 
 
 2 Or ' with a voice sweet as a wild-goose's.' 
 
 3 Or ' tender as flowers.' 
 
 4 Sahasraksa is also a name of Indra, ' for the God of the Thousand 
 Eyes.' 
 
 5 Or 'kings.'
 
 CHAPTER IV. / 117 
 
 t 
 
 a compound Avatar of Visnu and (^iva. A diamond bracelet 
 bound about his stout forearm suggested a rejuvenated 
 Para9u-Rama, betokened by the cord of his axe, which was 
 itself all worn away in his slaughter of the Ksatriyas. 
 Curved bits of coral were tied to his neck string, as if he 
 were a reincarnate Hiranyaka9ipu wearing bits of Narasimha's 
 claws broken against his adamantine breast. Though still a 
 child, he bore himself stiffly, like a seed of the tree of valour. 
 
 To this additional son the king's regard was equally 
 attached, as (Diva's sight to his third eye. [150] The princes 
 also, the heart's joy of all creatures, derived a greater 
 splendour from the company of this naturally courtly child, 
 as do April and May when accompanied by the southern 
 Malaya breeze. Growing in due course step by step with a 
 fourth brother, as it were, namely the people's joy 1 , they 
 came to manhood. With stout thighs like pillars, forearms 
 broad as propylaea, long arms like bars, wide chests like 
 panels, stately as tall ramparts 2 , they were like the gateway 
 of a great city strong to afford refuge to a whole world. 
 
 Charming 3 were they and not to be gazed upon, like 
 sun and moon overpowering the Avorld by the flame of their 
 flashing splendour and effulgence ; manifested, like fire and 
 wind, in radiance and power ; adamantine in the hardness of 
 their frames, like the immovable Himalaya andVindhya in con- 
 junction ; fit to bear the yoke of the Krita age, like two great 
 bulls; like Aruna and Garuda, borne on horses and well-propor- 
 tioned 4 ; like Indra and Visnu, with the gait of elephants 5 ; 
 like Kama and Arjuna, bedecked with ring and diadem; like 
 the eastern and western heavens, capable of procuring the 
 uprising and setting of all great lights. In their over- 
 
 1 For the simile cf. Raghu- V. x. 78. 
 
 2 Or ' with tall Sal trees.' 
 
 3 Few of the puns in this paragraph can be represented in transla- 
 tion. The word abhirdmadurnirlksyau may also be taken with ' fire and 
 wind.' 
 
 4 Referring to Aruna and Garuda the compound harivdhanavibliak- 
 tacanrau will mean ' having their bodies divided in carrying, the one, 
 the Sun, the other, Visnu.' 
 
 6 Or 'mounted on lordly ndgas,' sc. Indra's elephant and Visnu's 
 serpent Cesa. 
 
 ;
 
 118 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 c 
 
 weening pride they could scarce contain themselves in the 
 hovel of earth straitened by the too great proximity of the 
 shore's boundary 1 . They scorned the very shadows [151] 
 averted from the light ; they blushed that even their reflec- 
 tions should approach men's toe-nails ; they were pained at 
 the coward breaking even of one of their hairs; they felt shame 
 at the second umbrella mirrored in their crest-jewels. The 
 name of master, even as given to the Six-faced God 2 , grated 
 upon their ears ; a counterpart, even as seen in their mirror, 
 caused their eyes to smart ; to clasp hands even in twi- 
 light adoration seemed to plunge a spear into their brows ; 
 the very bow borne by the clouds distressed their hearts: 
 even painted kings that would not bow appeared to burn their 
 feet. They honoured not even the sun's light, content with 
 a bounded sphere ; they scoffed even at the ocean, whose 
 Glory was carried away by a mountain (Mandara) 3 ; they 
 sneered at the potent wind that wore no warlike shape 4 . It 
 was torture to them that even Himalaya should be fanned 
 by Yaks' tails, agony that the very seas should have their 
 conchs, intolerable that even Varuna should be a rival 
 overlord of the four oceans. The very monarchs, whose 
 parasols they seized not, they left- void of splendour 5 . Gracious 
 though uncourted, they poured honey with their lips even 
 upon unassuming people 6 . The stocks of evil kings, however 
 far removed, their hot anger caused to wither. Day after 
 day their hands, begrimed with the marks of sword play, 
 seemed defiled by quenching the fire of all other monarchs' 
 prowess. By the deep twang of their bows at recreation time 
 they seemed conversing after recent dalliance with the queens 
 of the quarters. Thus were the names Rajyavardhana and 
 
 1 Comp. Dryden, 'Cooped up he seemed in earth and seas confined.' 
 Jtfdna may mean ' size,' as well as ' pride.' 
 
 2 Kartikeya. 
 
 3 At the churning of the ocean : otherwise ' whose glory was 
 carried off by kings.' 
 
 4 Or ' made no war.' 
 
 5 A pun on chdyd, as meaning ' shadow ' and ' splendour.' 
 
 6 Or punningly ' even upon the temperate their lips, though they 
 were not addicted to wine, rained wine.' 

 
 CHAPTER IV. / 119 
 
 < / 
 
 Harsa proclaimed abroad over all the earth, in so much that 
 in a very little time they attained to fame in other Continent 
 Isles likewise. 
 
 [152] One day their father, having summoned them, retired 
 in their company after dinner to his private apartments and 
 affectionately addressed them : ' My dear sons, it is difficult 
 to secure good servants, the first essential of sovereignty. 
 In general mean persons, making themselves congenial, 
 like atoms, in combination, compose the substance of 
 royalty 1 . Fools, setting people to dance in the intoxication 
 of their play, make peacocks of them 2 . Knaves 3 , working 
 their way in, reproduce as in a mirror their own image. 
 Like dreams, impostors by false phantasies beget unsound 
 views. By songs, dances, and jests un watched flatterers 4 , 
 like neglected diseases of the humours, bring on madness. 
 Like thirsty cdtakas, low-born persons 5 cannot be held fast. 
 Cheats, like fishermen 6 , hook the purpose at its first rise in 
 the mind, like a fish in Manasa. Like those who depict 
 infernos, loud singers paint unrealities on the canvas of the 
 air 7 . Suitors 8 , more keen than arrows, plant a barb in the 
 heart. [153] For these reasons I have appointed to wait 
 upon your highnesses the brothers Kumaragupta and 
 Madbavagupta, sons of the Malwa king, inseparable as my 
 arms from my side ; they are men found by frequent trials 
 untouched by any taint of vice, blameless, discreet, strong, 
 and comely. To them your highnesses also will show a 
 consideration not enjoyed by the rest of your dependants.' 
 
 1 Pdrthiva has double meaning, (1) royal, (2) earthen, ' the substance 
 of earth.' Similarly samavdya and dravya. 
 
 2 Mayura beside 'peacock' means also 'rogue's jests.' Bdlicd/i, 
 (1) children, (2) triflers, alludes to the play of children making the 
 peacocks dance. 
 
 3 Pallavika has double meaning (1) knave, (2) tendril. 
 
 4 Vdtikdh = (V) knaves, (2) connected with the humours. A vitiated 
 state of the wind is said to cause madness. 
 
 6 Akullna as applied to cdtakas means 'not resting on the earth.' 
 ' Thirsty ' goes also with flatterers. 
 
 6 Jdlikdh has both meanings. 
 
 7 Ambara=(l) ether, the vehicle of sound, (2) canvas. 
 
 8 Atimdrga\idh = (\) importunate persons, (2) keen arrows.
 
 120 \ THE HAHSA-CAR1TA. 
 
 \ ( 
 
 So much said, he ordered the chamberlain to summon the 
 
 pair. After a brief interval the two princes, whose eyes 
 
 were fixed upon the entrance, saw Kumaragupta, the elder 
 
 brother, entering with the chamberlain. He was a young 
 
 man neither very tall nor very short, in age about eighteen 
 
 years. He planted weighty steps, as if to steady the ground, 
 
 which trembled with the movements of numerous kings. A 
 
 pair of rather slim shanks, issuing from not over-prominent 
 
 knee joints, sallied as it were from thighs showing thick hard 
 
 flesh of compact growth due to incessant practice in leaping. 
 
 His hollow sides tapered at the waist, as if his middle, like that 
 
 of Mandara, had been rubbed down by the serpent Vasuki when 
 
 whirled about in the fury of gods and Asuras. A chest of vast 
 
 breadth offered room for unbounded feelings of respect for his 
 
 master. With quiet and graceful motions his pendulous arms 
 
 appeared to be carrying him across the not easily traversed 
 
 ocean of manhood. Upon his stout forearm, where it was 
 
 marked by the bowstring's scar, shone a spray of light from 
 
 the jewelled bracelet of his left wrist, like a sprouting bud of 
 
 his valour's fiery flame. From the jewel of his ear-ornament 
 
 there descended upon his huge shoulder a tawny light, like 
 
 an antelope skin worn in sign of dedication to the use of 
 
 arms 1 . His face, whose cheeks reflected the decorated figures 
 
 of armlets with upstanding points, suggested a moon with 
 
 Rohinl set in its heart. A downcast eye with pupil fixed 
 
 and still seemed to give a lesson in decorum to the lotuses, 
 
 whose face* are uplifted with desire for Laksmi 2 . [154] 
 
 For a crest he bore an Amlataka flower, like his loyalty, 
 
 upon his head. He displayed a graceful flexibility such as 
 
 might have been presented by a nation of bows affrighted by 
 
 his merciless breaking of their rings. He derived a dignity 
 
 from senses conquered even in boyhood and, like conquered 
 
 foes, kept well under his control. The law of princely nobility 
 
 was the trusted mistress whom he followed. Resplendent as 
 
 he was, the noble nature within made his brilliance soothing 
 
 as a sun with a moon inside it. From the hardness of his 
 
 1 Of. Manu ii. 41. 
 
 2 Or 'glory.' This priuce, thouy/idesirousof glory, had a dowucast look. 
 
 I 
 
 I
 
 CHAPTER IV. / 121 
 
 / 
 
 frame he seemed to wear down the very n^ountains. His 
 happy graciousness was as if he were selling to joy the 
 people whom he purchased by his look. 
 
 Behind him came his younger brother Madhavagupta, 
 who for height and dignity 1 resembled a moving realgar 
 mountain. In the guise of a low topknot of Mdlatl flowers 
 great glory seemed to be imprinting upon his head a father's 2 
 kiss at going forth. His meeting brows seemed to bespeak 
 the late union of those irreconcilables, youth and decorum. 
 With profound gravity he kept his gaze fixed, like his loyal 
 devotion, upon his heart. Cooled by a smearing of the 
 purest sandal paste and provided with a pillow in the shape 
 of his necklace, his breast was like a broad slab of moonstone 
 for glory to rest upon when wearied by her round of brief 
 visits to numberless rival kings. He had the eye of a 
 gazelle, the nose of a boar, the broad shoulders of a buffalo, 
 the forearm of a tiger, the prowess of a lion, the gait of an 
 elephant, bribes, as it were, offered by the frightened crea- 
 tures after losing all else in the chase. 
 
 [155] Entering, they bowed from afar till their four limbs 3 
 and heads touched the ground, then assumed a suitable posi- 
 tion indicated by a kindly glance from the king. After a 
 momentary pause he gave them instructions from that day 
 forth to wait upon the princes. ' As your majesty commands ' 
 they answered, and rising, saluted Rajyvardhana and Harsa 
 by swaying their heads again and again to the earth. They 
 on their part saluted their father. From that hour the two 
 were, like opening and shutting, never absent from the range 
 of the princes' eyes, like inspiration and exspiration, night 
 and day before their mouths, like a pair of arms, ever 
 constant at their side. 
 
 Meanwhile Rajya9ri gradually grew up in daily increasing 
 familiarity with friends expert in song, dance &c. and with 
 all accomplishments. In a comparatively limited period she 
 came to maturity. On her alone fell the glances of all kings, 
 
 1 Or punningly ' yellowness.' 
 
 2 Gurund = (1) great, (2) father. 
 
 3 Sc. thfir knees and hands.
 
 122 \ THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 
 
 like arrows on the targe, and sending envoys, monarchs 
 sought her hand. 
 
 One day the king, standing on the roof of the seraglio, 
 heard a man in the outer court sing an arya couplet which 
 had suggested itself to him : 
 
 'At the time of the bosoms' 1 swelling, growing with the 
 
 p&ssing of each rainy season, 
 
 'A daughter brings low her father, like a river its bank, 
 in a whirlpool of agitation.' 
 
 Hearing this, the king dismissed the servants, and said to 
 the queen at his side: 'Our darling Rajya9ri, my queen, is 
 now grown a young woman. The thought of her, like her 
 noble qualities, never for a moment leaves my heart. As 
 soon as ever girls near maturity, their fathers become fuel to 
 the flame of pain. The swelling of her bosoms 1 darkens my 
 heart, as clouds the day. [156] It is a law of right, by whom- 
 soever framed not with my consent, that children born of 
 our body, dandled at our breasts, never to be abandoned, are 
 taken from us by the unexpected arrival of someone unknown 
 to us. Truly, these indeed are the brandmarks of this tran- 
 sient life. Herein has sorrow's fire more than in aught else 
 a power to burn, that whereas both are our offspring good 
 men grieve at a daughter's birth. Hence is it that to their 
 daughters noble men offer water even at birth" in their tears. 
 For this fear sages, neglecting marriage, dispensing with 
 domestic life, take refuge in desolate forests. Who indeed 
 can bear to part with a child? The more that suitors' 
 envoys flock in, the deeper does wretched anxiety retire, as if 
 abashed, into my heart. What can we do ? In spite of all, 
 householders must follow the ways of the world. In general 
 too, though a bridegroom may have other merits, the wise 
 especially incline towards good family. Now at the head of 
 all royal houses stand the Mukharas, worshipped, like Qiva's 
 foot-print, by all the world. Of that race's pride, Avanti- 
 varman, the eldest son, Grahavarman by name, who lacks 
 not his father's virtues, a prince like the lord of planets 
 
 1 Or punningly ' clouds.' 
 
 2 Water is offered to the dead at a funeral (jalanjali): see Cole- 
 brooke's Essays, vol. n. p. 177.
 
 CHAPTER IV. / 123 
 
 / 
 descended upon earth, seeks our daughter. / Upon him, it 
 
 your majesty's thoughts are likewise favourable, I propose to 
 bestow her.' 
 
 To these her husband's words the queen with tearful 
 eyes and a heart alarmed by love for her daughter replied : 
 ' Mothers, your majesty, are to their daughters no more 
 indeed than nurses, useful only in rearing them. In their 
 bestowal the father is the judge. Love for a daughter 
 however far far exceeds love for a son, pity causing the 
 difference. My lord only knows how all our lives long she is 
 a care to us.' 
 
 His resolution taken in the matter of his daughter's 
 bestowal, the king sent for his sons and acquainted them also 
 with his purpose. Then on a day of good omen, in the 
 presence of the whole royal household, he poured the 
 betrothal water upon the hand of an envoy extraordinary, 
 who had arrived previously with instructions from Graha- 
 varman to sue for the princess. 
 
 [157] He having gleefully departed with his mission 
 accomplished, the royal household, as the marriage days 
 drew near, assumed an aspect brilliant, charming, exciting, 
 and auspicious. All the world bedecked itself with betel, 
 perfumes, and flowers, distributed with a lavish hand. 
 From every country were summoned companies of skilled 
 artists. Under the charge of royal officers came whole 
 villages, bringing loads of serviceable gifts. Emissaries 
 conveyed presents from many a king. The favourites busied 
 themselves in the disposal of troops of relatives, come in 
 answer to invitations. Leather workers, wild with intoxi- 
 cation having been treated with wine flourished in their 
 hands drumsticks, with which they sharply struck the festal 
 drums, till they boomed again. Mortars, pestles, stone blocks 
 and other utensils were bedecked with pounded perfumes 1 . 
 Successive trains of troubadours, appearing on every side, 
 crowded the courts, where images of Indranl were being set 
 up. Carpenters, presented with white flowers, unguents, 
 
 . l For pistapahcaiigula cf. supra p. 45, and the Jataka (ed. Fausboll) 
 II. p. 256, 11/2-3. f
 
 124 \ THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 ' 
 
 and clothes, jjv'imied out the marriage altar. Workmen 
 mounted on ladders, with brushes upheld in their hands 
 and plaster pails on their shoulders, whitened the top 
 of the street wall of the palace. Torrents of water from 
 pounded saffron now being washed stained the feet of the 
 nation. The courtyards were seas of elephants and horses, 
 suitable for bridal gifts, which were undergoing inspection. 
 Throngs of astrologers, set calculating, investigated the 
 characteristics of different moments. Crocodile-mouthed 
 conduits, conveying scented water, filled a variety of pleasure 
 ponds. The outer terraces resounded with the din of gold- 
 workers engaged in hammering gold. Plasterers were 
 beplastered with showers of sand which fell over them 
 from freshly erected walls. A group of skilled painters 
 painted auspicious scenes. Multitudes of modellers moulded 
 clay figures of fishes, tortoises, crocodiles, cocoanuts, plan- 
 tains, and betel trees. Even kings girt up their loins, and 
 busied themselves in carrying out decorative work set as 
 tasks by their sovereign, being variously engaged in polishing 
 mosaic floors of red lead, or erecting the posts for marriage 
 platforms, which they strewed with handfuls of liquid citar- 
 pana pigment, reddened with cochineal disposed about 
 them, and adorned at the top with mango and Afoka twigs. 
 [158] From the furthest orient had come the queens of all 
 the feudatories, noble, high-bred, shapely, well-clad, un- 
 widowed dames with lines of vermilion powder glittering 
 on their foreheads. Thronging the household, they sang 
 sweet well-omened songs containing allusions to the bride 
 and bridegroom's families ; or with fingers steeped in divers 
 colours dyed neck-strings; or employed their skill in leaf and 
 plant painting to adorn polished cups and collections of un- 
 baked clay-ware; or stained skeins of cotton thread for 
 bamboo baskets and fabrics of wool for marriage amulets ; 
 or manufactured cosmetics, compounded of saffron paste 
 clotted by bala^aim essence, and face unguents adding dis- 
 tinction to beauty; or made strings of cloves mingled with 
 Kakkola fruit, containing also nutmegs, and large bright 
 lumps of crystalline camphor threaded jn the intervals.
 
 CHAPTER IV. / 125 
 
 The palace was arrayed in textures flashing on every side 
 like thousands of rainbows, textures of linen, cotton, bark 
 silk, spider's thread, muslin, and shot silk, resembling sloughs 
 of snakes, soft as the unripe plantain's fruit, swaying at a 
 breath, imperceptible except to the touch. Some were being 
 made by ancient city matrons, cunning in divers ways of 
 cutting and measuring; some, made already, were being dyed 
 by washermen, who beamed with respect for the courtly old 
 ladies of the harem ; some, after dyeing, had been shaken 
 by servants clinging to either end, and were drying in the 
 shade; some, now dry, were having all the charm of sprays 
 reproduced in their twisted shapes : in some cases the 
 spotting with saffron paste had been begun, and in others 
 the fragile stuffs were torn, while grasped by servitors, 
 who lifted their arms to clutch them. Couches, whose gay 
 coverlets cast the hainsa tribes into the shade ; bodices over- 
 laid with starlike pearls; countless thousands of canvas 
 and cloth pieces, divided up for various uses; [159] awnings 
 bright with soft, freshly dyed bark silk ; marquees, whose 
 roofs were covered all over with garments, and posts swathed 
 in strips of variegated silk ; all these gave to the court an 
 aspect brilliant, attractive, exciting, and auspicious. 
 
 The queen Ya9ovatl, though only one person, seemed in 
 the flurry of the marriage festival multifariously divided, her 
 heart being with her husband, her curiosity with the bride- 
 groom, her love with her daughter, her attentions with the 
 invited ladies, her injunctions with the servants, her body 
 accompanying her motions, her eyes busy in looking after 
 things done and omitted, her joy permeating the festival. 
 The king likewise ever and anon despatched a female camel 
 to his gratified son-in-law, and however apt the servants, 
 intently watching his face, might be in executing his orders, 
 yet in the distraction of fatherly affection he did everything 
 in person along with his two sons. 
 
 Thus the royal household became as it were the essence 
 of freedom from widowhood; a world seemed born full of 
 auspiciousness; the prospect seemsd composed of troubadours, 
 the sky turned into dfums, the roaming domestics to be all
 
 126 \ THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 \j , 
 
 ornament, creation looked nought but relatives, time appeared 
 composed of bliss, the splendid festival seemed to blossom forth 
 with all Laksmi's bloom. It was as if there were a treasure 
 trove of happiness, a realisation of life's purpose, a ripening 
 of good deeds, a youth of felicity, a new reign of delight, 
 a fulfilment tim/?- of desires. Calculated as it were by the 
 people's fingers, watched for by the banners on the highways, 
 welcomed by reverberations of auspicious music, invoked 
 by astrologers, attracted by wishes, embraced by the hearts 
 of the bride's women friends, the marriage day arrived. 
 [160] Instantly at dawn all strangers were expelled by 
 the chamberlains, and the royal family was drawn apart. 
 
 Anon the groom-in-waiting, having entered, introduced a 
 young man of fair exterior, saying, ' A betel-bearer, your 
 majesty, by name Parijataka, arrived from the bridegroom's 
 presence.' With a graciousness due to esteem for his 
 son-in-law the king inquired of the man while still at a 
 distance, ' Young sir, is Grahavarman well 1 ' Hearing the 
 king's voice, he advanced a few paces at a run, and stretching 
 out his arms, courtier that he was, bent his head for some time 
 to the earth ; then rising said, ' He is well, as your majesty 
 observes, and sends respectful greetings to your majesty.' 
 Understanding him to have come Avith tidings of the bride- 
 groom's arrival, the king after offering hospitality sent him 
 back with this charge, ' At the first watch of the night see 
 that no mishap arise owing to the passing of the marriage 
 hour.' 
 
 When the day was ended, having transferred to the 
 bride's face as it were the beauty of all his lotus beds, while 
 the sun glowed like the foot of the bridal day's loveliness ; 
 when the pairs of ruddy-geese were parting in shame, as it 
 were, that their love should be eclipsed by the bride and 
 bridegroom's affection; when, flecked like a pigeon's throat 1 , 
 the afterglow, with its delicate texture of red silken rays, 
 
 1 The word kapotakantliakarbure is best taken with the ' afterglow ' 
 and not with what follows : karbura may mean ' yellow ' or ' golden.' 
 For the 'yellow' cf. Psalm 68. 13 Sept. : Trrepuye? Trfpiarfpas irepiijp-
 
 CHAPTER IV. / 127 
 
 y 
 
 gleamed like the banner of felicity in the skyvwhenthe dark, 
 like the dust of the bridegroom's approachh/g train, was be- 
 smirching the heavenly spaces, and, as if all ready to effect the 
 favourable conjunction, the starry array was rising ; while, 
 like an auspicious marriage bowl, the moon's disk was shoot- 
 ing up with ever growing 1 halo of whiteness from the Udaya 
 hill, and, as the lovely radiance of the bride's face swallowed 
 up the dusky gloom, the night-lotus beds with faces supine 
 seemed to scoff at the idly-risen moon : [161] then true to his 
 time the bridegroom drew nigh. Before him with red gold- 
 studded chowries incessantly flashing ran footmen, like desires 
 with the topmost shoots of passion standing out. The horizon 
 was filled with troops of horses, which were welcomed, as it 
 seemed, by answering neighs from the prick-eared steeds of 
 the capital. Throngs of mighty elephants with chowries 
 waving at their ears, arrayed in trappings all of gold, 
 with gay housings and twanging bells, seemed to re-form 
 the darkness dissolved by the rising moon. He came 
 mounted on an elephant whose muzzle was bedecked with 
 a zodiac of pearls 2 , even as the lord of night rides the eastern 
 heaven. All about him was a hubbub of dancing troubadours 
 shrilling forth the notes of divers birds, as when the new spring 
 comes with his groves 3 . An array of lamps, incensed with 
 dripping perfumed oil, made yellow all the world as with a 
 cloud of saffron toilet powder. His head, with its flowery 
 topknot set amid a blooming jasmine wreath, seemed to laugh 
 to scorn the moonlit evening with its halo and its moon. 
 He had formed for himself a mock vaikaksaka wrap with a 
 wreath of flowers, like a flowery bow taken from Kama 
 vanquished by his beauty. Joyous with the low hum of bee 
 tribes delirious with pride in the fragrance of the flowers, 
 he resembled a Tree of Paradise born and descended again 
 with Qrl upon the earth. His heart drawn on as in eagerness 
 
 1 Vardhamana also means a ' dish.' 
 
 2 Naksatramald = (1 ) ' the moon's asterisms,' (2) ' a string of 27 pearls.' 
 
 3 Cf. Kipling, Beast and Man in India, p. 225 : ' In Western India 
 the bridegroom rides, covered with tinsel and gay clothing, in the midst 
 of a moving square of artificial flowers and bushes, counterfeiting a 
 garden, borne on long platforms on the heads of coolies.'
 
 128 \ THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 y i 
 
 to behold his Yew bride's countenance, he appeared almost to 
 fall forward on liis face. 
 
 On his arrival at the gate the king and his sons, accom- 
 panied by their royal retinue, went forth on foot to meet him. 
 Dismounting he bowed, and the king with outstretched 
 arms gave him a hearty embrace, like Spring embracing 
 Kama. Next in order he embraced Rajyavardhana and 
 Harsa, and the king, taking him by the hand, led him 
 within doors, where he honoured him with a seat equal to 
 his own and with other attentions. 
 
 Soon Gambhlra, a wise Brahman attached to the king, 
 said to Grahavarman, ' My son, by obtaining you Rajya9rl 
 has at length united the two brilliant lines of Puspabhuti and 
 Mukhara, whose worth, like that of the Sun and Moon houses, 
 is sung by all the world to the gratification of wise men's ears 1 . 
 Previously you were set fast by your merits 2 on the king's 
 breast, like the Kaustubha jewel on Visnu's. [162] But 
 now you are one to be supported, like the moon by Qiva, n 
 his head.' 
 
 Even while he spoke, the astrologers, approaching the king, 
 said, ' Your majesty, the moment approaches : let the bride- 
 groom proceed to the bridal house.' The king bidding him 
 rise and go, Grahavarman entered the women's apartments, 
 and, disregarding the thousands of glances that like opening 
 blue lotuses fell upon him from women curious to see the 
 bridegroom, passed on to the door of the bridal house, where 
 he stayed his attendants and entered. 
 
 There amid a company of relatives, friends, and servants, 
 mostly women, he espied his bride, whose face, hidden, like 
 the morning twilight, by its roseate veil 8 , dulled the gleaming 
 lamps by its radiance. Not too tightly embraced by woman- 
 hood, which seemed alarmed by her excessive delicacy, she 
 appeared, by the long soft sighs which her bosom, choked with 
 
 1 Or ' of Budha, the regent of Mercury and son of the moon, and 
 Karna, the son of the sun.' 
 
 2 Or ' cords.' 
 
 3 There is a pun in aruna, which also denotes the ' dawn.' The dawn 
 also dims the lamps. t -
 
 CHAPTER IV. 129 
 
 / 
 
 fright, could scarcely utter, to bemoan her derating maiden- 
 hood. Trembling she stood motionless with bashful ness, as if 
 fearing to fall, gazing with a quiver of terror in her mind at that 
 lotus-red hand so soon to be grasped : so might Rohinl gaze at 
 the moon when near eclipse 1 . Her body was white with sandal, 
 as though born of a (white) lotus bed whos$ amassed loveli- 
 ness had been a gift from the moonlight. A fragrance of 
 flowers breathed about her, as if she had come forth from the 
 heart of spring. The perfume of her breath attracted the bee 
 tribes, as if she were sprung from the Malaya breeze. Love 
 followed in the train of one who seemed a reborn Rati. Com- 
 pounded of all gem-like natures, brilliancy, loveliness, intoxi- 
 cation, fragrance and sweetness, the product of the Kaustubha 
 jewel, the moon, wine, the tree of paradise, and ambrosia, she 
 seemed a second Qrl formed by the ocean in his rage with 
 gods and asuras 2 . [163] The soft light of an earring produced 
 an ear-pendant of pearly rays like clusters of white Sindhuvara 
 flowers. Her cheek's surface, a glade all green with the 
 emerald glow of her ear-ornament, formed a pleasance, as it 
 were, for the fawnlike 3 gleam of her eye ; and thus she seemed 
 to chide her shamefaced friends and heart, which, bewildered 
 by the interesting spectacle of a bridegroom 4 , ever and anon 
 essayed to raise a glance. 
 
 No sooner had that thief of hearts made his entrance 
 than he was delivered over by his bride into the clutches of 
 love. Most deftly he performed all that in the marriage hall 
 the bridegroom is made to do by women with faces lit by a 
 mocking smile. Then, his bride having been arrayed in the 
 dress proper for the ceremony, he took her by the hand, and 
 going forth, came to an altar whitened with new plaster and 
 surrounded by invited kings, as when the slopes of Himalaya 
 were girt by mountains gathered to the wedding of Qiva and 
 
 1 Rohinl ' the red one ' gazes at the white moon when near eclipse. 
 The naksatras are the moon's wives. 
 
 2 The first Cri or Laksml was produced by the ocean (always spoken 
 of as rich in jewels) at the mythical churning along with the objects 
 mentioned in this sentence. 
 
 3 Or lovely.' 
 
 4 Or perhaps ' eager ttsee the bridegroom and the ceremony.' 
 
 c. 9
 
 130 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 Parvatl. Gleaning around it were earthen dolls, whose 
 hands bore auspicious fruits, and which had five-mouthed 
 cups bristling with dew-besprent blades of barley and enemies, 
 faces painted with soft colours 1 . Brahman witnesses busied 
 themselves in kindling the flame, which smoked under logs 
 heaped up by th~ teachers. Close to the fire unsoiled green 
 Kuca grass was set, and hard by were bundles of pounding 
 stones, antelope skins, ghee, garlands 2 , and fuel, while a 
 sparkle of parched grain was mixed with dark Qami leaves 
 placed in new baskets. This altar the bridegroom ascended, 
 as the moon with his beauty mounts the heavens. As the 
 god of the flowery bow came with Rati to the red Acoka, so 
 he drew near the fire with its tremulous sprays of red flame. 
 The fire being fed, [164] he marched round towards the right, 
 attended by the very flames, which as if curious to see the 
 bride's face took a rightward twist. And as the rice oblation 
 was let fall, the blaze, whitened by the gleam of nails, seemed 
 to smile 3 in amazement at the bride and bridegroom's unpre- 
 cedented grace of form. 
 
 Anon a tempest of tear drops, clear as great pearls, showed 
 itself in the bride's face, which yet displayed no discomposure, 
 and, as if to quench the fire's image in her cheeks' clear oval, 
 she burst into weeping. With eyes brimming with tears the 
 women of the family raised a lugubrious cry. All the bridal 
 rites being fully completed, the husband bowed with his wife 
 to their parents, and then entered their chamber. About its 
 portals were figured the spirits cf Love and Joy. Bees going 
 before like friends raised a hubbub. The charmed lamps, 
 which lighted it, swayed in the wind of the bees' wings, as 
 if trembling in fear of a blow from their ear-lotuses. At the 
 foot of a blossoming red Acoka carved on one side stood the 
 god of love aiming his shaft, the arrow drawn to the string, 
 and a third of his eye sideways closed. A fair well-upholstered 
 
 1 So the Kashmir and Bombay texts and the commentator. The 
 Calcutta text has amairamukhaih ' goblet-mouths.' 
 
 2 The Bombay and Kashmir texts read -mut-, 'spoons,' 'ladles, 
 a j ao vhich seems preferable. 
 
 3 The nails represent the teeth shown in smiling.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 131 
 
 / 
 
 bed with pillows was guarded on the one p^ae by a golden 
 rinsing vessel, on the other by a golden figure holding an 
 ivory box, like LaksmI incarnate with an upright lotus stalk 
 in her hand. At the bed's head stood a night bowl of silver 
 bedecked with lotuses, like the moon come to join company 
 with the flowery god. * 
 
 There, while the bashful young bride slept with her face 
 averted, the bridegroom spent the night in gazing at her im- 
 ages in the mirrors of the jewelled walls, like family goddesses 
 come in curiosity to hear their first words and seen through 
 jewelled .loopholes. Abiding in his new father's house, by his 
 noble nature raining ambrosia as it were upon his new 
 mother's heart, he spent ten blissful days, ever varying with 
 continually renewed tokens of favour ; and then, leaving regret 
 like a palace porter behind, [165] and taking all men's hearts 
 with him like provisions named in the dowry, he managed to 
 secure his dismissal from the king and set out with his bride 
 to his native country. 
 
 Here ends the fourth chapter entitled The Exposition of The 
 Emperor's Birth of the Harsa-Carita composed by Crl Bana Bhatta. 
 
 9-2
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 [166] As the inconstant lightning, having shown a splendpur, 
 lets fall the thunderbolt, 
 
 Fate after ordaining happiness to men superadds heart- 
 rending affliction. 
 
 As Ananta, moving his coils, lays the mountains in 
 ruins, so does the one endless time by its revolu- 
 tions 
 
 Lay great souls low in the dust, many together, re- 
 specting none. 
 
 Subsequently the king one day summoned Rajyavardhana, 
 whose age now fitted him for wearing armour, and, as a lion 
 despatches his whelp against the deer, placed him at the 
 head of an immense force and sent him attended by ancient 
 advisers and devoted feudatories towards the north to attack 
 the Hunas 1 . 
 
 For several stages my lord Harsa followed his march with 
 the horse. When however his brother had entered the region 
 which blazes with Kailasa's lustre, being at youth's adven- 
 ture-loving age, he spent several days away from camp on the 
 skirts of the Himalaya, where lions, c,arabhas, tigers, and 
 boars are plentiful, a fawn-eyed hunter with his bright form 
 dappled by the radiant glances of love-smit 2 wood-nymphs. 
 His bow drawn to the ear, he emitted a rain of shining shafts, 
 which in a comparatively few days left the forests empty of 
 wild creatures. 
 
 One day however at the fourth watch of the night 8 , dawn 
 
 1 Cf. Visnu Pur. vol. n. pp. 133, 134. 
 
 2 Or perhaps ' anxious (for their proteges).' 
 
 3 This is a sign of near fulfilment.
 
 CHAPTER V. 133 
 
 ' 
 
 being almost come, he saw in a vision a lior/ burning in an 
 overpowering forest fire, which reddened the whole sky with 
 a sea of flickering flame. [167] Into that same fire he saw the 
 lioness, leaving her cubs, hurl herself with a plunge. At this 
 the thought arose in his heart 'Stronger of a truth than 
 steel are the bonds whose tissue is love, when even brutes are 
 drawn on by them to acts like this.' On awakening his left 1 
 eye incessantly throbbed ; a mysterious tremour overspread 
 his frame ; his heart started without cause from its internal 
 moorings ; for no reason at all a profound dejection came 
 over him. What could it mean? Various conjectures wracked 
 his mind, until losing all self-command he bowed his face in 
 thought, so that the fixed pupils of his partridge eyes seemed 
 to make the earth for an instant a bed of sprouting land- 
 lotuses. A void as it were was in his heart during that day's 
 sport, and, when the sun had ascended to mid-day, he 
 returned home, where, lying on a bamboo couch stretched 
 on the ground with a pillow white as moonshine and cool 
 saftdal unguent covering its frame, he remained with small 
 hand-fans softly waving on either side, full of apprehension. 
 
 Anon he beheld afar off a certain Kurangaka approaching 
 with a billet tied in a forehead- wrap of rags of deep indigo hue 2 . 
 Weariness and heat had combined to give him such a black- 
 ness of body, that he seemed turning into charcoal through 
 some inner fire of grief. Disguised as the dust excited by 
 the quick trot of his hurried approach, the very earth appeared 
 to pursue him out of curiosity to learn news of its king. 
 Flapped by the opposing breeze, the long hem of his robe 
 fanned both his flanks, just as if his rapid advance had given 
 him wings. Impelled from behind by his master's charge, 
 drawn on from the front by prolonged emissions of weary 
 breath, the sun's image shaped in his oozing forehead seeming 
 to snatch at the writing in eagerness to learn its import, his 
 body empty of every sense, as if he had dropped them in his 
 haste, he stumbled vacantly upon an even enough road, as 
 
 1 The right would have foretold good news. 
 - The darkcolour symbolizes the bad news.
 
 134 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 V 
 
 though overweighted by the purport committed to the letter. 
 [168] One mightfbompare him to a fragment of a black cloud 
 soon to let fall a thunderbolt of ill-news, a smoke whorl of a 
 fire of sorrow soon to blaze, a seed of a paddy of sin soon to 
 bear its harvest ; a very courier of ill-omen. 
 
 At that sight Harsa's heart was cloven by a terror 
 taking shape from the previous succession of evil omens. 
 Approaching with a bow, Kurarigaka presented first the 
 despondency seated in his looks and then the writing, which 
 the prince took in his own hand and read. With its contents 
 affliction penetrated to his soul, and, looking the picture 
 of desolation 1 , he inquired what was his father's sickness. 
 With eyes dropping tears and lips the faltering accents Kur- 
 angaka made a two-fold answer ' It is, my lord, a violent 
 fever.' At this news Harsa's heart was instantly splintered 
 into a thousand pieces. Anxious for the preservation of his 
 father's life, he rinsed his mouth and conveyed to Brah- 
 mans the whole of his regal equipage, jewels and gold and 
 silver to a vast amount. Then without taking food he started 
 up and calling to a youth who stood in his presence sword to 
 forehead, ordered him to saddle his horse. The grooms having 
 hastily run up to bring it, he mounted and set out alone with 
 a tremour at his heart. 
 
 Startled by the conch's sudden call to horse, the cavalry 
 made ready in haste; and came galloping in, troop after troop, 
 from every side, filling the abyss of heaven with the loud 
 tramp of resonant hoofs. On the way deer, passing from 
 right to left 2 , foreshadowed the approaching end of the lion 
 king. Facing the sun's flaming circle, a crow on a burnt-out 
 tree uttered its dreadful cry, as if to cleave the prince's heart. 
 Straight against him came a naked Jain, bedecked with pea- 
 cock's tail-feathers 3 , a fellow all lampblack as it seemed with 
 
 apo. Kailacandra Datta's text reads Ciciy/Mt-fipo 'with 
 confusion in his looks.' For the idea in acagrahanipo cf. c. vi. p. 202, 
 11. 9-11 (text). 
 
 2 The opposite of the prackiksina or respectful order. The insolence 
 of the deer betokens the lion's death. 
 
 3 To sweep insects out of his path for fear uf taking life.
 
 CHAPTER V. 135 
 
 
 
 the collected filth of many days besmirching h^ body. [169] 
 This inauspicious celebration of his departure deepened the 
 prince's apprehensions. His heart softening with filial love, 
 surmising now this, now that; his eyes immovably fixed upon 
 his horse's shoulder ; followed in silence for all amusing talk 
 was at an end by his royal escort; he in a single day accom- 
 plished a distance amounting to many daysf journey. When 
 the adorable sun, despondent as it seemed at the news of the 
 king's sickness, bent downwards with waning splendour, he 
 refused, despite the frequent admonitions of Bhandi and the 
 other affectionate nobles, to take food. Footmen being sent 
 ahead to secure a relay of villagers to show the best way, he 
 passed the night in the saddle. 
 
 On the morrow at noon he reached the capital, but its 
 sounds of triumph were departed, sunk the booming of its 
 drums, checked its minstrelsy, its festivity expelled. No 
 troubadours sang, no merchandise was exposed for sale in the 
 shops. Here and there gleamed the smoke whorls of the 
 Kotihoma rite 1 , which, twisted by the force of the wind, re- 
 sembled crumpled horns of Yama's buffalo ploughing up the 
 place, or death's net lines encircling it. Overhead roamed 
 flocks of crows, which, cawing harshly in the day time, like 
 the tinkle of iron bells adorning Yama's buffalo, announced 
 the approach of calamity. Here loving kinsmen were keeping 
 a fast to appease Ahibradhna 2 , lying before his image. There 
 young nobles were burning themselves with lamps to propi- 
 tiate the Mothers. In one place a Dravidian was ready to 
 solicit the Vampire 3 with the offering of a skull. In another 
 an Andhra man was holding up his arms like a rampart 4 to 
 conciliate Candi. Elsewhere distressed young servants were 
 pacifying Mahakala by holding melting gum on their heads. 
 In another place a group of relatives was intent on an oblation 
 of their own flesh, which they severed with keen knives. Else- 
 
 1 An oblation to propitiate adverse planets. 
 
 2 Qiva. The Bombay text reads Ahirbudhna. 
 
 3 Amarddako VetCilo^ liaudradevatiiblieda ity anye. Comni. 
 
 4 Kailagcandra Datta reads -dntra- ' entrails of a sacrificed animal,' 
 for -bdhuvapra-.
 
 136 THE HARsA-CARlTA. 
 
 , 
 
 where again [170] young courtiers were openly resorting to 
 the sale of hunfan flesh. Thus the capital seemed polluted 
 with the ashes of cemeteries, encircled by ill-omens, pillaged 
 by fiends, swallowed up by the Kali age, hid beneath mounds 
 of sin, sacked by the raids of demerit, victimized by the 
 taunts 1 of transience, appropriated by the mockeries of fate ; 
 vacant, wrapped la slumber, robbed, abashed, deluded, fallen 
 in a swoon. 
 
 No sooner had he entered than in the bazaar street amid 
 a great crowd of inquisitive children he observed an Inferno- 
 showman 2 , in whose left hand was a painted canvas stretched 
 out on a support of upright rods and showing the lord of the 
 dead mounted on his dreadful buffalo. Wielding a reed-wand 
 in his other hand, he was expounding the features of the next 
 world, and could be heard to chant the following verse : 
 
 Mothers and fathers in thousands, in hundreds children 
 
 and wives 
 Age after age have passed away: whose are they, and 
 
 whose art thou ? 
 
 With this still further rending his heart Harsa arrived in 
 due course at the palace door, now shut to all the world. 
 Dismounting, he perceived a young physician named Susena 
 coming out with a disquieted mien, like one reft of his senses. 
 After receiving his salute the prince asked whether there was 
 any improvement in his father's condition or not. 'Not at 
 present,' was the reply, ' but there may be when he sees your 
 
 1 The Kashmir text, however, and Kailac. read adhikaraih ('rule') 
 for dhikkaruih. 
 
 2 Yamapattaka ' one who exhibits pictures of Hades.' Of. Kipling 
 'Beast and Man in India' p. 123: 'One of the most popular of the 
 pictures sold at fairs is a composition known as Dkarmraj, a name of 
 Yama, the Hindu Pluto, and also broadly for Justice. The Judge is 
 enthroned and demon executioners bring the dead to receive their doom. 
 The river of death flows on one side of the picture and those go safely 
 across who hold a cow by the tail, while others are torn by terrible 
 fishes. Chitragupt, the clerk or recording angel of Yama, considered to 
 be the ancestor of the kayastk or clerkly caste, sits in an office with 
 account books exactly like those of a Hindu tradesman, and according 
 to the record of each soul, punishments or rewards are given. ..Duts or 
 executioners torture offenders, while the blest sail upwards in air-borne 
 chariots.'
 
 CHAPTER V. 137 
 
 
 
 highness.' So amid the salutations of the chamberlains he 
 slowly entered the palace. There he found people bestowing 
 all their goods in presents, worshipping the family gods, 
 engaged in cooking the ambrosial posset 1 , performing the Six 
 Oblation sacrifice 2 , offering tremulous Durva leaves besmeared 
 with clotted butter, chanting the Maha-Mayurl hymn 3 , purify- 
 ing the household, completing the rites fof keeping out the 
 spirits by offerings. Earnest Brahmans were occupied in 
 muttering Vedic texts; [171] (Diva's temple resounded with 
 the murmur of the Hendecad 4 to Rudra ; (^aivas of great holi- 
 ness were bathing Virupaksa's image with thousands of vessels 
 of milk 5 . Seated in the courtyard were kings, distressed in 
 mind at failing to obtain a sight of their sovereign : bathing, 
 eating, and sleeping had become mere names to them, and their 
 clothes were foul from neglect of the toilet, while they passed 
 day and night motionless as though pictured, awaiting 
 bulletins from the king's personal attendants who came 
 bursting in from the inner apartments. On the terrace was 
 a woe-begone group of less intimate servants, discussing the 
 king's sad plight in whispers : here was one imagining errors 
 on the part of the doctors, there one reading out descriptions 
 of incurable diseases, one recounting bad dreams, one im- 
 parting stories of demons, one publishing communications 
 from astrologers, one droning out portents ; one again reflect- 
 ing upon the transiency of things, chiding this mutable 
 world, censuring the mockeries of the Kali age, and accusing 
 fate ; another indignant with dharma and reproaching the 
 gods of the royal household ; a third commiserating the lot 
 of the afflicted young nobles. 
 
 Scanned by his father's servants with eyes that brimmed 
 with fast flowing tears, the prince passed on into the third 
 
 1 Of milk, ghee, and rice offered as a life-preservative to the gods. 
 
 2 ' Prajdpate svdlid' iti sanndm devatdndm nCima grikltvd sanndm 
 evdhutlndm praksepah saddhutihoma ucyate. Comm. 
 
 3 Mahdmdyurl Bduddhawdya. Comm. Cf. Bendall, Catal. Nepal 
 MSS. p. 49. 
 
 4 Itudrdikddafl ' Civamantrah. Comm. 
 
 5 Or perhaps ' washing Diva's thousand milk vessels.' Virupdksa=* 
 Qiva, because of his third^ eye.
 
 138 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 i 
 
 court, where he now detected an odour of boiling oil, 
 butter and dec^tions emitting a steam scented with various 
 herb draughts. 
 
 In the White House a deep silence reigned. Numerous 
 lackeys thronged the vestibule ; a triple veil hid the salon ; the 
 inner door was closed ; the panels were forbidden to creak ; 
 closed windows Kept out the draughts 1 . Anguished attend- 
 ants, chamberlains furious at a tramp of footsteps on 
 the stairs, all orders issued in noiseless signs. [172] Not 
 quite near the king sat a man in armour ; in a corner stood 
 one bearing a gargling bowl, flurried by frequent summonses; 
 in the Moon Chamber crouched the silent ministers of state ; 
 the screened balcony was occupied by women of the family 
 distracted by profound grief; in the quadrangle a cluster of 
 despondent servants. A few loving friends had been admitted. 
 The physicians were in terror at the deep-seated ravages of the 
 disease, the king's advisers sunk in dejection, the purohit stupe- 
 fied; friends despaired, pandits were torpid 2 , faithful feudatories 
 in agony ; the chowrie-bearer had lost his wits, the bodyguard 
 was emaciated with grief. The favourites saw the accomplish- 
 ment of their wishes fade away ; beloved princes, having 
 out of loyal affection abandoned sustenance, fainted with loss 
 of strength ; young nobles were prostrate on the ground from 
 night-long watching. Grief lay heavy on a group of heirs to 
 ancient houses ; the chamberlains were shrivelled up with 
 sorrow ; the court poets had laid aside their glee ; confiden- 
 tial servants uttered despairing sighs ; from the pale lips 
 of the king's mistresses the betel stain had fled. 
 
 The head cook was intent on the preparation of the diet 
 ordered by perplexed physicians. Attendants were drinking 
 streams of water from uplifted cups 3 in order to distract the 
 pain of the king's dry mouth. Gourmands were being fed to 
 relieve his craving. All the dealers were busy in providing a 
 
 1 Or 'small apertures had been formed to secure ventilation,' as 
 Kaila9candra Datta, which seems preferable. 
 
 2 Kaila9C. reads ' viprdna ' ' half-dead ' for nidrdna. The Kashmir 
 text has vidruna, which is probably right, cf. text p. 89 1. 12 and note. 
 
 3 But v. corntn. ucca$akam apagatapdnablidjanam ' empty cups.'
 
 CHAPTER V. 139 
 
 * 
 
 pharmacopoeia of drugs. One might infer the sick man's 
 fearful thirst from the incessant calls to yhe waterman. 
 Butter-milk was freezing in pails packed in ice ; a collyrium- 
 stick had been cooled with camphor powder placed on a moist 
 white cloth; in a new vessel besmeared with wet clay was whey 
 for a gargle. Water trickled from soft bundles of fibres covered 
 with delicate (red) lotus leaves; on the ground where were 
 cups of drinking water lay bunches of blue lotuses with their 
 stalks. Boiled water was being cooled by passing in a stream 
 from cup to cup ; red sugar diffused a pungent odour. On a 
 stand stood a sand jar for the sick man's eyes 1 to rest upon ; 
 fresh water-plants were coiled round a dripping globe ; [173] a 
 crystal platter gleamed with parched groats and barley-meal; a 
 paste of flour and curds was held in a yellow emerald cup 2 ; a 
 collection of crystal, pearl, and shell vessels was sprinkled with 
 powders and infusions of cooling herbs. Piles of myrobalans, 
 citrons, grapes, and pomegranates were at hand. Lustral 
 water was being scattered by fee'd Brahmans. A flat stone 
 was stained with forehead unguents which a maidservant was 
 pounding. 
 
 There he saw his sire preparing by a camp-lustration, as it 
 were, of burning fever for the conquest of the next world. 
 On a couch uneven 3 from his restless movements he tossed 
 like venom -tortured Qesa on the Milky Sea. Like the drying 
 ocean of doomsday 4 , he was white with a dust of pearl powder 3 ; 
 but black death was uprooting him, as the black demon" up- 
 rooted Kailasa. As they touched him, the hands of the 
 attendants engaged in ceaselessly smearing him with sandal 
 were as white in the palm as if turned to ashes by contact 
 with his burning limbs: while in the guise of the sandal 
 
 1 For -iintaracaksusi read -iituracaksu$i with Kailacc. In the next 
 compound Kailacc. reads -galagolayantrake ' coiled round tlie neck of 
 a globe ' for -galadgolayantrake. 
 
 a Or, if we omit pita with Kailac. and take ma3dra = nllamani, 'a 
 sapphire cup.' 
 
 3 Literally 'wavy.' 
 
 * Ksayahlle = (l) at doomsday, (2) at his death. 
 
 5 Or 'pearls, sand, and dust.' 
 
 DofHnano . vddkikRdifCuaca, Comm. The demon is Ravaua.
 
 140 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 r 
 
 ointment his abiding 1 glory seemed to be saying farewell on his 
 departure to another sphere. Incessantly applied petals of 
 red, white, and blue lotuses seemed to blot his body with the 
 falling glances of death. 
 
 On his head a thick 2 silken cloth bound round his hair 
 told of never-ceasing shocks of pain, and, swollen with intoler- 
 able anguish, a \ietwork of dark veins stood out upon his 
 forehead's page, a dreadful spectacle, as if death's finger were 
 drawing lines to show the number of days ere the end. As 
 if in horror at the sight of death's approach, the pupils of his 
 eyes had retreated a little inwards. A stream of hot breath, 
 rippled by waves of grey rays which issued from a line of dry 
 teeth, suggested a river seen in a mirage. A tongue darken- 
 ing, as if scorched by that burning breath, bespoke the con- 
 vulsions of an appalling complication. On his breast lay 
 gems, pearl-necklaces, sandal, and moonstones, as if he were 
 making himself meet for the sight of death's emissaries. 
 Tossing his arms in the contortions of his agony, he seemed 
 seeking to cool the feverish heat with a shower bath formed 
 of rays from the nails of his vibrating hands. Even his 
 images, as they fell on the neighbouring liquids, jewelled 
 floor, and concave mirrors, [174] seemed to bespeak the 
 extremity of the heat 8 . A swoon, whose touch brought 
 relief, he honoured like a wife in whom was all his trust. 
 All about him, noted by the affrighted physicians, were 
 symptoms of death, like the letters of Yama's summons. 
 On the eve of the Great Journey, he was leaving to his 
 kinsmen's hearts the inheritance of his pains, while, wedded 
 as he was to soul-weariness, his bodily charm was as if in 
 jealousy deserting him. Against him disease had concen- 
 trated its powers; emaciation let fly all her darts. Helpless- 
 ness had taken him in hand: pain had made him its province, 
 wasting its domain, lassitude its lair. Stung was he by 
 dejection, appropriated by self-abandonment, enslaved by 
 
 1 Sthamuna ' abiding ' = (1) everlasting, (2) staying behind on earth. 
 
 2 Kaila^c. reads nibaddha- ' bound about him ' for nivida-. 
 
 3 I.e. by retreating into these cool objects. <
 
 CHAPTER V. 141 
 
 i 
 
 sickness, dandled by death, the target of the south 1 ; quaffed 
 by qualms, devoured by sleeplessness, swallowed by sallovvness, 
 gulped down by spasms ; a captive to calamity, a prey to 
 pains, a city sacked by torments ; fate laid hands upon him, 
 destiny descried him, transience sniffed upon him, nothing- 
 ness overbore him; mortality had taken his measure 2 , affliction 
 seized her advantage, distraction made him^ier dwelling; he 
 was on the confines of doom, on the verge of the last gasp, at 
 the outset of the Great Undertaking 3 , at the portal of the 
 Long Sleep, on the tip of death's tongue; broken in utterance, 
 unhinged in mind, tortured in body, waning in life, babbling 
 in speech, ceaseless in sighs; vanquished by yawning, swayed 
 by suffering, in the bondage of wracking pains. 
 
 Seated by his side and touching him on head and breast 
 was queen Ya9ovati, her eyes swollen with ceaseless weeping, 
 her body grey with various medicinal powders, fanning him, 
 though her hand grasped a chowrie, only with her sighs, and 
 crying again and again ' My lord, are you asleep? ' 
 
 At this spectacle the prince's mind, devastated by the 
 first shock of grief, became apprehensive of destiny, and he 
 deemed his father already a dweller in the realm of death. 
 [175] For a moment he was as it were divorced from con- 
 sciousness. Discarded by firmness, tenanted by agitation, 
 left empty of delight, mastered by despondency, he seemed 
 to have a heart of fire within him. Stricken as it were by 
 deadly poison, his swooning senses left him in a darkness 
 beyond the gloom of hell, a vacancy exceeding that of space, 
 and he was at a loss how to act. He brought his heart into 
 contact with fear, and his head with the earth. 
 
 As soon as the king perceived his darling son while still 
 at some distance, swayed even in that extremity by over- 
 powering affection, he ran forward in spirit to meet him, and 
 putting out his arms, half rose from the couch, calling to him 
 ' Come to me, come to me.' When the prince hastily drew 
 
 1 The region of the god of death. 
 
 J Kail&9c. reads parikalpitam for parikalitam. Not so the Kashmir 
 text. 
 
 1 Kail^c. reads praiftsasya 'journey' for prayasasya. 
 
 9 \
 
 \ . 
 
 142 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 
 
 near with dutifully downcast looks, he raised his son's head 
 by force, and, tft'dng him to his bosom, seemed in his fondness 
 to plunge into the heart of the moon's disc, to dive in a great 
 lake of nectar, to bathe in a mighty torrent of haricandana sap, 
 to be sprinkled by the waters of Himalaya 1 . Limb pressed 
 to limb, cheek joined to cheek, closing eyes which flowed with 
 incessant drops forming on their lashes, he held his son in a 
 long embrace, forgetting all the torment of the fever. At 
 length reluctantly released, the prince drew apart 2 and bowed 
 low ; then, having greeted his mother, returned and sat down 
 near the couch, where his father gazed upon him with eyes 
 that seemed to drink him in with their fixed unblinking look. 
 Again and again he touched him with trembling palms, and, 
 speaking with some difficulty for his throat was dry through 
 sickness, 'My boy,' he said, 'you are thin.' Whereat Bhancli ex- 
 plained that it was three days since the prince had taken food. 
 At this the king, after a long sigh, found strength to say 
 in tear-choked accents : 'I know, my boy, your filial love and 
 exceeding tender heart. At times like this 3 overmastering, 
 all-afflicting family affection distracts even a sober man's 
 mind. For this reason you must not give yourself over to 
 sorrow. Consumed as I am by the fever's fierce heat, I am 
 still more so by your distress. Your leanness cuts me like a 
 sharp knife. Upon you my happiness, my sovereignty, my 
 succession, and my life are set, and as mine, so those of all 
 my people. The sorrows of such as you are a sorrow [176] to 
 all people on earth; for no families of small worth are adorned 
 by your like. You are the fruit 4 of stainless deeds stored up 
 in many another life. You bear marks declaring the sove- 
 reignty of the four oceans, one and all, to be almost in your 
 grasp. By your mere birth my end is attained, I am free 
 from the wish to live. Only deference to the physicians 
 makes me drink their medicines. Furthermore, to such as 
 
 1 All these images suggest ' coolness ' or relief from the heat of the 
 fever. 
 
 2 Head apasritya with Kail^c. 
 
 3 Kaila9c. reads ' Idricesu vidhuresu ' ' in such afflictions as this.' 
 
 4 Kaila9C. reads phalam asyuneka, explaining ast/a as = afr//i.
 
 CHAPTER V. 143 
 
 I 
 
 you, who through the merits of a whole people are born for 
 the protection of all the earth, fathers are j>mere expedient 
 to bring you into being. In their people, not in their kin, 
 are kings rich in relatives. Rise therefore, and once more 
 attend to all the needs of life. Not till you have eaten will I 
 myself 1 take my diet.' 
 
 At these words the flame of sorrow blazed up still more 
 fiercely in the prince's heart, as if to consume it. One short 
 moment he paused, and then being again 2 charged by 
 his father to take food, he descended from the White House 
 with these thoughts in his mind : ' This great crash 3 has 
 come without warning, like a bolt from a cloudless sky. 
 Even a common grief is a breathing death, a disease without 
 antidote, a plunge into fire without being reduced to ashes, a 
 living abode in hell, a shower of coals without light, a sawing 
 in twain without cleavage, a lancet's stroke that leaves no scar. 
 What then of deeper afflictions ? What shall I do now ?' 
 
 Escorted by one of the king's officers, he proceeded to his 
 own apartments, where he partook of a few mouthfuls, mouth- 
 fuls which, as if of smoke, evoked tears, as if of fire awoke a 
 burning in his heart, as if of poison brought on swoons, as if 
 of mortal sin aroused disgust, as if of alkali inflicted pain. 
 While rinsing his mouth, he ordered his chowrie-bearer to 
 fetch tidings of his father's state. Having gone and returned, 
 the man reported that the king still remained as before : 
 whereat the prince in distress of mind rejected the betel, 
 and when the sun inclined to setting, summoned all the 
 physicians in private, and with a despairing heart inquired 
 what steps under such circumstances should be taken. [177] 
 'Your highness,' they answered, 'reassure yourself: in a very 
 few days your father will be reported restored to his proper 
 self and pristine condition 4 .' 
 
 Among their number, however, was a young doctor of 
 
 1 Railage, reads for svayam sukham ' with an easy mind.' 
 
 2 Kaila9<5. reads punah punar ' again and again.' 
 
 3 Mahapralayo om. Kailac. 
 
 4 Prakriti, as the comm. observes, is an ominous word, implying 
 'ante-natal state.'
 
 144 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 
 
 Punarvasu'a race named Rasayana, a youth of about eighteen 
 years of age, holding an hereditary position in the royal house- 
 hold, in which he had been cherished like a son by the king. 
 He had mastered the Ayur Veda in all its eight divisions, 
 and, being naturally of an acute intellect, was perfectly 
 familiar with the diagnosis of diseases. He now stood silent 
 and tearful with \lowncast looks. Being appealed to by the 
 prince, ' Friend Rasayana, tell me the truth, if you see any- 
 thing at all unpromising,' he replied ' To-morrow at dawn, 
 your highness, I will state the facts of the case 1 .' 
 
 At that very instant the keeper of the palace lotus pools, 
 comforting a ruddy-goose, chanted aloud an Aparavaktra 
 couplet : 
 
 ' Fortify, bird, thy heart ; freely abandon grief ; pursue 
 
 the path of discretion : 
 'With the beauty of the red-lotus pools the sun hies himself 
 
 to Sumeru's peak.' 
 
 Versed in the omens of words, the prince on overhearing 
 this relaxed his hopes for his father's longer life. The 
 physicians gone, he lost all fortitude, and at nightfall went 
 up again to his father's presence, where in anguish of heart 
 he spent a sleepless night prolonged by grief, listening with- 
 out cessation to his father's cries such as, 'The heat is terrible, 
 bring pearl necklaces. Harini ! place jewelled mirrors on my 
 body, Vaidehl ! anoint my brows, Lilavati !, with bits of ice 
 give me camphor powder, Dhavalaksi ! apply a moonstone to 
 my eye, Kantamati! set a blue lotus on my cheek, Kalavati! 
 give me a rubbing with sandal, Carumata ! [178] make a 
 brisk 2 breeze with a cloth, Patalika ! assuage the heat with 
 lotuses, Indumati ! refresh me with wet clothes, Madira- 
 vati ! bring lotus fibres, Malati ! wave a palm leaf, 
 Avantika ! bind tight my whirling head*, BandhumatI ! 
 support my neck, Dharanika! place an ice-cooled hand upon 
 my bosom, Kurangavati ! shampoo my arms, Valahika ! 
 
 1 Yathavasthitam may however be masculine = 'the king's real 
 condition ' : so Kaila9c. trans. ; in the comm. he gives prakritam. 
 
 1 Pataya (Kaila9c. pataya]. patum kuru 'make brisk.' Comm. 
 
 3 Lit. 'imprison my runaway head.' Kail^c. notes a var. lee. 
 badhamanam.
 
 CHAPTER V. 145 
 
 
 
 squeeze my feet, PadtnavatI ! clasp tight my body, Ananga- 
 sena! what hour? Vilasavati ! sleep will^not come, tell 
 stories, KumudvatI !' 
 
 At dawn the prince descended, and, though a horse was 
 held in readiness by a groom advancing to the palace door, 
 went on foot to his own quarters. There in hot haste he 
 despatched express couriers and swift camet riders one after 
 another to procure his brother's coming. After washing his 
 (tear-soiled) face he rejected the toilet appurtenances brought 
 by the servants. Hearing from distracted young princes stand- 
 ing before him an indistinct murmur ' Rasayana, Rasayana,' he 
 asked ' Well, friends, what of Rasayana ?,' whereat they all at 
 once became silent. Being further pressed, however, they 
 with sorrowful reluctance explained ' Your highness, he has 
 entered fire.' The prince became (ashy) pale, as if scorched 
 by an inner fire, and his grief-blinded heart, torn up by the 
 roots, refused to be steadied. 'A noble man,' he thought, 
 ' would rather not be than like an ordinary person utter 
 unwelcome and distressing words. His generous nature, 
 maintained in trying circumstances, has like unadulterated 
 gold acquired a greater brilliance by entering fire.' Again 
 he thought 'Rather was this to be expected of his love. Was 
 not my father his father, my mother his mother, we his 
 brothers? [179] Even when other masters are taken away, 
 a life retained is a cause of shame in the world : how much 
 more in the case of my auspiciously-named father, who was 
 to his dependants ambrosia itself, a veritable kinsman, un- 
 failing in favours ! In burning himself he has acted as the 
 time demanded. Nay, what does fire destroy of him who 
 abides in glory steadfast to the world's end ? He has but fallen 
 in the flames ; 'tis we who are burnt. Blessed indeed is he, a 
 chief among the fortunate: but hapless this royal house, 
 deprived of such a noble youth. As for me, what exacting 
 task, what relic of duty, what preoccupation prevents this un- 
 feeling life from even now going its way 1 ? What hindrance 
 
 1 The Kashmir text reads prasthanisthuraih, perhaps to be taken 
 as one word, 'bent on departing' : Kaila$c. has prasthah for pranah. 
 The Comm. (prastha . agwgaminah} evidently read prasthdh. 
 
 c. 10
 
 146 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 is there that my heart bursts not in a thousand parts?' Thus 
 sorrow-stricken, he went not to the royal lodging, but disre- 
 garding every duty, threw himself upon a couch and remained 
 wrapped in his shawl from head to foot. 
 
 Such being the prince's state and the king's condition 
 remaining the same, the hands of the people seemed rivetted 
 to their cheeks, Streams of tears modelled upon their eyes, 
 their looks fastened on the ends of the noses, sounds of wailing 
 graven in their ears, lamentations a natural growth upon 
 their tongues, sighs budding on their mouths, syllables of 
 woe painted upon their lips, sorrows stored up in their hearts. 
 Frighted, as it were, by the fire of scalding tears, sleep dwelt not 
 in the hollows of their eyes : smiles vanished, as if dissipated 
 by the wind of sighs : speech, as if consumed to nothingness 
 by hot pain, went not forward. Even in tales no jests were 
 heard : none knew whither musical parties had gone. Dances 
 were as much forgotten as if they belonged to the past of 
 previous births ; even in dreams no finery was used. There 
 was not even a rumour of pleasure : the very name of food 
 was unspoken. Groups in taverns were like flowers in the 
 sky 1 : troubadours' voices seemed conveyed to another world : 
 [180] recreation appeared to belong to a different cycle of 
 existence. Again, it seemed, was Kama scorched by a fire, 
 that of sorrow : even by day none left their couches. In slow 
 succession too there appeared in the world portents many 
 and great together on every side, betokening the fall of a 
 lofty spirit and filling all creatures with apprehension of the 
 king's death. 
 
 Thus : first the earth, heaving in all her circle of great 
 hills 2 , moved as though she would go with her lord. Next 
 the oceans, as though remembering Dhanvantari 3 , rolled 
 
 1 I.e. were non-existent. 
 
 2 The Kiddcala's are seven in number, viz. Mahendra (the Northern 
 parts of the Ghats), Malaya (the Western Ghats), Sahya (Northern parts 
 of Western Ghats), (^uktimat (doubtful), Riksaparvata. (Mts. of Gond- 
 wana), Vindhya, Pdriyatra (Central or Western Vindhya). 
 
 3 Or 'seeking (another) Dhanvantari' to heal the king. Read 
 Dhanvantarer with Kailagc., who also has ature tasmin for antare 
 tasmin. Dhanvantari was produced at the churning of the Ocean.
 
 CHAPTER V. 147 
 
 
 
 with waves noisily plashing upon each other. High in the 
 heavenly spaces, apprehensive of the king's rwnoval, appeared 
 comets like braided locks with awful curls of far-extended 
 flame 1 . Beneath a sky thus lowering with comets the world 
 seemed grey, as with the smoke of a Long Life sacrifice 
 commenced by the sky regents. In the sun's circle, now 
 shorn of its radiance and lurid as a bowl of heated iron, 
 some power, studious of the king's life, had presented a human 
 offering in the guise of a horrid headless trunk. The lord of 
 white effulgence, gleaming 'mid the round rim of his flaming 
 halo, seemed to have raised a rampart of fire in alarm at 
 Rahu's greedily opening jaws. The quarters, won by the 
 king's valour, glowed red as though they had in anticipation 
 entered fire 2 . All crimsoned with flowing showers of bloody 
 dew, the earth, his spouse, appeared to have shrouded 
 herself in a gown of red cloth to die with him. The portals 
 of the heavens were blocked with untimely masses of dark 
 cloud, as though the regents, fearing the tumult of the 
 monarch's death, had closed their iron door-panels. Loud 
 grew the awful, heart-riving bursts of thunder-storms, crash- 
 ing like the patter of drums that are beaten at the out-goings 
 of the king of the dead. The sun's brilliance was dimmed 
 by dust-showers brown as camel-hair, which started up, as 
 it were, beneath the hoofs of Yama's approaching buffalo. 
 Rows of jackals lifted high their muzzles in a discordant 
 howl, like firebrands catching fire from flames that fell from 
 the sky 3 . In the royal mansion the images of the family 
 goddesses, [181] whose braided hair at its parting lines gave 
 forth smoke in token of their distress 4 , seemed to be mani- 
 
 1 The quarters of the heavens are compared to wives fearing for 
 their husband's death. Widows wear braided hair. VitatacikhikalCipa- 
 vikatakutiliih may punningly mean ' curly and long as a peacock's out- 
 spread tail.' 
 
 2 There are puns in -prastidhitah (also ' decked in the king's splen- 
 dour ') and anuraktdh (' red ' and ' devoted '). 
 
 3 Cf. the name ulkdmidha = t jackal.' Kailac. reads jvCddbhih for 
 jvalah. 
 
 4 Cf. Vergil Georg. I. 480 ' Et maestum illacrimat templis ebur awa- 
 que sudant.' 
 
 102
 
 148 THE HARA-CARITA. 
 
 festing their grief by dishevelled locks 1 . A swarm of bees, 
 ranging feverishly about the Lion Throne, produced the illu- 
 sion of Kalaratri's 2 tossing plaits of curling hair. Never for 
 an instant ceased the croak of crows hovering above the women's 
 quarter. From the centre of the white umbrella's circle an old 
 vulture, screaming on high, tore with nimble beak a bit of a gem 
 the kingdom's fife as it were red as a piece of juicy meat. 
 Distressed by these mighty signs, the prince could scarce 
 live through that night. On the morrow a woman ap- 
 proached from the palace with such a tinkle of ornaments 
 breaking in her hurried advance that she seemed a procla- 
 mation of the victory of dismay. The clash of her anklets, 
 as they moved on her hurrying feet, set the craning hamsas of 
 the palace cackling, as if from a (respectful) distance they were 
 asking ' What ? What ? ' ; while in a blindness of tears she 
 seemed to learn the way from tame cranes screeching in answer 
 to the girdle, which as she stumbled rang upon her broad hips. 
 Her forehead having been cut in collisions with unnoticed 
 doors, a mass of blood like a red shawl's fringe covered her 
 weeping face. Her cane, which she was casting away, 
 looked like a stream from her golden bracelet, melted ap- 
 parently by the heat of grief. Her fluttering shawl, waving in 
 the wind of her breath, suggested a snake trailing its slough 
 behind. Hanging over her sloping shoulders, tossed by the 
 wind, and black as strips of Tamala bark, her hair covered her 
 bosom in a dangling unbraided mass in keeping with her grief. 
 As she incessantly waved her hand, which through the pain of 
 beating her breasts was swollen and dark almost like copper 
 in the palm, one might have thought it scorched through 
 wiping away her hot tears. The people near her, imaged in 
 her cheek, she seemed to bathe in her eyes' broken cascade, 
 as if they were soon to enter the fire of sorrow. Under the 
 quivering rays that issued from her restless eyes the very 
 
 1 In times of misfortune the hair of the family goddesses is supposed 
 sometimes to smoke ; the smoke is the dishevelled hair. 
 
 2 A form of Durga : the name (Kdlardtri= ' Night of Doom ') is 
 used here by reason of its appropriateness. The black strings of 
 bees represent the plaited hair.
 
 CHAPTER V. 149 
 
 
 
 day grew black, as if burnt by her grief. It was Vela, 
 Ya9ovati's head attendant, inquiring of eve^one 1 where the 
 prince was. [182] Welcomed by the people's despairing 
 looks, she drew near, and letting both hands fall upon the 
 mosaic, so that as she bent her head the rays from her teeth 
 seemed to besprinkle her pallid lips in a falling shower, 
 ' Help, help, my lord,' she cried ; ' though her husband lives, 
 the queen has taken a certain resolution.' 
 
 At the news of this further grief the prince, as if his 
 strength of mind had given way, as if melted by sorrow, drained 
 by thought, carried off his feet 2 by pain, clasped by alarm to her 
 bosom, lost all power of action. With returning consciousness, 
 ' Callous that I am,' he thought, ' the assault of grief, oft as it 
 falls upon my heart, yet like a hammer's stroke upon hard 
 flint, evokes fire indeed, but reduces not my frame to ashes.' 
 Rising, he went in haste to the women's apartments, where 
 while still at a distance he heard cries like these from queens 
 resolved to die : ' Beloved Mango, take thought to yourself, 
 your mother is seeking another home I am going, darling 
 jasmine cluster, bid me farewell Without me, sister pome- 
 granate by the house, you are now to be defenceless 
 Forgive, red Agoka, my kicks 3 and sins in plucking your 
 sprays for ear-ornaments I see you, seraglio Vakula, wayward 
 child as you are become through those mouthfuls of wine 
 Clasp me tight, dear Priyangu creeper ; I am passing beyond 
 your reach Friend Mango at the porch, you must render me 
 the funeral libation of water 4 , since you are my child See you 
 forget me not, brother parrot in your cage ! What say you ? I 
 am taken away from you May we meet again, $arika, in 
 dreams Mother, to whom shall I entrust the tame peacock 
 who clings in my path ? Nurse, you must fondle this pair of 
 hanisas like children Ah hapless me ! not to have enjoyed 
 the marriage festivities of this couple of ruddy-geese Go back, 
 
 1 Read pratipurusam with Kailagc. 
 
 2 Tulita is supported by the alliteration : Railage, has akulita 
 ' dumbfounded.' 
 
 3 ' Sanupuraravena strlcaranenCibhitddanam dohadam yad a$okasya 
 tatah puspodgamo bhaved ' ap. Kailagc. Of. Malavikagn. in. 
 
 * I.e. the jcdanjali offered at a funeral.
 
 150 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 fawn deer, mother's darling Chamberlain, fetch my favuiirite 
 lute, I must embrace it Take a good look at me, Candrasena 
 VindumatI, this is my last greeting [183] Let go my feet, 
 girl Venerable old widow friend, why do you weep ? I am in 
 the hand of fate Chamberlain, old friend, why pass respect- 
 fully round an unlucky woman like me ? Control yourself, 
 foster sister, why do you fall at my feet ? Clasp me by the 
 neck, sister, for the last time Cruel, I have not seen my 
 dear friend Malayavati This humble greeting, KurarigavatI, 
 is for goodbye Sanumati, this is my last obeisance 
 This, KuvalayavatI, is our final embrace Pardon, friends, 
 our lovers' quarrels.' 
 
 Entering with these sounds burning in his ears, he saw 
 his mother just issuing forth, after giving away all her wealth 
 and assuming the vestments of death, with the purpose of 
 entering the fire, like Sita, before 1 her lord. Still wet from 
 her recent bath, she resembled the holy Qri just risen from 
 the ocean. Like the sky with its double twilight tints, she 
 wore two saffron-brown robes. Enveloping her form, like a 
 silken shawl, she wore the tokens of her un widowed death, 
 reddened by a tissue of light from lips stained with the deep 
 dye of betel 2 . Hanging between her breasts was a red neck- 
 cord, suggesting a stream of blood pouring from a broken heart. 
 Her necklace, the thread of which was drawn aside by the 
 hooked point of a cross-bent earring, seemed a halter of white 
 silk compressing her throat. Her limbs being all aglow with 
 moist saffron paste, she appeared to be swallowed in the pyre's 
 devouring flames, while she filled the bosom of her robe with 
 white tears like flower offerings to its blaze. At every step 
 she scattered in dropping bracelets a kind of farewell present 
 to the family goddesses. From her neck down to her instep 
 hung wreaths of strung flowers, as if she were mounted on a 
 death-swing with garlands for cords. 
 
 An ear-lotus resonant with bees humming within seemed 
 to be saluting her lotus eyes. The domestic hai]isas, lovers 
 
 1 With reference to Sita ' before ' = ' in presence of.' 
 
 2 Satis are burnt in all their ornaments. Kaila^c. reads avidkava 
 separately ' though no widow,' and -patalam ptitala/u.
 
 CHAPTER V. 151 
 
 . 
 
 of her jewelled anklets, moved in a circle round her, as if 
 to make the ceremonial circuit 1 . Her hand carried a picture 
 representing her husband, which she held as steadfast as her 
 heart, where he dwelt, was fixed on death. Lovingly, like 
 a pennon of wifely love, she clasped her lord's spear-haft, 
 reverently tied with waving strings of white flowers. 
 Before the king's umbrella, spotless as Aer life, she shed 
 tears as to a kinsman. 
 
 She was giving instructions to her husband's ministers, who 
 grasped them with difficulty, their eyes being stopped by 
 torrents of tears that welled up as they fell at her feet. 
 [184] Her ears caught the sound of wailing in the house, 
 where a group of old kinsmen, grieving at their courteous 
 dismissal, were adding to the clamour. The roars of the 
 caged lions took her heart captive, resembling, as they did, 
 her husband's utterance. Her nurse and her conjugal love 
 had combined to beautify her : an old woman and swooning, 
 familiar both, supported her : a friend and agony, comrades in 
 adversity, embraced her : servants and pain were about her, 
 clasping every limb : great princes and sighs attended her 2 : 
 behind came aged chamberlains and heavy griefs. Even 
 upon her husband's favourite hounds she cast a tearful eye : 
 she fell at the feet even of rival queens : to even the painted 
 figures she offered greeting : before even the domestic birds 
 she clasped her hands : to the very brutes she said farewell : 
 she embraced the very trees about the palace. 
 
 ' Mother,' cried the prince while still afar, his eyes filling 
 with tears, ' do you also abandon hapless me ? Be merciful 
 and turn back,' and so in the act of speaking fell at her feet 
 till his crest was almost lovingly kissed by the light of her 
 jewelled anklets. As he lay there with his head touching 
 her feet, her youngest and dearest son in such distraction of 
 mind, the queen Yacovati, propped up 3 by a great frenzy of 
 grief like a mountain, carried away into the Tartarean 
 darkness of a swoon, overborne by the full tide of love 
 
 1 Read pradaksimkriyamdnam with Kailagc. 
 
 a Read kidaputrair ucchvasitaicca with Kailacc. 
 
 3 Cf. Persius Sat. l.!78, ' Antiopa aerumnis cor luctijicabtte fulta.' 
 
 -
 
 152 THE HARSA-CAR1TA. 
 
 i 
 
 rising in might like an outburst of accumulated tears long 
 pent up, could not in spite of all her efforts check the 
 torrent of her weeping. Her bosom heaved convulsively, 
 betraying the resistless will of grief: her throat was choked 
 distressfully with sobs : her lip quivered with exceeding 
 agony, and her tightened nostrils repeated the tremor : closing 
 her eyes, she deltiged her clear cheeks with flowing rills of 
 tears : then raising her face a little, she covered it with the 
 hem of her shawl, wherein her shining nails showed forth in a 
 row, like a spring of lucid tears welling up through the thin 
 interstices. [185] Loud 1 and long she wept like some mean 
 woman, while with anguished heart and dripping breasts she 
 recalled to mind from the day of his birth all the childish 
 years when he lay in her bosom. Then 2 , as her thought 
 recurred to home and kin, full oft she moaned, calling aloud 
 upon her parents, 'Mother! father! look not upon me as a 
 sinner that in my sore affliction I have set out for the other 
 world': crying to her dear elder son far away, ' Alas darling ! 
 that I, all ill-fated, see you not ' : lamenting her daughter, 
 now settled in her father-in-law's house, 'Defenceless are 
 you now ' : reproaching fate, ' Merciless power, how have I 
 offended?': inveighing in various ways against herself, 'No 
 woman has had such an evil portion as I ' : suddenly reviling 
 death, ' Remorseless one, thou hast stolen me away ! ' 
 
 When this outburst of grief had died away, she lovingly 
 raised her son, and with her hand wiped his streaming eyes, 
 which, as if melting, seemed to flow only the more 3 when the 
 rays from her nails clustered in masses on his lashes. Her 
 own eyes also she wiped, as, again and again refilling, they 
 were distressed by a trickling succession of tiny drops, while 
 their whiteness, swallowed up by a deep red, departed, 
 their corners were swoln with scalding tears, and their 
 lashes bestarred with pearls 4 of lucid dew. Then she set 
 behind her ear a curl, which, loosened by her distress, clave 
 
 1 Muktakantham ' uncontrollably.' 
 
 2 Insert ca with Kaiha9c. 
 
 3 Or simply ' in torrents.' The rays are the white tears. 
 
 4 -tdra- is omitted by Kaila^c. v
 
 CHAPTER V. 153 
 
 > 
 
 to her tear-moistened cheek : pushed aside a mass of tresses 
 entangled with a disordered and fallen ear-ornament : drew 
 back with her hand a shawl which, being wet and filled with 
 a torrent of tears, had somewhat slipped : bathed her lotus 
 face, whose beauty, marked with thin red lines impressed by 
 the shawl's hem, wore a rippled appearance, with water 
 poured from a silver flamingo-mouthed vessel tilted by a 
 hunchbacked girl 1 : wiped her hands on a white cloth held by 
 mutes 2 : stood for some time with her eyes fixed immoveably 
 upon her son's face, and then after many long sighs spoke. 
 
 ' It is not, dear, that you are unloved, without noble 
 qualities, or deserving to be abandoned. With my very 
 bosom's milk you drank up my heart. If at this hour my 
 regard is not towards you, 'tis that my lord's great con- 
 descension comes between us 3 . Furthermore, dear son, [186] 
 I am not, like glory 4 or the earth, incompassionate, a 
 requisite of sovereignty, ever craving for the sight of another 
 lord. I am the lady of a great house, born of a stainless 
 ancestry, one whose virtue is her dower. Have you 
 forgotten that I am the lioness mate of a great spirit, who 
 like a lion had his delight in a hundred battles ? Daughter, 
 spouse, mother of heroes, how otherwise could such a woman 
 as I, whose price was valour, act ? This hand has been clasped 
 by even such a hero, thy father, a chief among princes, peer 
 of Bharata, Bhagiratha, and Nabhaga. Upon this head 
 have the subservient wives of countless feudatories poured 
 coronation water from golden ewers. This forehead, in 
 winning the honourable fillet of chief-queen, has enjoyed a 
 thing scarce accessible to desire. These breasts have worn 
 robes swayed by the wind of chowries waved by captive wives 
 of foes; they have been sucked by sons like you. Upon 
 
 1 In this clause read with Kailagc. tarahgitam iva ca, -Idoanyam, 
 and kubjikd- for kunjikd- : the two last readings are in the Kashmir 
 text. By a series of puns the queen's face is compared to a lotus, 
 tarahgitam in this connection meaning 'wave-tossed.' 
 
 2 Kaila^c. has kalamukakara- not loka-. He also inserts dhttuta- 
 dhaeale before vdsahcakale and reads pdnim for pdnl. 
 
 3 For ' antaritcl ' Railage, reads ' antaritam.' The sense is the same. 
 
 4 Cf. ' $urasamagam*ikavyasaninyd lak?myd ' Kadambarl.
 
 154 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 < 
 
 the heads of rival wives have these feet been set ; they have 
 been adored with diamond-wreaths of diadems by the bending 
 matrons of a whole capital. Thus every limb has fulfilled its 
 mission : I have spent my store of good works, what more 
 should I look to ? I would die while still unwidowed. I 
 cannot endure, like the widowed Rati 1 , to make unavailing 
 lamentations for* a burnt husband. Going before, like the 
 dust of your father's feet, to announce his coming to the 
 heavens, I shall be high esteemed of the hero-loving spouses 
 of the gods. Nay, what will the smoke-bannered one 2 burn 
 of me, who am already on fire with the recent sight of his 
 heart-rending pains ? Not to die, but to live at such a time 
 would be unfeeling. Compared with the flame of wifely 
 sorrow, whose fuel is imperishable love, fire itself is chilly 
 cold. How suits it to be parsimonious of a life light as a 
 bit of rotten straw, when that life's lord, majestic as Kailasa, 
 is passing away ? Even should I live, yet after the mortal 
 sin of slighting the king's death the joys, my son, of my son's 
 rule will touch me not. In those that are consumed by 
 grief felicity 3 is ominous, accursed, and unavailing. Not in 
 the body, dear son, but in the glory of loyal widows 4 would 
 I abide on earth. [187] Therefore dishonour me no more, 
 I beseech you, beloved son, with opposition to my heart's 
 desire.' 
 
 So saying she fell at his feet. But the prince hastily 
 drew them away, and bending down, held her in both his 
 arms, and raised her prostrate form. Pondering the in- 
 evitableness of grief, deeming that act to be the better part 
 befitting a lady of rank, recognizing her fixed resolution, he 
 stood in silence with downcast looks. 
 
 1 Cambhund tu hate kdme tatpatnl ratisaujititd 
 Mwnoha purato dristvd patim bhasmdvacesitam \\ 
 Jdtasanjnd muhurttena vilaldpa ha citradhd 
 Yadvildpdd vane vdpi samaduhkham abhiit tadd \ \ , 
 
 Kailac. from Skanda Purana. 
 
 2 I.e. fire. 
 
 3 There is a pun in bhutih, which may also denote ' ashes.' 
 
 4 Vifvastdndm vidhavdndm Comrn. cf. A.K 
 
 ! ^
 
 CHAPTER V. 155 
 
 True is it that, even when made timorous by affection, a 
 noble nature resigns itself to what accords with place and time. 
 Having embraced her son and kissed his head, the queen 
 went forth on foot from the women's quarter, and, though 
 the heavens, filled with the citizens' lamentations, seemed to 
 block her path, proceeded to the Sarasvati's banks. Then, 
 having worshipped the fire with the blooming red lotus 
 posies of a woman's timorous glances, she plunged into it, as 
 the moon's form enters the adorable sun. The other, distracted 
 at his mother's death, departed 'mid a throng of kinsmen 
 to his father's side, and found him with his vital forces 
 nearly spent, revolving his eyeballs as the declining lord of 
 stars (the Moon) revolves his stars. Overcome with excess of 
 intolerable grief, robbed by affection of all self-control, he 
 clasped those lotus feet which had been fondled by the 
 assembled crests of all proud kings; and uttering a cry, 
 burst like a common man into a long fit of weeping, rain- 
 ing from clouded eyes a most pellucid stream of tears. It 
 seemed as if an inner fire were melting his moonlike face, the 
 light-texture of his teeth turning to water, the loveliness of 
 his eyes oozing out, the ambrosia of his countenance trick- 
 ling away. 
 
 The king, whose eyes were closing 1 , recovering conscious- 
 ness as the sound of the prince's ceaseless weeping fell upon 
 his ear, uttered in faint tones these words : "You should not 
 be so, my son. Men of your mould are not infirm of heart. 
 Strength of soul is the people's mainstay, and second to it is 
 royal blood. With you, the vanguard of the stout-hearted, 
 the abode of all preeminence, what has weakness to do ? 
 [188] To say you are the lamp of our line were almost 
 depreciation of one whose brilliance compares with the god 
 of day. To call you a lion among heroes is like a reproach to 
 one whose prowess is seconded by penetrating insight 2 . To 
 
 1 But the commentator explains uparudhyamanadristir as ' having 
 his consciousness impeded.' Kaila^c. reads uparirudhyamana- 'eyes 
 turned up.' 
 
 2 If we keep caurya (which Kaila^c. omits), it will be ' heroism and 
 penetrating insight.'
 
 156 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 
 
 declare this earth yours is almost a vain repetition, when 
 your bodily marks proclaim an universal emperor's dignity. To 
 bid you take to yourself glory is almost contradictory, when 
 glory has herself adopted you. 'Succeed to this world' is a 
 command too mean for an intending conqueror of both worlds. 
 ' Appropriate my treasury ' is a grant of little service to one 
 whose sole craving is for the accumulation of fame spotless as 
 moonlight. ' Make prize of the feudatory kings ' is almost 
 meaningless, when your virtues have made prize of all 
 beings. 'Support the burden of royalty' is an injunction 
 misbecoming one accustomed to support the burden of the 
 three worlds. ' Protect the people ' is but reiteration, when 
 the sky has your long arm for its bar. ' Guard well your 
 dependants ' is an incidental duty to a peer of the world's 
 Guardians. ' Practise yourself in arms/ to one whose forearm 
 is blackened by the bow-string's callous brand how can this 
 advice be given ? ' Check levity ' is an utterance without 
 excuse towards one whose senses even in tender years were 
 held in check. 'Annihilate your foes' is a suggestion of 
 your own inborn valour." With these words on his lips the 
 lion king closed his eyes never to open them more. 
 
 In that hour the sun too was reft of the brilliance which 
 was his life. Ashamed as it were of his own sinfulness 
 involved in the taking of the king's life, he now bent low his 
 face. As if scorched within by a fire of sorrow for the 
 monarch's decease, he assumed a coppery hue. Slowly, 
 slowly he descended from the heavens, as if in compliance 
 with earthly usage to pay a visit of condolence. As 
 though to present an oblation of water to the king, he drew 
 nigh to the western ocean. As soon as the water was 
 presented, his thousand hands became red as if burnt in 
 sorrow's flame. [189] 
 
 With radiance thus subdued, as if the mighty emperor's 
 death had brought on a deep distaste for life and colour, the 
 light-coroneted god entered the hollows of the mountain 
 caves 1 . Cool grew his heat, as though moistened by the 
 
 1 Like an ascetic. <
 
 CHAPTER V. 157 
 
 gathering storm of the people's tears. The world assumed a 
 lurid tinge, as if from the colour of all humanity's tear- 
 flushed eyes. The day grew black, as if scorched by the heat 
 of countless people's burning sighs. From the day-lotuses 
 their glory departed, as though it had started to follow the 
 king. As the shadows passed on, the earth became 
 dark as with grief for her lord 1 . Like thfe heirs of noble 
 houses, anguished cakravdkas, abandoning their wives, 
 resorted with piteous cries to the outskirts of the water 2 . 
 Alarmed as it were at their widowhood, the lotuses hid 
 their treasure chambers 3 . The red glow oozed away, like a 
 bloody flow from the sky-queens' bursting hearts. In due 
 course the lord of splendour had gone to the other world, 
 leaving only the afterglow behind 4 . Like a banner of the 
 dead, the twilight came all ruddy with a lurid expanse 
 spreading far and wide over the heavens. Dusky streaks, 
 like the lines of black chowrie ornaments upon a bier, were 
 seen obstructing the view 5 . A night black in all its quarters 
 was mysteriously built up, like a pyre with black beams of 
 aloe wood 6 . With smiling faces the beauteous night lotuses 
 adorned themselves in ivory-petalled buds and formed for 
 themselves white garlands of wreathed filaments, like wives 
 in readiness to follow their lord to death 7 . Like the tinkling 
 
 1 The puns here turn on the various meanings of chayd (V) bright- 
 ness, (2) shadow, and cyamd = (l) black, (2) lady. The puns require 
 the reading parivritta- for parivrita- : the shadows have retraced their 
 course eastwards. 
 
 2 Or ' vicinity of the woods ' : cf. Comm. vanam toyam vipinam ca. 
 The nobles seek the woods, the birds the water. 
 
 3 The lotuses are compared to queens, who, alarmed by the breaking 
 of the royal umbrella (implying the king's death), hide their treasures 
 (ko$a = (\} buds, (2) treasures). Chattrabhahga also refers to the 
 umbrella-like leaves fading. 
 
 4 As the king himself had gone, leaving only affection behind. 
 
 6 Dar^anapratikulasu taken with the chowries will mean ' ominous 
 to view.' 
 
 Or with the night ' black in its quarters as aloe wood.' 
 
 7 'Beauteous night lotuses' may also punningly mean 'night 
 lotuses like Satis ' : ' ivory-petalled buds ' ( = ' buds with petals white 
 as ivory ') also means ' ehrrings of ivory.'
 
 158 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 
 
 bells of the gods' descending chariot were heard the voices of 
 birds settling in their nests in the tree tops. In the eastern 
 quarter the moon appeared in sight, like the umbrella of 
 Indra come forth to welcome the king on his journey along 
 the heavens. 
 
 At that hour the feudatories and townsmen headed by 
 the family priest, taking upon proffered shoulders [190] 
 the bier of this Qivi-like 1 king, bore him to the river 
 Sarasvati, and there upon a pyre befitting an emperor 
 solemnly consumed all but his glory in the flames. As 
 for my lord Harsa, through all that night, terrible as 
 BhimarathP, he sat with the princes sleepless on the un- 
 cushioned ground, surrounded by all the connections of the 
 royal household in a dumb sorrowing company like an 
 universal assemblage of living beings ; while his tears rained 
 down like an outpouring of the flood of affection which, 
 heated by sorrow's fire, flowed only within. In his heart he 
 thought : ' Now that my father is taken away, the world of 
 the living has reached its goal : a chasm sunders the progress 
 of mankind ; the eldorados of desire are laid desolate, veiled 
 are the portals of joy. Truthfulness is lulled to sleep, the 
 people's livelihood is made a spoil, vanished is the love of 
 heroism, sweet speech annihilated. Banished are all kinds 
 of manly sports, ended is delight in battle, pleasure in the 
 virtue of others is laid low, men of trust are an exhausted 
 stock. No place is there for great feats, no profit in the 
 Qastras, no prop for the spirit of heroism, discernment is 
 passed into a legend. Let men offer water 3 to might, let the 
 protection of the people go a begging, let chivalry bind her 
 widow's braid, let sovereign glory flee to a hermitage 4 , let 
 
 1 Civi gave up a part of his own flesh to save a pigeon from a hawk. 
 
 2 Bhimaratlil = <l the night of doomsday,' or ' that night in a man's life 
 which follows upon 77 years, months, and days,' or, according to the 
 commentator, ' a river in hell.' 
 
 3 Sc. as at a funeral. 
 
 4 The words samaprayatu rdjyaprir acramapadam are, as Kaila^c. 
 observes, ominous of Mdjyacrl's fortunes, since they may also mean ' let 
 R. flee to a hermitage.'
 
 CB AFTER V. 159 
 
 the earth array herself in two white robes 1 , let merriment wear 
 a pair of bark dresses, let valour mortify herself in forest seclu- 
 sions, let heroism put on rags. Whither now must gratitude go 
 to seek him ? Where again will the creator get such atoms for 
 the construction of great spirits ? The ten regions now find 
 themselves empty of virtue, the world has become a darkness 
 unlighted by duty, fruitless now is the bL'th of those who 
 live by the sword. Without my father whence are to come 
 those gatherings of heroes when throughout the day the 
 cheeks of warriors bristle as stories go round full of the 
 delight of famous fights ? Would that even in a dream I 
 might once more see his lotus face with its long red eyes 2 ! 
 [191] Even in another birth might I but clasp again those arms 
 more massive than pillars of steel ! Even in another world 
 might I but hear his voice, deep as the roar of the churned 
 Milk Ocean, calling me " son " in accents like a torrent of 
 ambrosia.' 
 
 While the prince was engaged in these and other medi- 
 tations, the night drew drearily enough to a close. Anon 
 the cocks began to clamour wildly, as if in grief. The 
 courtyard peacocks precipitated themselves from the tops of 
 the trees on the garden mounts 3 . The birds, forsaking their 
 homes, started forth for the forest. The gloom suddenly 
 grew thin and swooned away. The lamps, as their oil 4 
 failed, inclined towards extinction. Robed in the bright 
 red bark dress of the dawn, the sky seemed to have betaken 
 itself to a mendicant's life. Like the fragments of the 
 king's bones, the stars, all grey as a swallow's neck, were 
 being gathered up by the appearance of morning 5 . Droves of 
 wild elephants, their humps covered with mountain minerals 6 , 
 had set out towards divers pools, rivers, and fords. Like a 
 
 1 Sc. like a widow. 
 
 2 Or of the lotus' buds.' 
 
 3 Or for the sake of the implied simile 'houses, hills and trees.' 
 
 4 Or punningly ' self-love.' 
 
 5 Read samucclyamandsu with Kailac. Prabhatasamayena may 
 also be translated ' by the morning ceremony of gathering the bones ' 
 (asthicayana). 
 
 6 Or punningly 'paving p t, s filled with the king's ashes.'
 
 160 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 * 
 funeral j)inda ball of pure white rice 1 , the moon dropped 
 
 upon the verge of the western ocean's sand isle. Gradually 
 his light paled, as if through the smoke which spread from 
 the king's flaming pyre ; in his heart appeared a blackness 
 as of a dark scar due to his burning sorrow for the king: 
 chastened in mien as it were by the agony depicted in the 
 moon-like 2 faces <s the departed monarch's whole harem, and 
 distracted with yearning for his already vanished Rohim, he 
 drew nigh to his setting. Like my lord the king 3 , the sun 
 had mounted the heavens, and like the sovereignty, the course 
 of night had changed. 
 
 Roused by the appeals of groups of wise kings, like the 
 lotus beds by awaking flamingos, my lord Harsa started up, and 
 passed with eyes aflame out of the palace. In the women's 
 apartments only a few sorrow-stricken chamberlains were 
 left, and the domestic hamsas were dumb and inert now 
 that the tinkle of anklets had ceased. In the court 4 
 stood his father's servants, like a herd of wild elephants 
 whose leader is fallen. Near his post the king's sorrowing 
 elephant lay motionless and dull with his rider weeping on 
 his back. [192] The royal steed occupied the stable yard, as 
 might be known 5 from the lamentations of the marshal. In 
 the empty audience chamber the clamorous cry of ' Victory ' 
 was still. Thus the prince passed on to the Sarasvati's bank, 
 and having bathed in the river, offered water to his father. 
 After the funeral bath, he stayed not to wring his hair, but 
 having put on a pair of white silk robes, proceeded home full 
 of sighs, umbrella-less, with none to clear his path, and, though 
 a horse was led up, on foot : while his eyes, flushed like a red 
 lotus and rivetted to the end of his nose, seemed vomiting forth 
 his sorrow's flame for fear of burning his father, who now 
 
 1 Or with the moon ' pale as a ball of pure white wax.' Kailafc. 
 inserts parvctryam ' at night.' 
 
 3 ridrana, as before, = ' stupefied.' Prosita may perhaps go with 
 purandhri, if on pp. 149 sqq. all the queens enter fire. 
 
 3 Read rajamva (for rajatlva) with Kaila?c. 
 
 4 Kaksya may also denote the elephant's girth cord : so Kailagc. 
 
 5 -kathite. Railage, reads -kvathite 'anguished' and mentions -rya- 
 thite 'distressed' as an alternative.
 
 CHAPTER V. 161 
 
 
 
 survived only in his heart, and his lower lip, though unstained 
 by betel and now for a long time washed dean, yet, being 
 naturally red as a spray of the tree of Paradise, appeared by 
 its colour, as the hot sighs came forth, to emit lumps of flesh 
 and blood from a cloven heart. 
 
 On the same day the king's favourite servants, friends, and 
 ministers, whose hearts were held tight by fhe bonds of his 
 many virtues, went forth, and in spite of the remonstrances 
 of tearful friends, abandoned their loved wives and children. 
 Some consigned themselves 1 to precipices: some stationed 
 themselves at holy fords in the neighbourhood. Some in 
 agony of heart spread couches of grass, and quieted their 
 great sorrow by abstinence from food : some, beside them- 
 selves with passionate grief, plunged like moths into the 
 flame. Some, in whose hearts burnt a fire of fierce pain, 
 took vows of silence and sought refuge on the mount of 
 snows : some to cool their heat lay on couches of twigs 
 along the Vindhya slopes, where wild elephants bedewed 
 their bodies with a shower bath from their trunks. Some, 
 indisposed for a courtier's life, abandoned the gratifications 
 within their reach, and lived on a limited diet 2 in vacant 
 forest openings: some by feeding on air became emaciated 3 
 hermits, rich only in virtue. Some assumed red robes 
 and studied the system of Kapila in the mountains : some, 
 tearing off their crest jewels, bound the ascetic's knot upon 
 their heads, and made Qiva their refuge : others [193] by 
 enveloping themselves in trailing pale-red rags displayed the 
 bright afterglow of their love. Others again reached old age 
 in sylvan hermitages, where the deer licked their forms with 
 the ends of their tongues 4 : others finally took vows, and 
 roamed as shaven monks, bearing water in pots and in the 
 
 1 For babandhuh Kaila9c. has babhanjuh. For the custom cf. 
 Dac.ak. Purvapithikd ucchvds. 4 sub init. 
 
 2 Or as the commentator (pindakdih'farirdih) suggests 'with 
 emaciated frames.' 
 
 3 Lit. ' with prominent veins.' 
 
 4 Kaila9c. has jihvatala ' surface of their tongues.' 
 
 C. 11
 
 162 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 hollows of their eyes, both equally red in colour and rubbed 
 by their hands. 
 
 My lord Harsa's condition underwent no change. Wild 
 with grief for his father, he turned away from all the avocations 
 of life, regarding glory as a curse, the earth a mortal sin', royalty 
 a disease, pleasures serpents, home a hell, family ties a bondage, 
 life an infamy, tne body an infliction, health a blot, vigour a 
 result of sin, food a poison, poison ambrosia, sandal a flame, 
 love a saw, heartbreak a felicity. He was closely attended 
 by young nobles of ancient houses, which had enjoyed the 
 favour of the court for generations, venerable trusted advisers 
 wearing an inherited dignity, old Brahmans versed in ruti, 
 Smriti and Itihasa 2 , anointed counsellors of royal rank en- 
 dowed with learning, birth and character, approved ascetics 
 well trained in the doctrine of the Self, sages 3 indifferent to 
 pain and pleasure, Vedantists skilled in expounding the 
 nothingness of the fleeting world, mythologists expert in 
 allaying sorrow. Under their influence the prince was never 
 allowed even in thought to follow 4 the dictates of grief, and 
 through their solicitations he gradually lost his distaste for 
 food and the other dues of life. His thoughts recurring 
 to his brother, thus he mused : " Pray heaven my brother, 
 when he learns of our father's death, a type of the world's 
 dissolution, may not after a bath of tears assume two robes of 
 bark ! or seek [194] a hermitage as a royal sage ! or, man- 
 lion as he is, enter a mountain cave ! Though his lotus eyes 
 brim with a flood of tears, may he yet look upon the lordless 
 
 1 Whence the contagion of governing it would excite disgust. 
 
 2 Kaila9c. here inserts adhigatanikhilajinavacanaviditavipantabha- 
 vasthitayo dharmadegandpatlydmsah pdrd$arinah 'mendicants skilled 
 in inculcating Dharma and acquainted by knowledge of Buddha's 
 teaching in full with the contradictions in men's notions of life.' 
 
 3 Here Kailacc. has in place of munayah 'samdpritdh sandbhayah 
 cittajndpca pradhdnasacivdh niskdranabdndhavdcca munayah ' ' sympa- 
 thising dependent kinsmen, great ministers expert in reading people's 
 thoughts, and sages who acted as disinterested kinsmen.' This agrees 
 with the Comm.'s sandbhayah ' sagotrdh, which has no reference to the 
 Gale, or Kashm. text. 
 
 4 Kaila9c. reads pokdnupravanam anucaritum 'to act in pursuance 
 of headlong grief.' This also was read by the Comm.
 
 CHAPTER V. 163 
 
 
 
 earth 1 ! Tormented by the poisonous pangs of a first loss, 
 may the best of men yet remember himself 2 ! Never may 
 indifference due to the transitoriness of things lead him to 
 slight the advances of sovereign glory ! All aflame with the fire 
 of direful pain, may he have recourse to the coronation bath ! 
 Once arrived here may he not, when pressed by the kings, 
 display a contrary mind ! True, my noble brother was deeply 
 devoted to his sire. He was for ever singing to me our father's 
 praises 3 , ' Think you, Harsa, that any man ever did or will 
 possess such a stately frame, tall as a golden palm 4 , such a 
 great lotus of a face with its upturned looks abloom all 
 day with ove for the sun's rays 5 , such stave-like arms, 
 bright as diamond pillars, such smiles mocking the grace of 
 the lazy sot Haladhara ? What other is high-minded, valiant, 
 and generous ? ' ' Amid these and other thoughts he could 
 scarce pass the time, waiting with longing heart for his 
 brother's advent. 
 
 Here ends the fifth chapter entitled The Death of The Great King 
 of the Harsa-Carita composed by Qri Bana Bhatta. 
 
 1 Kailagc. with the Comm. understands a negative here and trans- 
 lates ' may he not consider the earth helpless ' : but 1 
 
 2 ' Remember me ' Kailagc. (trans.). 
 
 3 For '-fldghaya mam' Kailagc. reads -claghayam. The Kashmir 
 text has the unintelligible -$laghay& mam. 
 
 4 Kailac. reads punah (sic) vapuh kancanatalatarupramgupramanam 
 for punah kancanatalatarupramgu kayapramanam. The Kashmir text 
 agrees with Kailac. except that it omits vapuh. 
 
 5 An allusion to his devotion to the sun, cf. c. iv. For ' divasam 
 unmukhavikasitam mukhamahakamalam ' Kailagc. has divasamunmu- 
 kham vikasitam mukhakamalam. The Kashmir text agrees with those of 
 Calcutta and Bombay. 
 
 112
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 195] Even as a conqueror, Death gathers his troop of heroes, 
 
 Assembling them from this place and that on the earth, 
 
 sending forth his own secret emissaries to bring them 
 
 in. 
 
 The sin of smiting the confiding rouses the anger of 
 
 the mighty to the destruction of the cruel one, 
 As the twang of the sapling which an elephant breaks 
 robs the lion of his sleep. 
 
 The Brahman who consumes the departed spirit's first 
 oblation had now partaken of his meal. The horror of the 
 days of impurity had passed. The various appurtenances of 
 the royal bier 1 , beds, chairs, chowries, umbrellas, vessels, 
 carriages, swords and the like, now become an eyesore, were 
 in course of distribution to Brahmans. The bones, in shape 
 like sorrow's spearheads 2 , had been carried with the people's 
 hearts to sacred fords. A monument in brick had been set up 
 on the sepulchral pile. The royal elephant, victor in mighty 
 battles, had been abandoned to the woods. Gradually the 
 lamentations subsided, the outcries became rarer, the tears 
 ceased to flow ; the sighs were less vehement, the exclama- 
 tions of despair sank to a murmur, the couches of despon- 
 dency began to disappear. Ears were now capable of 
 listening to reason, hearts in a mood to be heedful of kind 
 attentions, the king's virtues could now be computed. Grief 
 
 1 Read nripatilcata- with the Kashmir text for nnpanikata-. 
 
 2 Bead kalpitagokaqalyesu with the Kashmir text. The fragments 
 of bone are spearheads in the people's hearts.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 165 
 
 
 was becoming a moral theme 1 , the poet's pathos 2 had had its 
 
 day. Only in dreams was the king present to the eye, only in 
 hearts did he reside, only pictures retained His outline [196], 
 only poetry preserved his name. 
 
 At this season my lord Harsa, having on a certain 
 occasion laid aside his occupations, saw himself unexpectedly 
 surrounded by a great company of silent^downcast nobles 
 headed by the whole assemblage of his aged kinsmen. At 
 this spectacle he reflected, ' What else can it be ? This 
 sorrow-stricken throng of people announces my dear lord's 
 arrival,' and so with a tremour at his heart questioned one of 
 them, a man of distinguished bearing, as he entered, ' Come, 
 speak ; is my noble brother arrived ? ' 'As your majesty 
 says,' he slowly answered, ' he is at the door ' : whereat the 
 prince, whose mind was softened with supreme sorrow added 
 to 3 brotherly affection, all but poured out his life along with 
 a gushing torrent of tears. 
 
 Anon, heralded by lamentations, which, uttered 4 by the 
 chamberlain, entered like servants in advance, the elder 
 brother came in sight amid a throng of servants pale and 
 worn with many days' neglect of bathing, eating and sleep- 
 ing, and reduced in numbers by their long and rapid march. 
 Only one or two, chiefly domestics, could be distinguished. 
 The umbrella-bearer was wanting, the superintendent of the 
 wardrobe lagged behind, the pitcher-carrier had collapsed, 
 the spittoon-bearer was prostrate, the betel-bearer panted, and 
 the sword-bearer limped. The prince's form was grey all over 
 with the dust of the roads, as though his helpless heritage 5 , 
 the earth, had made him her refuge. Long white bandages, 
 bound about arrow-wounds received in battle while con- 
 quering the Hunas, dotted his form like side-glances from his 
 approaching royal glory. Limbs emaciated, as though for 
 
 1 Pradecavrittitdm dcrayati ' declamatio fiebat.' 
 
 2 Kaviruditesu = duhkhoddlpanakalesu 'occasions for kindling grief 
 afresh.' 
 
 3 Nihita lit. ' placed in ' : there is probably a pun, the fire of sorrow 
 (manyu) being placed in the oil of affection. 
 
 4 Or punningly with reference to the servants ' admitted.' 
 6 Kramdgataya cont^ns a pun ' gathered on his way.'
 
 166 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 
 
 the preservation of the king's life he had offered their flesh 
 in sorrow's fire, told of the heaviness 1 of his grief. Upon his 
 crestless head, with its hair miry and disordered and its 
 jewel gone, he seemed to bear grief visibly enthroned. His 
 forehead, lined by sweat oozing under the heat, appeared to 
 weep with yearning to fall at his father's feet. With a broad 
 river of tears he Ceaselessly bedewed the earth, as though it 
 had swooned on the death of its honoured lord. His grief- 
 worn cheeks seemed channelled 2 by the fall of that incessant 
 stream of tears. [197] From his round lips the betel stain had 
 faded away, as if they were melted through coming in the way 
 of his burning breath 3 . Darkened by the rays of his sapphire 
 ornament, of which only the amulet was left, the region of his 
 ear seemed burnt by a great flame of sorrow at the recent 
 news of his father's death. Though his beard showed but a 
 faint growth, yet his face, being fringed with a tassel of rays 
 from the dark pupils of his fixed downcast eyes, looked black 
 with the long growth of mourning. He was as a lion distres- 
 sed and left without a refuge by the fall of a great hill 4 , like 
 the day turned into darkness and faded in splendour by the 
 setting of the lord of light, like Nandana robbed of its shade 
 by the crash of its tree of Paradise 5 , like a quarter of the 
 heavens vacant through the exile of its sky elephant, like 
 a mountain quivering and rent by a crushing thunder- 
 bolt 6 . Purchased by leanness, made a bondsman to 
 misery, a domestic to despair, a disciple to the demands of 
 grief, appropriated by affliction, dumb with taciturnity, 
 pressed down by depression, all a sweat through hot pain, 
 
 1 There is an oxymoron in the antithesis between the emaciation of 
 the limbs and the heaviness of the grief. 
 
 'And many a furrow on my grief -worn cheek 
 Has been a channel for a flood of tears.' Moss. 
 
 3 The commentator, who explains adharavimbenapi as instrumental 
 of circumstance, must have read this in place of adkaravimbenopalak- 
 sitam, 
 
 * Or ' king.' 
 
 5 Kalpapadapo may also mean 'king,' and vickayam 'reft of 
 splendour.' 
 
 6 Or ' by the fall of a thunderbolt upon his^sire.'
 
 CHAPTER VI. 167 
 
 i 
 
 culled by melancholy, looted by lamentation, adopted 1 
 by apathy, renounced by presence of mind, disowned by 
 discernment, repudiated by resolution, he wa*s absorbed in a 
 sorrow beyond the appeals of the counsels of age, the cure of 
 good men's eloquence, the scope of sages' voices, the power 
 of holy writ, the course of wisdom's efforts, the range of 
 friendly offices, the sphere of sense delight*, the province of 
 gradual repair*. 
 
 Uplifted, as it were, on an agitated sea of stormy surging 
 love 3 , Harsa rose excitedly to meet him. But his majesty 
 Rajyavardhana, on seeing him at a distance, felt inclined to let 
 loose his long-stemmed torrent of tears. Extending his long 
 stout arms, as if he would make an armful of all his sorrows, he 
 clasped his brother's neck in abandonment of grief, and draw- 
 ing him now to his own worn unshawled bosom, [198] now to 
 his neck, now to his shoulder, now to his cheek, sobbed with 
 such violence that their hearts were almost uprooted with 
 their moorings. The king's favourite also, as his sovereign 
 was recalled to his mind, responded like an echo with vehe- 
 ment sobs. It was long before the elder brother's tears ceased 
 to flow, and, like the rain-god in autumn, he very gradually 
 calmed himself. Then he sat down, and, water being brought 
 by a servant, bathed his eyes,, which seemed to derive the 
 foam line of a great torrent from the massed light of the 
 man's nails, and, often as they were wiped, were robbed 
 of vision by drops of tears, which, forming at the end of 
 their lashes, impeded their opening. Then with a piece of 
 moonlight in the shape of a towel 4 presented by the betel- 
 bearer he wiped his face, which the hot tears had scorched. 
 Having spent some time in utter silence, he rose and 
 proceeded to the bath house. After a stay there he roughly 
 wrung his unadorned locks of dishevelled and disordered 
 hair ; and with a lip which, as the remnant of its quivering 
 emotion struggled as it were for existence, seemed to wish to 
 
 1 Read vritam ' chosen ' for the sake of the alliteration. 
 
 2 Perhaps we should read kalakramapacayandm ' gradual decrease.' 
 
 3 For the pun on utkalika ' agitation ' and ' wave ' cf. text p. 42 1. 9. 
 
 4 Its whiteness and^oolness are compared to moonlight.
 
 168 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 i 
 kiss even itself now glorified by the bath, with bathed eyes 
 
 whose whiteness seemed to adore the sky regents with a 
 dropping flowei* offering of white 1 lotus petals opening to 
 the autumn moon, he threw himself upon a couch placed on 
 the courtyard terrace and having a cushion disposed beneath 
 a low awning. There he remained without uttering a word. 
 
 My lord Harsa also bathed and reclined in silence by 
 his side, stretched on a blanket laid upon the ground. 
 Glancing ever and anon upon his afflicted elder brother, he 
 felt his heart almost split into a thousand parts. For the 
 sight of a brother is a rejuvenescence of sorrow. To the 
 people that day was terrible even beyond the day of their 
 king's death. Throughout the city none cooked, none 
 bathed, none took their pleasure ; in every quarter there 
 was no man but wept. Not otherwise did the day pass by 2 . 
 [199] At length, hued like flesh moistened by a great flow of 
 blood as if he had just been shaped by Twastri's axe 3 
 the sun sank, red as madder, in the waters of the western 
 sea. On the (red) lotus ponds the bee tribes buzzed in 
 distress at the closing of the calixes. Anguished by the 
 grief of their spouses at their approaching separation, a 
 horizon of ruddy-geese fixed a tearful gaze upon their 
 dear friend, the sun's orb 4 , now hued like a blooming 
 Bandhuka. Musical with bees, graced by kalahartisa 
 beauties, the (night) lotus pools gave forth a sound like the 
 plaited bells upon the jewelled girdle of the roaming Qri. 
 In the firmament the rising clear-flecked moon shone like 
 the pointed hump of Qiva's tame bull, when blotted with 
 mud scattered by his broad horns. 
 
 At that hour, being solicited by the chief feudatories, 
 who approached with inoffensive 5 admonitions, Rajyavar- 
 
 1 Read vicada for visada. 
 
 2 Owing doubtless to the recurrence of divasah this passage from 
 ' Throughout ' to ' pass by ' is omitted by the Kashmir text. 
 
 3 Twastri was the artist of the gods. For the story cf. Wilson's 
 Hindu Drama, vol. i. p. 363. 
 
 4 The pairs of ruddy-geese spend the night on different sides of the 
 river wailing to each other. 
 
 6 Or perhaps 'not to be resisted.'
 
 CHAPTER VI. 169 
 
 
 
 dhana reluctantly consented to take food. Dawn having 
 appeared and all the kings being admitted, he addressed 
 himself to Harsa, who was standing near, a*s follows : " My 
 dear brother, your situation invites instruction from your 
 elders. Even as a boy you held fast to our father's habits of 
 thought, as to the oriflamme of the virtuous 1 . Wherefore to 
 one so tractable my heart, softened to compliance with the 
 decrees of fate, has something to suggest. Do not revert to the 
 gaucherie so easy to the nature of the young and so much at 
 variance with affection. Do not like a dullard make opposition 
 to my wish. You are surely not unacquainted with the uni- 
 versal practice. What did Purukutsa when Mandhatri, the 
 three worlds' protector, died ? What Raghu on the death of 
 Dillpa, whose brow governed the eighteen continents ? What 
 Rama on the death of Dasaratha, who in the great Asura 
 battle mounted the chariot of the gods ? What Bharata on 
 the death of Dusyanta, to whom the confines of the four 
 oceans were but a cow's puddle 2 ? Enough of these : [200] 
 did not our father himself undertake the government on the 
 decease of his auspiciously named sire, who by the pervading 
 smoke of more than a hundred sacrifices turned the prime 
 of Indra grey 8 ? Moreover the man whom grief subdues 
 the learned term coward: for women are the province 
 of sorrows. Still what am I to do ? It is some native 
 cowardice or womanishness which has rendered me subject 
 to the flame of filial grief. My mountain 4 being laid 
 low, my tears are all set flowing like torrents. The great 
 splendour sunk, the lamp of wisdom is vanished from my 
 darkened prospect. My heart is on fire, and discernment, as 
 if apprehensive of being itself scorched, visits it never even 
 in sleep. All my manhood is melted like a thing of lac by 
 a mighty flame of pain. At every word 6 my mind faints like 
 
 1 Or punningly ' a pennon with a cord.' 
 
 2 For go$pada cf. Hesiod ' Works and Days,' 489. 
 
 rrjfjMs Zi/s vot rpi'ro) rjfjiaTi, /^S* aTroAifyot, 
 
 /iTjr' ap vn(pj3d\\a>v ftoos onXfiv P.IJT' cmo\(in<av. 
 
 3 A reference to the myth that Indra feared to be displaced by any 
 one who should perform a hundred horse-sacrifices. 
 
 4 Or 'king.' . 5 Or 'step.'
 
 170 THE HARSA-CAKITA. 
 
 
 
 a deer smit with a poisoned shaft. Like a misanthrope, my 
 memory roves in devious wanderings. My firmness has, 
 like our mother, departed with our sire. Daily my sorrows 
 increase, like moneys employed by an usurer. My body, as 
 if laden with a cloud bora of the smoke of sorrow's flame, 
 rains down a pouring drizzle of tears. 'At death every man 1 
 is dissolved into t/he five elements ' is no true saying of the 
 childish folk. Our father is become fire only, since he 
 bums me so. The o'ermastering rebel, grief, having penned 
 this recreant heart of mine, burns it as the submarine fire 
 the ocean, rends it as the thunderbolt the hill, attenuates it 
 as waning the moon, and devours it as Rahu devours the 
 sun. My heart [201] cannot with mere tears dismiss the 
 fall of so noble a spirit, stately as Sumeru. At sovereignty 
 my eye grows disordered, like the partridge's at poison 2 . My 
 mind seeks to avoid a glory, which, as if belonging to out- 
 casts, is of no noble sort, banner-borne, crimson of hue 3 , 
 turbaned with many shrouds of the dead. Like the house 
 sparrow, I cannot endure to abide even a moment in a home 
 which has become a hell 4 . I desire therefore in a hermitage 
 to purge with the pure waters of pellucid streams that run 
 from mountain tops this fond defilement which clings to my 
 mind as to a garment. Therefore do you receive from my 
 hands the cares of sovereignty, a gift not high esteemed 
 indeed and reft of the joy of youth, like old age, which Puru 
 welcomed at his father's will 5 . Dismissing all the sports of 
 youth, deliver your bosom like Visnu to the embraces of 
 Glory 6 . I have abandoned the sword." So speaking, he took 
 
 1 Pancajana ' people of the five races,' cf. the panca janah of the 
 Rig-V. 
 
 2 The partridge's eye is said to ' grow red' (viraktam also 'disgusted') 
 on seeing poison. See Kulluka, Manu, vii. 217. 
 
 3 The Sanskrit words may here mean ' of no Aryan lineage, outcast 
 from pure birth, polluting assemblies ' ; or perhaps ' destined to be borne 
 on the poles of outcasts.' 
 
 4 Or ' a burnt habitation.' 
 
 5 Yayati, being afflicted by Indra with the curse of old age, pre- 
 vailed upon his son Puru to take the affliction upon himself. 
 
 6 The allusion is to the youthful sports of Krisna with the shep- 
 herdesses before Laksm! became his wife.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 171 
 
 
 
 his scimitar from the hand of his sword-bearer and flung it 
 on the earth. 
 
 At this speech Harsa's heart was cloven as with the 
 stroke of a sharp-pointed spear, and he reflected : " Can my 
 lord have been angered when away from me by a hint 
 received from some envious wretch ? Or is he seeking in 
 this way to try me ? Or is this a mental Aberration born of 
 grief? Is this perchance not my dear brother, or has he 
 possibly said one thing and my sorrow-vacant sense appre- 
 hended another? Did he intend one thing while another 
 escaped his lips ? Is this a stratagem of fate for the downfall 
 and ruin of our whole house, [202] an intimation of the 
 failure of all the garnered merit of my deeds, or a freak of 
 a whole horizon of disastrous stars ? Or is it a pleasantry of 
 the Kali age, heedless of my sire's death, that this man has, 
 like the vilest of mankind, instigated me, as one ready for 
 any deed, to this atrocious act, as if I were no child of 
 Puspabhuti's line, no son of our sire, no younger brother of 
 his own, void of affection and detected in fault ? Tis like 
 bidding a divine drink wine, a faithful servant outrage his 
 master, a good man have dealings with the low, a chaste 
 wife forget her honour. Thus much indeed is seemly, that on 
 the death of so noble a sire, a Maudara for churning like an 
 ocean the whole ring of feudatories drunk with the intoxi- 
 cation of valorous frenzy, a man should seek a hermitage, 
 don the bark dress, and practise austerities. But as for this 
 charge of sovereignty, it is like a rain of cinders on a 
 drought-parched wilderness, scorching one already scorched. 
 This is unworthy of my lord. Again, although in this world 
 a prince without pride, a Brahman without greed, a saint 
 without anger, an ape without tricks, a poet without 
 envy, a trader without knavery, a fond husband without 
 jealousy, a good man free from poverty, a rich man without 
 harshness, a poor man not an eyesore, a hunter without cruelty, 
 a mendicant with a Brahman's learning 1 , a contented servant, 
 a grateful dicer, a wandering ascetic without gluttony, a 
 
 1 Or perhaps ' an orthodox Brahman.'
 
 172 THE HAR5A-CARITA. 
 
 
 
 misanthrope with a soft tongue 1 , a truthful minister, and a 
 king's son without vice are all equally hard to find, yet my 
 lord himself has f been my instructor. Who, I wonder, with 
 such a father, a very scent-elephant among kings, fallen, 
 with such a royal elder brother going in his young manhood 
 to a hermitage, abandoning his throne, and rendering sterile 
 his great pillar-like thighs and arms, could desire the clod 
 called earth, defiled by the tears of all men's eyes, or, even 
 were he an outcast, could court that bawd of the deeds of 
 warrior families entitled Glory, whose low character is be- 
 trayed by the tokens of the distorted features of all the vile 
 parasites who hang about the drunken game of wealth ? 
 How did such a deeply degrading thought enter my lord's 
 imagination ? [203] What is this blemish observed in me ? 
 Has Sumitra's son 2 faded from his mind ? Have Vrikodara 
 and others been forgotten ? Not thus heedless of those who 
 love him, thus singly fixed upon achieving his own ends, used 
 my lord's high preeminence to be. Again, my lord being 
 gone to a hermitage, who indeed could so long for life as even 
 to entertain a thought of the earth ? The lion has a counte- 
 nance all glorious with a handsome mane clotted with the 
 ichor from the heads of mad elephants which his paw, terribly 
 arrayed with claws sharp as the points of a thunderbolt, has 
 felled : but when he has gone forth to take his pleasure in 
 the forest, who is left to guard his dwelling in the moun- 
 tain cave ? for a hero's ally is his prowess. Why is my 
 lord thus considerate to the jilt glory as not to lead her 
 disguised as old age, like a woodland fawn, to that same 
 hermitage, with rags to hide her bosom, and laden with 
 bundles of Ku$a grass, flowers, fuel, and leaves 3 ? But 
 what avail these vain and manifold reasonings ? in silence 
 
 1 The Comm. gopyo-dasah points to the reading of the Kashmir 
 text, which omits parivrad abvhhukmh and has gopyah in place of 
 nrifctmsah. 
 
 2 Alluding to the far-famed younger brothers of the Ramayana and 
 Mahabharata, Laksmana and Bhlma. 
 
 3 I.e. 'Why not wait till you are old?' It was not unusual for 
 Hindu kings to retire in old age to hermitages.,
 
 CHAPTER VI. 173 
 
 
 
 will I follow in his train. And the sin involved in trans- 
 gressing my elder's commands austerity in fine shall dispel in 
 a hermitage." So reflecting, he stood silent *and downcast, in 
 spirit gone first to the hermitage. 
 
 By this the weeping Keeper of the Robes had provided 
 bark dresses, as previously ordered. The women of the royal 
 household were screaming, as if their hearts 1 had left them 
 in alarm at the heavy strokes which their hands dealt (upon 
 their breasts). Brahmans with uplifted arms were wailing 
 aloud in horror*. With doleful cries a group of citizens were 
 engaged in bending before the princes' feet. Ancient 
 courtiers ran away with tumult in their hearts. Aged 
 kinsmen leaning on servants entered with trembling forms, 
 disordered apparel, grief-choked voices, streaming eyes, and 
 hearts bent on remonstrance. Despondent feudatories 
 sighed, as prostrate they marked the jewelled mosaic with 
 their nails. All the people had started with their children 
 and aged to forest seclusions. 
 
 Suddenly a distinguished servant of Rajya9ri, [204] Sam- 
 vadaka by name, entered with flowing tears in a bewilder- 
 ment of grief. Uttering a cry, he precipitated himself into 
 the audience. Thunderstruck at this, Rajyavardhana and his 
 brother questioned him with their own lips: "Speak, friend! 
 speak ; what stroke more unmanning than, the present is 
 fate, triumphant at the king's death, bringing upon us, in 
 pursuance of her resolve to increase her efforts for our ruin?" 
 " My lord," the man with an effort replied, " it is the way of 
 the vile, like fiends, to strike where they find an opening. 
 So, on the very day on which the king's death was rumoured, 
 his majesty Grahavarman was by the wicked lord of Malwa 
 cut off from the living along with his noble deeds. Rajya9ri 
 also, the princess, has been confined like a brigand's wife 
 with a pair of iron fetters kissing her feet, arid cast into 
 prison at Kanyakubja. There is moreover a report that the 
 villain, deeming the army leaderless, purposes to invade and 
 seize this country as well. Such are my tidings : the matter 
 is now in the king's hands." 
 
 1 I.e. senses. , 2 Abrahmanyam.
 
 174 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 
 
 Instantly at the news of such a fresh, sudden, unex- 
 pected, unimagined disaster the overwhelming passion of 
 sorrow, rooted as it was, vanished from a heart previously 
 unacquainted even by hearsay with humiliation, naturally im- 
 patient of checks from outside, filled with the pride of early 
 manhood, claiming a birth from a heroic line, and devoted to 
 a sister now suddenly an object of compassion. An awful 
 paroxysm of wrath leapt fiercely into the recesses of Rajya- 
 vardhana's heart, like a lion into his cavernous abode. On his 
 broad brow a deadly frown broke forth, darkening like Yama's 
 sister 1 and like her wavy with wrinkled lines that writhed 
 like Kaliya's brood in their fright at Klin's destroyer 2 . His 
 left hand, proudly stroking his right shoulder 3 , huge as a sky- 
 elephant's frontal hump, rained down upon it a torrent of 
 rays from its own nails, as if to consecrate it for the enter- 
 prize of battle toils. [205] His right, whose palm filled with 
 oozing sweat just as though he had seized the Malwa's 
 hair to tear him up by the roots and which trembled as if 
 with yearning to grasp wanton glory's tresses, glided once 
 more toward his terrible sword. On his cheeks appeared an 
 angry flush, as if Sovereignty, delighted by his taking up 
 arms, were celebrating an ovation by scattered vermilion 
 powder 4 . His upturned right foot climbed his left thigh, as 
 if, all kings being in his presence, it were filled with the 
 pride of trampling upon their array of diadems. Imprinted 
 on the jewelled mosaic, his left foot through the desperate 
 twitching of his toes spat out a smoke, as though he would 
 spout a flame to leave the earth widowed of men. His fresh 
 wounds, bursting in his fierceness, spurted a bloody dew, as if 
 to awake his valour sent by the poison of sorrow to sleep. 
 Thus he addressed his younger brother : " This task, my noble 
 brother, is my royal house, this my kin, my court, my land, my 
 
 1 The river Yamuna. 
 
 2 I.e. Krisna, see Visnu Pur. v. 16. 
 
 3 The Comm. takes ko$a as an oath at an ordeal ; but it seems here 
 used as an expletive, cf. bahudauda. 
 
 * The people sprinkle red powder on one another at the Holi 
 festival and at other rejoicings, cf. Kathas. 18. 122.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 175 
 
 
 
 people guarded by their king's club-like arm : this day I go to 
 lay the royal house of Malwa low in ruin. The repression of 
 this beyond measure unmannerly foe this*and no other is 
 my assumption of the bark dress, my austerities, my strata- 
 gem for dispelling sorrow. Malwas to maltreat the race of 
 Puspabhuti ! this is the hind clutching the lion's mane, the 
 frog slapping the cobra, the calf taking thetiger captive, the 
 water-serpent grasping Garuda by the throat, the log bidding 
 burn the fire, the darkness hiding the sun ! My pain has 
 vanished before a more vehement passion. Let all the kings 
 and elephants stay with you. Only Bhandi here must follow 
 me with some ten thousand horse." So speaking, he ordered 
 the marching drum instantly to sound. 
 
 Hearing this command, my lord Harsa, inflamed as he 
 was with a fit of anger at the tidings of his sister's and 
 brother-in-law's fate, felt his loving agony grow, as it were, 
 to a greater height at the order to remain behind. [206] 
 Speaking out, " What harm," he asked, " does my lord see in 
 my attending him ? If I am regarded as a boy, then I should 
 all the more not be abandoned : if as needing protection, the 
 cage of your arms is an asylum ; if incompetent, where have I 
 been tried ? if in want of fostering care, separation makes thin; 
 if unequal to hardships, I am classed as a woman ; if you 
 would have me happy, happiness marches in your train ; if 
 you think the toil of the journey great, absence is harder to 
 support ; if you would have me watch over my wife, Glory 
 resides in your steel ; if you wish me to guard your rear, 
 valour is your rear-guard ; if you argue that the feudatories 
 are uncontrolled, they are secured by the bonds of your 
 virtues ; if you say a great man must not carry a companion 
 with him, then you count me as distinct from yourself; if 
 you say you are marching with a very light train, what 
 excessive weight is there in the dust of your feet 1 ? if you 
 think it inopportune that two should go, gratify me with the 
 commission; if you say brotherly affection is timid, the 
 fault is mutual. Whence this your arm's excessive greedi- 
 
 1 Sc. such as I.
 
 176 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 
 
 ness that you desire alone to quaff the ambrosia of fame 
 as white as a mass of the Milk Ocean's foam ? Never 
 before have I Heen stinted in your favours. Therefore let 
 my lord be gracious and take me also." 
 
 So speaking, he sank his head to the ground and fell at 
 his brother's feet. But the elder upraised him and said : 
 " Why thus, deartbrother, by putting forth too great an effort 
 add importance to a foe too slight for our power ? A concourse 
 of lions in the matter of a deer is too degrading. How 
 many flames gird on their armour against a sheaf of grass ? 
 Moreover for the province of your prowess you have already 
 the earth with her amulet wreath of eighteen continents. 
 The winds that carry off ranges of great hills arm not against 
 a trembling cotton yield. The sky elephants, audaciously 
 familiar with Sumeru's flanks, butt not upon a tiny ant-hill. 
 For a world-wide conquest you, like Mandhatri, shall grasp, 
 in the shape of your bow with its curving frame adorned 
 with bright gold leaf, a comet portending the world's end of 
 all earthly kings. [207] Only, in the unbearable hunger 
 which has been aroused in me for our enemies' death, forgive 
 this one unshared morsel of wrath. Be pleased to stay." 
 Such was his answer, and on the same day he set out to seek 
 the foe. 
 
 My lord Harsa's brother being thus occupied, his father 
 laid to rest, his brother-in-law banished from life, his mother 
 dead and his sister a prisoner, he could scarcely make the 
 time- pass, alone as he was like a wild elephant strayed from 
 the herd. Many days having elapsed, on one occasion as with 
 the night two-thirds spent he lay awake, being still despon- 
 dent at his brother's departure, he heard the watchman 
 chanting an Arya couplet: 
 
 'Though his virtues 1 be sung by continents, though 
 rich be his worth like a treasure of jewels 2 , 
 
 'As a squall a ship, so does fate overwhelm a hero 
 without warning.' 
 
 1 Or of the ship ' cables.' 
 
 2 Or of the ship ' though it have amassed the prime of the ocean's 
 treasures.'
 
 CHAPTER VI. 177 
 
 
 
 At this his heart was still further grieved by thoughts of 
 the instability of things ; but when the night was well-nigh 
 ended, he obtained a moment's sleep, and in a vision saw a 
 heaven-kissing pillar of iron broken in pieces. With a 
 throbbing heart he awoke again, and reflected : " Why do 
 these evil dreams thus incessantly pursue me ? Day and 
 night my eye and not the right one flirobs expert in 
 prophecies of evil. Dire portents again never for a moment 
 weary of announcing the death of no mean king. Day after 
 day Rahu, hard by the sun's disc which shows a headless 
 trunk, is seen to wear a bodily form no longer curtailed 1 . 
 The Seven Sages vomit eruptions of smoke, swallowed 
 perhaps in their time of austerity, and cover all the planets 
 with grey. Every day dire flames are seen in the heavens, 
 and the star groups fall from the firmament like motes of 
 ash from the burning. The dimmed moon seems to sorrow 
 for the downfall of the stars. Each night, as the meteors 
 flash hither and thither, the heavens with tremulous starry 
 eyes gaze as it were upon a mighty conflict of planets in the 
 abysm. [208] Whistling with bits of gravel and permeated 
 by huge flying dust clouds, the wind seems transporting the 
 earth somewhither to signify the transmission of sovereignty. 
 I see no fair auspice in the hour. Who shall waylay this 
 fatality in our stock, which wastes its tender growth as an 
 elephant a bamboo ? Be it well, in any case, with my lord." 
 After such thoughts as these he found a difficulty in en- 
 couraging his heart, which seemed in coward flight 2 from an 
 outburst of brotherly affection in its midst. Then rising, 
 he went through the usual round of duties. 
 
 When in the audience chamber, he saw Kuntala, a chief 
 officer of cavalry and a great noble high in Rajyavardhana's 
 
 1 The trunk seen in the sun seems to provide Rahu, an eclipse 
 demon who is all head, with a body. Varahamihira (iii.) says, ' if a 
 staff is seen in the sun, the sovereign will die ; if something in the 
 shape of a headless trunk, there will be danger from sickness.' 
 
 2 ' Dravad ' may be taken in the sense of melting, ' his heart moist 
 with an oil of brotherly affection bxirsting forth within.' The Kashmir 
 text reads antarbhinnam. 
 
 c. 12
 
 178 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 favour, hastily enter with a dejected company entering in 
 his train. His form was wrapped in a shawl as miry as if 
 unbeaiable grief had reddened 1 its texture with a smoke of 
 hot sighs. His looks were downcast, as if through shame at 
 the preservation of his life, his glance fixed on the end of his 
 nose, and his face, hairy with the long growth of mourning, 
 mutely with uninterrupted tears bespoke his master's fall. 
 This sight aroused the prince's alarm, but when the time 
 came to hear the dreadful calamity, he seemed seized in 
 every limb by all the world powers at once, water in his 
 eyes, sighs in his moon-like mouth, fire in his heart, earth 
 upon his breast. From the man he learnt that his brother, 
 though he had routed the Malwa army with ridiculous ease, 
 had been allured to confidence by false civilities on the part 
 of the King of Gauda, and then weaponless, confiding, and 
 alone, despatched in his own quarters. 
 
 Instantly on hearing this his fiery spirit blazed forth in a 
 storm of sorrow augmented by flaming flashes of furious 
 wrath. His aspect became terrific in the extreme. As he 
 fiercely shook his head, the loosened jewels from his crest 
 looked like live coals of the angry fire which he vomited 
 forth. Quivering without cessation, his wrathful curling lip 
 seemed to drink the lives of all kings. [209] His reddening 
 eyes with their rolling gleam put forth as it were confla- 
 grations in the heavenly spaces. Even the fire of anger, as 
 though itself burned by the scorching power of his inborn 
 valour's unbearable heat, spread over him 2 a rainy shower of 
 sweat. His very limbs trembled as if in affright at such 
 unexampled fury. Like Qiva, he put on a Shape of Terror : 
 like Visnu, he displayed a Man-lion's aspect : like the sun- 
 crystal hill, he fired at the sight of another's fierce brilliance 3 : 
 like doomsday, his form overpowered the eye by the brilliance 
 of twelve suns uprisen : like a world-alarming hurricane, 
 he brought a tremour upon all monarchs 4 : like the Vindhya, 
 
 1 Mud is often described as ' red.' 
 
 2 Sc. the fire, as if in fear of a hotter fire, scatters water around. 
 
 3 Or 'a second source of light.' 
 
 4 Or ' mountains.'
 
 CHAPTER VI. . 179 
 
 
 
 he grew in sublimity of form 1 : like a great serpent, he was 
 wroth at the insult of a vile king 2 : like Janamejaya, intent 
 upon burning all sovereigns 3 : like Vrikodara, athirst for his 
 enemy's blood : like the gods' elephant, in full career to repel 
 his foes 4 . He represented the first revelation of valour, the 
 frenzy of insolence, the delirium of pride, the youthful avatar 
 of fury, the supreme effort of hauteur, the rfew age of man- 
 hood's fire, the regal consecration of warlike passion, the camp- 
 lustration clay of resentment. 
 
 " Except the Gauda king," he cried " what man would by 
 such a murder, abhorred of all the world, lay such a great soul 
 low, as Agni's progeny did Drona 5 , in the very moment when, 
 having by his arm's undissembling valour subdued all princes, 
 he had laid the sword aside ? [210] Apart from that ignoble 
 wretch, in whose minds would my lord's heroic qualities, 
 alighting like flamingoes upon the lakes, find no favour, spot- 
 less both as a mass of Ganges foam, and recalling the memory 
 of Para9u-Rama's prowess 6 ? How could he, furious as the 
 summer sun, which dries the water of the lotus pools, put 
 forth his hands, regardless of friendly advances 7 , to take 
 my lord's life ? What shall be his doom ? Into what 
 creature's womb shall he pass ? Into what hell shall he 
 fall ? What outcast even would wreak this deed ? My 
 tongue seems soiled with a smirch of sin as I take the 
 miscreant's very name upon my lips. With what design did 
 
 1 Mbh. til. 8781 (104). The mountain swelled in order to stop the 
 path of the Sun and Moon. 
 
 2 Or ' conjurer.' 3 Or ' snakes.' 
 
 4 Or ' against a rival elephant.' 
 
 5 Dhristadyumna killed Drona unfairly, when the latter heard the 
 news that his son was dead. Dhristadyumna is called the progeny of 
 fire because he and his sister Draupadl were produced out of the 
 sacrificial fire. The word may also punningly mean ' the author of evil 
 courses.' 
 
 fi The word pakapatam may punningly mean either 'favour' or 
 'flight by wings': for the story of Rama's forming a path over Kailasa 
 for the wild-geese cf. Mahavlracarita p. 26 (Trithen) and the name 
 Krauncari. 
 
 7 Or punningly 'ray, regardless of their (the lotuses') beauty.' 
 
 122
 
 180 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 c 
 
 this mean remorseless 1 being bring my lord to his death, 
 working his way like a worm into a sandal pillar capable of 
 delighting a whole world ? Truly now the fool, when in greed 
 for the taste of sweet savours he laid hands upon my 
 lord's life as honey, saw not the coming onset of a swarm of 
 arrows 2 . By lighting up this evil path 3 this vilest of Gaud as 
 has collected only foul shame, like lampblack, to the soiling 
 of his own house. Though the sun, crest jewel of the world, 
 may be sunk in the west, is there not the moon, lion lord of 
 the one deer that roams 4 the planet thickets, ready at once 
 by the creator's appointment to quell the darkling foe of the 
 road of right ? Even when the goad, discipline's lawgiver, is 
 broken, there exists for a wicked elephant's admonition the 
 lion's still sharper claw, skilled to cleave the thick-boned 
 heads of all mad elephants. Who is not bound to punish 
 such vile jewellers, as it were, who deface the most brilliant 
 gems ? What now will be the wretch's fate ? " 
 
 [211] Even as he thus spoke, the senapati, Simhanada, a 
 friend of his father also, was seated in his presence, a man 
 foremost in every fight, in person yellow as a hill of orpi- 
 ment, stately as a great full-grown Sal tree's stem 5 , and 
 tall as if ripened by valour's exceeding heat. He was far 
 advanced in years : and, although he had oft risen from repose 
 upon a couch of arrows, yet in point of vigorous age he 
 seemed to scoff at Bhisma. So stubborn was his frame, that 
 even old age laid but a trembling hand, timidly as it were, 
 upon his stiff hair. He seemed while still alive to have 
 been born anew into a lion's nature, compounded of guileless 
 valour and having for a mane his straight locks white as a 
 bunch of moonlight. His eyes were veiled by brows whose 
 
 1 With reference to the worm vigataghrinena will mean ' relieved 
 from the heat.' 
 
 2 Or 'bees.' 
 
 3 Or punningly ' lamp at a loophole.' 
 
 4 Or by paronomasia ' dims ' : v. vipesena haranam viharo vichaylka- 
 ranam gamanam ca Comm. The moon is compared to a lion, and the 
 deer is the Hindu counterpart of the ' man in the moon.' 
 
 5 The Comm. has kandam skandhah, which may point to a reading 
 -kanda- for praka-naa-. t
 
 CHAPTER VI. 181 
 
 
 
 wrinkled skin hung loose, as if he shrank from the mortal 
 sin of beholding a new master's face. His terrible visage, 
 brightened by a thick white moustache which* hid his cheeks, 
 seemed to pour forth an untimely war time 1 in the shape of 
 a commencing autumn white with blooming Ka$a groves. 
 A beard hanging down to his navel played the part of a white 
 chowrie, fanning his master, who though deajj survived in his 
 heart. In spite of age his broad chest was rough with great 
 gashes of wounds opening their lips as if athirst to drink the 
 water of whetted steel's edge : and all across it ran in lines 
 the writings of many great scars graven by the axe edge of 
 sharp swords, as though he were making a calculation of the 
 hour of victory in every battle; whence he might be likened to 
 an eastern range of hills in motion 2 . In the charm of divers 
 martial exploits he seemed to outstrip the very Maha-Bharata ; 
 in an unbroken career of slaughtering foes to give a lesson to 
 Para9u-Rama himself: in ranging oceans 3 and in energy 
 devoted to winning glory perforce to throw even Mandara 
 into the shade: [212] in adapting himself to the limitations of 
 his position 4 to surpass the very sea : in steadfastness, rigidity 
 and elevation to shame even the hills: in circumambient 
 effulgence of fierce native brilliance to set the sun himself at 
 nought : in the wearing toil 5 of supporting his lord's weighty 
 concerns to laugh even (Diva's bull to scorn. Of fury's fire he 
 
 1 There is perhaps a pun here, as the Sanskrit might mean 'an 
 untimely Vikrama-era ' commencing with autumn instead of the spring- 
 month Caitra. 
 
 2 He is compared to an eastern hill because of the long line of 
 ridges across his breast and also because of the astronomical reference 
 to the use of this hill in calculating ascensions. The Sanskrit helps the 
 comparison by means of a pun in parvata. 
 
 3 We have here a punning reference to the ocean-churning, as the 
 words may also mean 'in revolving in the ocean and attracting 
 Laksnil &c.' 
 
 4 Vahinlnayaka = (\} leader of armies, (2) lord of rivers = ocean. ' In 
 not overpassing his bounds,' and 'observing the principles of generalship.' 
 
 5 Ghristapristha literally = ' having an abraded back,' an idiomatic 
 turn for ' worn out by many labours,' v. Comrn. karyesu ksimtio lokesu 
 qhriftupristha ucyate. Tcvarabhara will punuingly mean ' the weight of 
 Ci'va.'
 
 182 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 
 
 was the rubbing stick, of valour the lordliness, of arrogance 
 the arrogant quality, of pride the erysipelas, of violence the 
 heart, of martial ardour the life, of enterprise the panting 
 gasp : to the infuriate a hook, to noxious kings an elephant's 
 goad 1 , the colophon of chivalry, the family priest of martial 
 companies, the scale-beam of the brave, the boundary over- 
 seer of the village of swords, the performer of proud 
 speeches, the sustainer of the routed, the executor of 
 pledges, the authority on openings in great wars, the reveille 
 drum of battle's devotees. His very voice, deep as the boom- 
 ing of a drum, inspired the warriors with lust for battle, 
 as he said : 
 
 ' My lord, knaves in themselves most foul mark not how 
 they are themselves deluded by the foul unresting vixen 
 fortune, as crows by the koil. The aberrations of success, like 
 those of the lotus, include the closing of the eyes in error 2 . 
 Hiding the sun with umbrella shades, the sluggard souls 
 become unaware of the fierce heat of others. What indeed 
 is a wretch to do whose looks, for ever turned away through 
 excess of timidity, have never even beheld the faces of 
 angered heroes 3 when the fire of rage puts forth its bristles 
 upon cheeks tawny with the swelling of unparalleled excesses 
 of passion? [213] Little suspects this miserable man how 
 great souls dishonoured, like spells wrought by Brahmans 4 , 
 in a moment consummate the ruin of whole houses. Even 
 against the low the mighty blaze out at a blow 5 . Well 
 does this deed, so capable of hurling irredeemably to hell, 
 befit such an outcast from all martial gatherings. To right- 
 thinking men, who bear in the bow a treasure precious above 
 all else iu battle, and whose is the sword, that lotus thicket 
 for the sport of glory's hamsas, even ocean-churnings and the 
 
 1 Or ' to noxious serpents a Garuda.' 
 
 2 Or punningly ' the closing of buds at eve.' 
 
 3 The words for ' timidity ' and ' heroes : may also mean ' delicacy ' 
 and 'suns.' 
 
 4 There is a pun in ciprakritah, which means (1) 'dishonoured,' 
 (2) 'wrought by Brahmans.' 
 
 5 Or ' even in water electric flashes blaze out.'
 
 CHAFFER VI. 183 
 
 
 
 like appear but mean expedients to bring fame 1 to view : 
 what then of such expedients as his ? Those for whom, as if 
 themselves incompetent for the task, the very hills appointed 
 by the creator to support the earth vomit forth iron to assist 
 the stroke of clublike arms hard as the thunderbolt, how can 
 such stout-armed myrmidons of spotless fame even in thought 
 dream aught impossible? Before warrior^' hands, glorious 
 in power to quell all opposition 2 , the sun's rays (hands) are 
 in respect of occupying the realms of space maimed. Only by 
 vulgar report is Yama's dwelling in the southern quarter, 
 essentially it is in the frown of warriors, where are terrible 
 spaces curving with wavy lines like the Great Buffalo's 
 horns 3 . Strange that heroes roaring like lions in battle 4 do not 
 suddenly grow manes along with the thorny hair that bristles 
 under the joy of conflict ! The mass of wealth 5 born from 
 the four oceans has two dreadful crucibles whereby foes are 
 burnt, the subaqueous fire and the heart of a great hero 6 . 
 How can the fire's natural heat rest before it has em- 
 braced all oceans 7 ? Idly has the lord of serpents expanded 
 his vast ponderous hood, when by his coils 8 he supports 
 merely a clod of earth. Only the arms of warriors, adorned 
 with forearms heavy as a sky elephant's trunk, know how 
 sweet a taste does the earth provide in the enjoyment of a 
 supremacy whose edicts are never set at nought, Like the 
 sun, a king passes his days at his ease with radiance unim- 
 paired, while with upturned face the goddess of lotuses 9 clasps 
 
 1 = Laksnil. 
 
 - Or ' in overpowering all planets.' 
 
 3 This compound goes with both daksiiiaca, and bhatabhrukutir : in 
 the former case we must translate ' lines of the Great Buffalo's horns,' 
 the Great Buffalo being that of Yama. 
 
 4 There is here apparently a pun on the speaker's own name : the 
 translation would be ' letting loose Sitnhauada.' 
 
 5 Or punningly 'cinders.' 
 
 The Kashmir text reads mahapurudiiam hrdayam dhdma. 
 
 7 Read payorafin saJiajasya (for payora^isahajasya) with the 
 Kashmir text. 
 
 8 Or punningly ' by his government.' Bhogin ' serpent ' may also 
 mean ' king.' 
 
 9 Padm^kara = (Y) the hands of PaclmS, = Qri, (2) lotus bads.
 
 184 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 his feet. [214] But the coward is, like the moon, deer-hearted 
 and pallid of hue 1 : how can his glory abide steady for even 
 a pair of nights?.? Expansive is the heroic spirit, raining a 
 spray of boundless glory. The paths of prowess are levelled 
 by the pioneer valour. The portals of pride by their very 
 creak dispel its foes. The open realms of space to valour are 
 lighted by the sh^en of swords. Glory, like the earth, derives 
 a loving flush from a dewy shower of the enemies' blood. 
 Like a row of toe-nails, Royalty also glitters more brightly 
 through rubbing against the grindstone edge of many a king's 
 diadem jewels. Enemies' looks as well as a man's palms are 
 darkened by ceaseless practice in arms. Hundreds of bandages 
 bound about manifold wounds make fame as well as the body 
 white. Hard strokes of swords, falling upon the cuirassed panels 
 of enemies' breasts, spit forth not only sparks but also glory. 
 Whoso, when his people have been slain by the foe, announces 
 his heart's grief like a wise man by the breast beating of his 
 enemies' wives, whose sighs are the wind caused by the 
 descent of hard scimitars, whose tears are those which drip 
 and fall on the body of a lifeless foe, who offers water by 
 the eyes of his enemies' mistresses 2 , he and none other 
 deserves fame. No notion of kindred do the enlightened attach 
 to bodies evanescent like a vision come and gone in sleep : 
 with heroes, the conception of body belongs to imperishable 
 fame. As foul lampblack does not so much as touch the 
 diamond mirror, naturally brilliant with a radiance of ever 
 glittering splendour, so sorrow touches not the illustrious. 
 Once more, you are the vanguard of the stout-hearted, the 
 captain of the wise, the foremost of the mighty, the champion 
 of the noble, the forerunner of the illustrious, the prime of 
 the dauntless. Here also you have cool retreats for the 
 abode of fortitude, concealed by the shadow of a forest 
 of strong arms, with the delight of sword-edge water within 
 reach, and the fire of anger ever smoking in the vicinity : 
 stout are those walls whose panels are soldiers' breasts. 
 
 1 Literally 'pale of back': jjcuidurapristlia&ya~de$abhasaya nirlaj- 
 jasya 'shameless,' Comin. 
 
 2 Water is offered to the dead.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 185 
 
 
 Think not therefore of the Gauda king alone : so deal that 
 
 for the future no other follow his example. [215] Wave 
 the chowries of these mock conquerors, Hhese would-be 1 
 lovers of the whole earth, by the sighs of the matrons 
 in their harems. Excise their vicious cravings for the 
 umbrella's shade by awnings of flocking kites blinded by 
 the scent of carnage. Dispel with exu/iations of tepid 
 blood the unhealthy flush of eyes diseased by the side 
 glances of the harlot, ill-got fame. Assuage by the lancing 
 of sharp arrows the tumours of preposterous hardihood 2 . 
 By panaceas of scars from encircling bunches of iron 
 fetters uproot the stinging pains of feet that wanton with 
 yearning for footstools. By the letters of stern command 
 in caustic showers allay the itching of ears alert for the cry 
 of 'Victory.' Remove the unhealthy rigidity of stiff un- 
 bending heads by forehead applications of a sandal salve 
 consisting of the gleam of toe-nails. With levies of tribute 
 for nippers extract the splinters of unmannerly forwardness 
 inflamed by the arrogance of wealth. With the radiance of 
 gemmed footstools for lamps pierce the darkness of soldiers 
 frowns produced by windy swelling. Overcome the complica- 
 tions of vain pride with a cure removing heaviness of 
 head by the lightness of kicks. Soften the hardness of 
 the bow-string's callosities by the warmth of clasped hands 
 folded in a perpetual obeisance. Forsake not the path 
 along which your sire, grandsire, and great grandsire have 
 marched amid the envy of the three worlds. Relinquishing 
 the grief proper to cowards, appropriate, as the lion a 
 fawn, the royal glory which is your heritage. Now that the 
 king has assumed his godhead and Rajyavardhana has lost 
 his life by the sting of the vile Gauda serpent, you are, 
 in the cataclysm which has come to pass, the only Qesa 3 
 left to support the earth. Comfort your unprotected people. 
 
 1 (^raddliakamulca occurs iu this sense in c. III. p. 94. We might 
 however translate ' these seekers after the reverence of the whole earth.' 
 
 2 The Kashmir text has vlrakarya ' of valorous feats.' 
 
 3 A pun in ce$a ((1) left, (2) the serpent (^esa) refers to the eartli- 
 supporting serpent. .
 
 186 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 
 
 Like the autumn sun, set your forehead-burning footsteps 
 upon the heads of kings 1 . Let your enemies with nail- 
 scorching cloudsof smoke from sighs all hot with the vexation 
 of consecration to new subservience and with dawning light 
 from a horizon of trembling crest gems give your feet a 
 dappled hue. Even Para9u-Rama, though reared as a solitary 
 ascetic among t^he deer, though soft-hearted with the 
 tenderness of his Brahmauical nature, did yet, when his 
 father was slain, frame his resolve and one and twenty times 
 cut down and eradicated the united power of the Ksatriya 
 stock, which with the fierce echoing twang of its forest of 
 bows' notched ends [216] could rob the sky elephants of their 
 madness, and could inflame the world with fever by its array 
 of humming bow-strings : what then of my lord, the prince 
 of the magnanimous, whose spirit wields in the native hard- 
 ness of his frame a thunderbolt ? Therefore do you this very 
 day register a resolve, and for the wreck of this meanest of 
 Gaudas' life take up the bow, that pennon of the sudden 
 expedition of fate busy in gathering lives. My lord's body, 
 baked in the flame of humiliation, cannot without the cool 
 application of the crimson sandal-unguent of foes be relieved 
 of this dire fever of pain. Failing the means of allaying the 
 pain of insult, Bhlmasena did yet without the device of any 
 Mandara 2 quaff the ambrosia of foemen's blood, as though it 
 had been sweetened by Hidimba's kisses. And Jamadagni's 
 son bathed in pools of Ksatriya gore, whose coolness was grate- 
 ful to the touch by assuaging the fever of anger's fiery flames.' 
 So much said he ended, and my lord Harsa replied : 
 ' The advice of your eminence deserves to be acted upon. 
 As it is, my envious arm looks with a claimant's eye 
 upon even the king of serpents who upholds the earth. 
 When the very planet groups rise, my brow longs to set 
 itself in motion for their repression. My hand yearns to 
 
 1 The words for ' footsteps ' and ' kings ' may denote ' rays ' and 
 ' mountains. 5 
 
 2 I.e. to churn it from the ocean. Bhlma had vowed to drink 
 Duh9asana's blood to avenge the insult offered to Draupadi. Hidimba 
 is the wife of Bhlma.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 187 
 
 
 clutch the tresses of the very hills that will not bow. My 
 
 heart would force chowries upon even the sun's presumptu- 
 ously bright hands 1 . Enraged at the title of king, my foot 
 itches to make footstools of even the kings of beasts. My lip 
 quivers to command the escheatment of the very quarters 
 of heaven so wilfully occupied by their headstrong regents. 
 How much more therefore now that su^h a woeful issue - 
 has come to pass ! My mind, brimming with passion, has 
 no room for complying with the observances of mourning. 
 Nay, so long as this vile outcast of a Gauda king, this world- 
 contemned miscreant, who deserves to be pounded, survives, 
 like a cruel thorn in my heart, I am ashamed [217] to cry 
 out helplessly with dry lips like a hermaphrodite 3 . Until I 
 evoke a storm of rain from the tremulous eyes of the wives of 
 hostile hosts, how can my hands present the oblation of 
 water ? But small store of tears have these eyes till they have 
 seen the smoke cloud from this vilest of Gaudas' pyre. Listen 
 to my vow : ' By the dust of my honoured lord's feet I swear 
 that, unless in a limited number of days I clear this earth of 
 Gaudas, and make it resound with fetters on the feet of all 
 kings who are excited to insolence by the elasticity of their 
 bows, then will I hurl my sinful self, like a moth, into an oil- 
 fed flame.' So saying he gave instructions to Avanti, the 
 supreme minister of war and peace, who was standing near : 
 ' Let a proclamation be engraved ' : "As far as the orient 
 hill, whose summit the Gandharva pairs abandon when alarmed 
 by the hurtle of the sun's chariot wheels, as far as Suvela 4 , 
 where the calamity of Rama's devastation of Ceylon was 
 graven by axes hewing down the capital Trikuta, as far as 
 the western mount, the hollows of whose caves resound with 
 the tinkling anklets of Varuna's intoxicated and tripping 
 mistresses, as far as Gandhamadana, whose cave-dwellings 
 are perfumed with fragrant sulphur used as scent by the 
 Yaksa matrons ; let all kings prepare their hands to give 
 tribute or grasp swords, to seize the realms of space or 
 
 1 Or ' rays.' ' 2 Durjate vyasane. Comni. 
 
 3 The Sanskrit here contains an untranslateable pun. 
 
 4 A mountain in Lanka, Ceylon.
 
 188 THE HAKSA-CARITA. 
 
 < 
 
 chowries, let them bend their heads or their bows, grace their 
 ears with either my commands or their bowstrings, crown their 
 heads with the duJit of my feet or with helmets, join suppliant 
 hands or troops of elephants, let go their lands or arrows, 
 grasp mace-staves or lance-staves, take a good view of them- 
 selves in the nails of my feet or the mirrors of their swords. 
 I am gone abroad. r Like a cripple, how can I rest, so long as 
 my feet are not besmeared with an ointment found in every 
 continent, consisting of the light of precious stones in the 
 diadems of all kings?" 
 
 Thus resolved, he dismissed the assembly, and having sent 
 away the feudatories, left the hall once more desirous of the 
 bath. Having risen, he performed all his daily duties like one 
 restored to himself. And from the face of the three worlds, 
 which had heard the vow, the day with heat allayed faded, 
 like the spirit of self-assertion, away. [218] Later on when 
 even the adorable sun, reft of his radiance, had disappeared, 
 as if afraid of the loss of his own sovereignty; when even 
 the red-lotus beds, apparently through fear, were closing and 
 hiding the buzzing of their bees 1 ; when the birds, motionless 
 and checking as if in fright the agitation of their wings 2 , were 
 becoming invisible ; when in honour of the afterglow, which, 
 like the king's vow, embraced the whole world, all the 
 people with bowed heads joined a forest of adoring hands ; 
 when, as if the sky regents, apprehensive of falling from their 
 station, were erecting a circle of sky-kissing iron bulwarks, 
 the heavens were being hidden by an array of thick mists ; 
 Harsa did not stay long at the evening levee. The very 
 lamps around, whose flames shook in the wind from the 
 swaying shawls of bending kings, seemed to salute him, as he 
 dismissed the company, and, interdicting the servants from 
 entering, passed into the bed-chamber. There he lay 
 prostrate and stretched upon the bed his languid limbs. 
 As soon as he was left alone with his lamp, fraternal 
 affection, finding its opportunity like a brigand, held him in 
 its grasp. Closing his eyes, he beheld his senior living as it 
 were in his heart. Without a pause his sighs issued forth, as 
 1 Or ' arrows.' 2 Or [ partisans.'
 
 CHAPTER VL 189 
 
 
 
 if in quest of his brother's life. Covering his face with a 
 flood of tears in place of a white shawl's hem, he wept long 
 and silently ; and these thoughts were in* his heart : ' How 
 could such a form as his possibly deserve an end like this ? 
 Our sire had a hard-knit frame like a broad mass of rock : 
 but, like the iron-stone from the hills, my brother was harder 
 still. How after losing him does it becom$ me, heartless that 
 I am, even to draw one breath ? This is my love, devotion, 
 attachment ! What child even could approve of my surviving 
 his death ? Whither so suddenly has that noble unity gone ? 
 Accursed fate has parted me from him without even an 
 effort. Unfeeling that I am, my grief has been all this time 
 obscured by rage fie upon it ! and I have not even 
 abandoned myself to tears. Frail beyond question are the 
 loves of mortals, fragile as a spider's web. Kinship can be 
 only a conventional tie, if even I sit here apparently self- 
 contained like a stranger when my lord has gone to heaven. 
 What profit has dastard destiny reaped by parting a pair of 
 happy brothers with hearts blessed in the union of mutual 
 love ? [219] My lord's virtues, once grateful to all creatures 
 as if made of moonlight, do now that he has passed to another 
 world verily burn, as if they had caught fire from his pyre.' 
 These and the like mournful meditations were in his mind. 
 When day dawned, he gave early instructions to the cham- 
 berlain that he desired to see Skandagupta, the commandant 
 of the whole elephant troop. 
 
 Summoned by a succession of numerous people running 
 all together, Skandagupta, not waiting for his elephant, 
 hastened on foot from his quarters with bustling lictors 
 forcing the people aside. At every step he questioned 
 the chief elephant doctors, who bowed on every hand, as 
 to the night's news concerning the favourite elephants. All 
 around him was a bustle of groups of people belonging 
 to the camp. In front ran throngs of unemployed persons 1 , 
 come for the purpose of bursting the animals' fastenings 
 
 1 The comm. however explains andyatta hastiparcvaraksinah ' ele- 
 phant attendants.'
 
 190 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 i 
 
 and looking like Vindhya forests as they filled the expanse 
 of heaven with thickets of bamboo clumps bedecked with 
 uplifted peacocks* 1 tails. With them were riders displaying 
 handfuls of emerald green fodder, soliciting fresh-caught 
 elephants, or bowing from a distance in delight at getting 
 prime wild ones, or reporting the approach of rut in one 
 under their charge^ or ordering the drums to be mounted. 
 First of all came some who, having been deprived of 
 their elephants for careless offences, wore their beards 
 long in mourning, while ragged new comers ran up in 
 hope of the happiness of securing one. Troops of super- 
 intendents of decoys, finding at last an opportunity, were 
 busy with hands uplifted enumerating the serviceable 
 females. Rows of foresters with tossing badges of twigs 
 strove by upraising forests of tall goads to announce the 
 number of fresh captured elephants which they had secured. 
 Crowds of mahouts displayed leathern figures for practising 
 manoeuvres 1 . [220] Emissaries from the rangers of elephant 
 forests, sent to convey tidings of the movements of fresh 
 herds and momentarily expecting supplies of fodder, reported 
 the commissariat stores at villages, towns, and marts. 
 
 Beneath an aspect of indifference the bearing of a great 
 minister, upheld by his master's favour, and a natural un- 
 bending rigidity gave to Skandagupta an air of command. 
 He seemed to enjoin the very seas to provide a limitless 
 supply of shells for elephants' ears, to pillage the very hills for 
 store of red-chalk unguents to paint their heads, to deprive 
 Indra of his Airavata's charge over the sky elephants. His 
 tread, heavy as when Kailasa bent 2 beneath the weight of 
 Qiva's step, sought, as it were, to quell the earth's pride in her 
 power to support great weights. His swinging arms, which 
 reached his knees and dangled as he moved, appeared to 
 plant on either side an avenue of stone pillars for elephant 
 posts. A somewhat full and pendulous lip, sweet as ambrosia 
 and soft as young sprays, suggested a bait to allure the 
 
 1 These were figures of elephants used in training the animals for 
 battle. 
 
 2 Or namita ' was bent ' (Kashmir).
 
 CHAPTER VI. 191 
 
 
 
 elephant of (Jrl. His nose was as long as his sovereign's 
 pedigree. A pair of long eyes, exceedingly soft, sweet, white, 
 and large, as if they had drunk the Milk Ocan, gulped down 
 the expanse of heaven. His forehead was full and wide 
 beyond even Meru's flank. His hair, very long, naturally 
 curling and rejoicing in a soft dark colour as if from 
 growing in a perpetual umbrella shade, appeared, as its 
 tresses tossed and quivered like young tendrils, to cut the 
 sun's rays and despoil them of their light. Though, owing to 
 the fall of all hostile alliances, he had abandoned the use of 
 the bow, yet all the ends of heaven heard the echo of his 
 great qualities 1 . With a whole army of raging elephants at 
 his disposal, he was yet untouched by presumption 2 . Great 
 in station, he was yet full of sweetness 3 : royal yet full of 
 virtues 4 : chief of the generous 3 as of elephants: wearing 
 his dependence with the enviable undaunted dignity of 
 sovereignty : raised to a position in the king's favour, un- 
 approachable, like a noble wife, by others and fast fixed by 
 love to one lord : disinterested kinsman of the wise, un- 
 salaried servant of the great, unbought slave of the prudent. 
 [221] Entering the palace, he saluted from a distance, 
 leaning his lotus hands upon the earth and touching it 
 with his head. When he had seated himself in not too 
 great proximity, Harsa addressed him: 'You have received 
 a full account of my brother's destruction and my own 
 intentions. You must therefore hastily call in the elephant 
 herds out at pasture. The hot pain of my brother's defeat 
 forbids even the briefest delay in marching.' Thus addressed 
 Skandagupta replied with an obeisance : ' Let my master 
 consider his orders executed. Loyal devotion, however, re- 
 quires of me a few words. Therefore let your majesty hear. 
 
 1 Or ' bowstrings.' 2 Or ' rut.' 
 
 3 Or ' though made of ashes, yet full of sap.' 
 
 4 Or ' made of earth, yet consisting of threads.' Cf. Comm. gunas 
 tantavo 'pi, na hi ghatah pato bhavatlti virodhah in allusion to the 
 favourite illustration in Hindu logic : ' a crock is not a cloth.' 
 
 5 The pun on danam ( = (1) a gift, (2) rut) has occurred before in 
 Chapter II. .
 
 192 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 
 
 All that your majesty has undertaken is worthy of the 
 nobility 1 fostered in Puspabhuti's line, of your own inborn 
 valour, of your aiuis long as a sky-elephant's trunk, and of your 
 peerless affection for your brother. When even the wretched 
 worms named snakes brook no insult, how should such 
 mines of valour as yourself? Yet the story of his majesty 
 Rajyavardhana hqs given you some inkling into the despi- 
 cable characters of vile men. Thus do national types vary, 
 like the dress, features, food, and pursuits of countries, 
 village by village, town by town, district by district, con- 
 tinent by continent, and clime by clime. Dismiss therefore 
 this universal confidingness, so agreeable to the habits of your 
 own land and springing from innate frankness of spirit. Of 
 disasters due to mistaken carelessness frequent reports come 
 daily to your majesty's hearing 2 . In Padmavati there was 
 the fall of Nagasena 3 , heir to the Naga house, whose policy 
 was published by a garika, bird. In QravastI faded the glory 
 of Qrutavarman, whose secret a parrot heard. In Mrittikavatl 
 a disclosure of counsel in sleep was the death of Suvarnacuda. 
 [222] The fate of a Yavana king was encompassed by the 
 holder of his golden chowrie, who read the letters of a 
 document reflected in his crest jewel. By slashes of drawn 
 swords Viduratha's army minced the avaricious Mathura 
 king Brihadratha while he was digging treasure at dead of 
 night. Vatsapati, who was wont to take his pleasure 
 in elephant forests, was imprisoned by Mahasena's soldiers 
 issuing from the belly of a sham elephant 4 . Sumitra, son of 
 Agnimitra, being over fond of the drama, was attacked by 
 Mitradeva in the midst of actors, and with a scimitar shorn, 
 like a lotus stalk, of his head. Qarabha, the Acmaka king, being 
 attached to string music, his enemy's emissaries, disguised as 
 
 1 Read abhijanasya or abhijdtyasya for ajdtyasya: the Kashmir 
 text has abhijanasya abhijatyasya. 
 
 2 This speech refers to a curious mass of unknown legendary 
 history. 
 
 3 Cf. Visnu P. Wilson's tr. (Hall's eel. vol. iv. p. 217) Mann, vii. 
 149. 150. 
 
 4 Cf. Kathnsarit. S. ch. 12.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 193 
 
 students of music, cut off his head with sharp knives hidden 
 in the space between the vino, and its gourd. A base-born 
 general, Puspamitra, pounded his foolish Maurya master 
 Brihadratha, having displayed his whole army on the pretext 
 of manifesting his power. Kakavarna, being curious of mar- 
 vels, [223] was carried away no one knows whither on an 
 artificial aerial car made by a Yavana condemned to death 1 . 
 The son of (^unaga had a dagger thrust into his throat in 
 the vicinity of his city. In a frenzy of passion the over- 
 libidinous Qunga 2 was at the instance of his minister-Vasudeva 
 reft of his life by a daughter of Devabhiiti's slave woman 
 disguised as his queen. By means of a mine in Mount 
 Godhana, joyous with the tinkle of numerous women's jewel- 
 led anklets, the Magadha king, who had a penchant for treasure 
 caves 3 , was carried away by the king of Mekala's ministers to 
 their own country. Kumarasena, the Paunika prince, younger 
 brother to Pradyota, having an infatuation for stories about 
 selling human flesh, was slain at the feast of Mahakala by 
 the vampire Talajangha. By drugs whose virtues had been 
 celebrated through many different individuals some professed 
 physicians brought an atrophy upon Ganapati, son of the 
 king of Videha, who was mad for the elixir of life. Confiding 
 in women, the Kalinga Bhadrasena met his death at the 
 hands of his brother Virasena, who secretly found access to 
 the wall of the chief queen's apartments. Lying on a 
 mattress in his mother's bed, a son of Dadhra, lord of the 
 Karusas, encompassed the death of his father, who purposed 
 to anoint another son 4 . Candraketu, lord of the Cakoras, 
 being attached to his chamberlain, was with his minister 
 deprived of life by an emissary of Qudraka. The life of the 
 
 1 Of. the story of the Enchanted Horse in the Arabian Nights. 
 
 2 Vinu Pur. iv. ch. 24. 
 
 3 Amravivaravyasaninam 'a lover of snake palaces' or 'treasure 
 caverns ' : cf. the Comm.'s ahivivaram. This king's councillors on this 
 occasion disguised themselves as vdtikdh, which is perhaps for vatigdh 
 ' workers in mines or metals.' Asuravivara occurs supra text p. 108 
 1. 5 and p. 143 1. 9. In the former passage vdtikah appears and is 
 explained by the Comm. as asuravivaravyasanina dcdrydh. 
 
 4 Kamandaki, Nltisara, vii. 51. 
 
 c. ' 13
 
 194 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 chase-loving Puskara, king of Camundi, was sipped, while 
 he was extirpating rhinoceroses, by the lord of Campa's 
 soldiers ensconced in a grove of tall-stemmed reeds. Carried 
 away by fondness for troubadours, the Maukhari fool Ksatra- 
 varman was cut down by bards, his enemy's emissaries, with 
 the cry of ' Victory ' echoing on their lips. In his enemy's 
 city the king of the Qakas, while courting another's wife, 
 was butchered by Candragupta concealed in his mistress' 
 dress. [224] The blunders of heedless men arising from 
 women have been brought sufficiently to my lord's hear- 
 ing. Thus, to secure her son's succession, Suprabha with 
 poisoned groats killed Mahasena, the sweet-toothed king of 
 Kac.i 1 . Ratnavati, pretending a frenzy of love, slew the 
 victorious Jarutha of Ayodhya with a mirror having a razor 
 edge 2 . Devaki, being in love with a younger brother, 
 employed against the Sauhmya Devasena an ear lotus 
 whose juice was touched with poisoned powder. A jealous 
 queen killed Rantideva of Viranti with a jew r elled anklet 
 emitting an infection of magic powder 3 : Vindumati the 
 Vrisni Viduratha with a dagger hidden in her braided hair 4 : 
 Hamsavati the Sauvira king Vlrasena 5 with a girdle orna- 
 ment having a drug-poisoned centre : Pauravi the Paurava 
 lord Somaka by making him drink a mouthful of poisoned 
 wine, her own mouth being smeared with an invisible 
 antidote.' 
 
 So much said, he ended and went forth to execute his 
 master's orders. His majesty Harsa complied with all 
 the forms of royalty. But while he, according to his vow, 
 was commanding his march for a world-wide conquest, in 
 the abodes of the doomed neighbouring kings manifold evil 
 portents spread abroad. Thus : herds of black spotted ante- 
 lopes roamed restlessly hither and thither, like imminent 
 glances of death's emissaries 6 . In the courts resounded the 
 
 1 Kamandaki, Nltis. vii. 52. 2 Ibid. 53. 
 
 3 Brihatsamhita Ixxviii. 1, Kamandaki vii. 53. Read visara. 
 
 4 Cf. Varahamihira, Brihat-Samhitd Ixxviii. 1, Kamandaki vii. 54. 
 
 5 Kamandaki vii. 53. 
 
 The India Office MS. has aviprakristakaladristayah.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 195 
 
 
 
 hum of swarms of honey bees, types of the clatter of deserting 
 glory's anklets. With streams of flame issuing from cavities 
 of hideous open mouths, ill-omened jackals cfismally even in 
 the day time howled long and with no fair presage. Down 
 swooped vultures, red as young monkeys' faces in the roots 
 of their wings, as if full well acquainted with dead men's 
 flesh. All at once the trees in the parks piit forth untimely 
 flowers, as though to say farewell. Vehemently wept the 
 statues in the halls, beating their breasts with strokes 
 of agitated palms. The warriors, as though their heads 
 had vanished in fear of the near clutching of their hair, 
 beheld themselves headless in their mirrors. [225] Upon 
 the crest gems of the queens appeared footprints marked 
 with wheels, conchs and lotuses 1 . The chowries of the 
 slave women slipped suddenly from their hands. Even in 
 lovers' quarrels the soldiers, averted from their mistresses, 
 turned their backs for a long while away. On the elephants' 
 cheeks were parted the honey-symposia of the bees. As if 
 sniffing the scent of Yama's buffalo, the panting steeds refused 
 to eat the green young grass, ripe 2 though it might be. In 
 the courtyards the sluggish peacocks would not dance, though 
 coaxed by girls clapping music accompanied by the sound of 
 tossing bracelets. Near the gateways night after night troops 
 of dogs howled shrilly without cause, upturning their faqes 
 as if their eyes were fixed upon the moon's deer. Shaking 
 her forefinger as if to count the dead, a naked woman wan- 
 dered all day long in the parks. Upon the inlaid pavements 
 uprose lines of grass swaying like the curved hairs upon a 
 deer's hoofs. With braided locks and eyes not from col- 
 lyrium 3 lustrous, appeared in the wine of their goblets the 
 reflections of the lotus faces of warriors' wives. The lands 
 shook as if affrighted at their approaching seizure. Upon the 
 
 1 Natural marks on an emperor's feet ; cf. Varahamihira, Brihat S. 
 Ixix. 17. 
 
 2 Literally 'clustering': stambakarim'baddhastambam pakvam va 
 Comm. 
 
 3 Widows braid their hair and omit the use of colly rium. Bead 
 with the MS. niranjanalofana-. 
 
 132
 
 196 THE HARSA-CAR1TA. 
 
 < 
 
 bodies of the soldiers a crimson rain might be seen to have 
 fallen, in hue ruddy as blooming Bandhuka flowers, and 
 suggesting thfr- clots of red sandal juice wherewith doomed 
 criminals are decked 1 . As if to lustrate a doomed glory 2 , 
 blazing meteors ceased not to fall in showers, setting the 
 star-clusters afire with eruptions of incessantly flashing 
 sparks. At the very first a furious hurricane swept along, 
 from every house bearing away, like a chamberlain, chowries, 
 umbrellas and fans 3 . 
 
 Here ends the sixth Chapter entitled The King's Vow of the 
 Harsa-Carita composed by Qrl Bana Bhatta. 
 
 1 Carudatta in the Mricchakatika, Act x., describes himself, when 
 led to execution, as ' dragged like a beast to sacrifice, decked with the 
 marks of red sandal on his limbs and besprinkled with meal and 
 pounded incense.' 
 
 2 The meteors act the part of the torch which was carried round the 
 sacrificial animal, see Ait. Brdhm. ii. 5. 
 
 3 We may here note a few small variations of reading by the Kash- 
 mir text in the above paragraph : (1) for aviprakristah ' at no great 
 distance' pravista 'having entered' with 'emissaries,' (2) for ajire 'in 
 the courts ' dram ' for a long time,' (3) for dram advdrtham ' long and 
 with no fair presage' upadviram gavartham 'near the camp for corpses,' 
 (4) 'in the halls' omitted. There are also unimportant misreadings 
 prarudhaprasardh for -pranayah 'full well acquainted,' pdnipallavdh for 
 -pallavdt, casana- for casaka- ' goblets,' atmapa(hara) ' seizure,' tarantl 
 for apaharantl 'bearing away.' The MS. has no. (3), though without 
 favdrtham, and also the following : text p. 225 1. 4 aghatanta for 
 vyaghatanta, 1. 10 katakesu for vdtakesu, 1. 11 niranjanalocanaruci 
 (? runci), 1. 12 cetljandndm for bhatindm.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 [226] To the vowed hero the earth is a courtyard pediment, 
 
 the ocean a dyke, 
 
 Hell is dry land, and mount Sumeru an ant-hill ! 
 Strange is it that the mountains bow not when the 
 
 stout-armed wields the bow ! 
 Of what account at all are the wretched crows termed 
 
 enemies ? 
 
 Some days having passed, on a day with care calculated 
 and approved by a troop of astronomers numbering hundreds, 
 was fixed an hour of marching suitable for the subjugation of all 
 the four quarters. The king had bathed in golden and silvern 
 vessels, like autumn clouds which were skilled 1 in pouring 
 water ; had with deep devotion offered worship to the ador- 
 able Nilalohita 2 ; fed the up-flaming fire, whose masses of blaze 
 formed a rightward whorl ; bestowed upon Brahmans sesa- 
 mum vessels of precious stones, silver, and gold in thousands, 
 myriads also of cows having hoofs and horn tips adorned with 
 creepers of gold-work 3 ; sat upon a throne with a coverlet of 
 tiger skin ; duly anointed first his bow and then his body 
 down to the feet with sandal bright as his own fame ; put on 
 two seemly robes of bark silk marked with pairs of flamingos ; 
 formed about his head a chaplet of white flowers to be, like 
 the moon's digit, a sign of the supreme 4 ; [227] drawn to the 
 
 1 Or ' white,' the rainless autumn clouds being so. 
 
 2 =Rudra-Qiva. 
 
 3 This clause is much curtailed in the Kashmir text, which omits all 
 mention of gifts to Brahmans, and by a zeugma makes the king sacrifice 
 the cows. 
 
 4 Paramecvara = (l) kitig, (2) Qiva.
 
 198 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 I 
 
 region of his ear a fresh gorocaiia-spoiied Durva spray like 
 a sprout of light from the emerald in his ear-ornament ; and 
 wound upon Ms forearm together with the seal-bracelet an 
 amulet to prosper his going. After being sprinkled on the 
 head with a spray of lustral water scattered by the hand of 
 the highly honoured and delighted Purohit, he had sent away 
 valuable equipages, and divided among the kings ornaments 
 anointing the heavens with a copious light of jewels, had 
 loosed the prisoners, and bestowed suitable gifts of favour upon 
 distressed pilgrims and nobles; and had installed his right 
 arm, which by a reminding throb at the moment brought itself 
 as it were to notice, in the office of subduing the eighteen 
 continents. Finally with all good omens pressing forward 
 officiously, like devoted servants, in the van, amid a clamour- 
 ous cry of ' Victory ! ' from the delighted people, he issued 
 forth from his house, like the Golden Foetus from Brahma's 
 egg, to set on foot an age of gold. 
 
 The starting place was fixed at a large temple built of 
 reeds not far from the city and close to the Sarasvati. It 
 displayed a lofty pillared gateway, an altar supporting a 
 golden cup adorned with sprays, affixed chaplets of wild 
 flowers, wreaths of white banners, strolling white-robed 
 people, and muttering Brahmans. During the king's stay 
 there the village notary appeared with his whole retinue 
 of clerks 1 , and saying, ' Let his majesty, whose edicts are 
 never void, even now bestow upon us his commands for 
 the day,' so presented a new-made golden seal with a bull 
 for its emblem. The king took it. As soon however as a ball 
 of earth was produced, the seal slipped from the king's hand 
 and fell face downwards upon the ground, and the lines of the 
 letters were distinctly marked upon the nearly dry mud and 
 soft earth of the Sarasvati's bank. Apprehensive of an evil 
 omen, the courtiers were depressed, but the king thought in 
 his heart : ' The minds of the dull are indeed blind to reality. 
 The omen signifies that the earth shall be stamped with the 
 single seal of my sole command : [228] but the rustics 
 
 1 Karani, cf. the Hindi Kinuit, 'a clerk.' The Comm. suggests an 
 alternative rendering 'requisites for writing.'.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 199 
 
 
 
 interpret otherwise.' Having thus mentally welcomed the 
 omen, he bestowed upon the Brahmans a hundred villages 
 delimited by a thousand ploughs. That dayhe spent in the 
 same place, and when night arrived, complimented all the 
 kings and retired to rest. 
 
 At the close of the third watch, when all creatures slept 
 and all was still, the marching drum was beaten with a boom 
 deep as the gaping roar of the sky elephants. Then, after 
 first a moment's pause, eight sharp strokes were distinctly 
 given anew upon the drum, making up the number of the 
 leagues in the day's march. 
 
 Straightway the drums rattled, the ndndis 1 rang out 
 joyously, the trumpets brayed, the kdhalas hummed, the 
 horns blared ; the noise of the camp gradually increased. 
 Officers occupied themselves in arousing the courtiers. The 
 heavens were confounded by a confused noise of drumsticks 
 added to a rapid tapping of mallets 2 . Commanders mustered 
 crowds of barrack superintendents 3 . Thousands of torches 
 lighted by the people made inroads upon the darkness of 
 night with their glare. Loving pairs were roused from sleep 
 by the tramp of the women of the watch 4 . Shrill words of 
 command from the marshals dispelled the slumbers of blink - 
 ing riders. Awakened elephant herds vacated their sleeping 
 stalls. There was a shaking of manes from troops of horses 
 risen from sleep. The noisy camp resounded with mattocks 
 uprooting ground fastenings. Elephant hobbles rattled as 
 their pins were extracted. Rearing horses curved their 
 hoofs at the clear low noise of chain-keys brought towards 
 them. [229] A clanking sound of halter fetters filled the 
 ten regions to overflowing, as the foragers loosed the rutting 
 elephants. Leathern bags, bursting with fullness, were ex- 
 tended upon the dusty backs of elephants, which had been 
 
 1 A drum which is beaten for a good omen. Gunja or Jcuhja here 
 translated ' trumpet ' is explained by the Comm. as a horn with rings of 
 lac $ahkhabhedo yatpristhe jatu parikalitam bhavati. 
 
 2 For this characteristic of breaking -camp in India cf. Twining 
 ' Travels in India,' pp. 92 and 484. 
 
 3 The Comm. notes a var. lect. pathlpati with uncertain meaning. 
 
 4 Cf. yamakinyafa c.^iv. p. 137 1. 5 (text).
 
 200 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 < 
 
 rubbed down by strokes from wisps of hay. Servants of 
 house-builders 1 rolled up awnings and cloth screens belong- 
 ing to tents and marquees. Leathern sacks were filled 
 to roundness with bundles of pegs. Store-room stewards 
 collected stores of platters. Many elephant attendants 2 were 
 pressed to convey the stores. The houses of the neighbour- 
 hood were blocked with clusters of cups and vessels, which 
 were lifted upon numerous elephants, while the riders kept 
 the animals steady. Wicked elephants were loaded with 
 a cargo of utensils hurriedly tossed upon them by travel- 
 practised domestics. Amid the laughter of the crowd help- 
 less corpulent bawds lagged as they were with difficulty 
 dragged along with hands and legs sprawling sideways 3 . 
 Many huge and savage elephants trumpeted as the free play 
 of their limbs was checked by the tightening of the girth- 
 bands of their gaudy housings. A jangling of bells taking 
 place in the elephant troop inflamed all ears with fever. 
 Camels, as sacks were set on their backs, bellowed at 
 the outrage. The carriages of the high-born nobles' wives 
 were thronged with roguish emissaries sent by princes of rank. 
 Elephant riders, deceived as to the time of starting, searched 
 for new servants. Highly honoured footmen led the fine 4 
 horses of the king's favourites. An array of gay gallants 
 employed thick unguents to draw circular lines of camphor 
 on their persons 5 . To the saddles of marshals were fas- 
 tened martingales with wooden figures of deer 6 , bells, and 
 reeds attached. [230] Apes were placed among troops of 
 horses whose grooms were entangled in a network of coiled 
 
 1 Grihacintaka = ? ' house-artists.' 
 
 2 Nallvahikah . karinam vusa(ghasa 1)grahananiyukto Jiastipako me- 
 thakhyah. Comm. 
 
 3 Or ' dragged by the hands of sideways-bowing servants ' ? 
 
 4 But the Kashmir arid Bombay texts read varavajini ' show horses ' 
 in place of varavajini. We might translate ' the king's favourite show 
 horses.' 
 
 5 The Comm. explains naslra as either (1) camphor, as in the text, 
 or (2) vanguard, which will require the rendering ' thick unguents fit 
 for the adornment of the vanguard.' 
 
 6 Of. Comm. lavanakalayl (sic) 'mrigakritir acedndm ddrumayi 
 kriyate. t
 
 CHAPTER VII. 201 
 
 
 
 reins 1 . Stablemen dragged along half-eaten shoots 2 to be 
 eaten at the morning manoeuvres. Loud grew the uproar of 
 foragers shouting to one another. Much crashing of stables 
 resounded as the young rearing horses swerved in the con- 
 fusion of starting. Women, hastening at the call of riders 
 whose elephants were in readiness, presented unguents for 
 the animals' heads. The low people of Ijie neighbourhood, 
 running up as the elephants and horses started, looted heaps 
 of abandoned grain. Donkeys ridden by throngs of boys 3 
 accompanied the march. Crowds of carts with creaking 
 wheels occupied the trampled roads. Oxen were laden with 
 utensils momentarily put upon them. Stout steers, driven 
 on in advance, lagged out of greed for fodder lying near 
 them*. In front were carried the kitchen appliances of the 
 great feudatories. First ran banner-bearers. Hundreds of 
 friends were spectators of the men's exits from the interior of 
 their somewhat contracted huts. Elephant keepers, assaulted 
 with clods by people starting from hovels which had been 
 crushed by the animals' feet, called the bystanders to witness 
 the assaults. Wretched families fled from grass cabins ruined 
 by collisions. Despairing 5 merchants saw the oxen bearing 
 their wealth flee before the onset of the tumult. A troop of 
 seraglio elephants advanced where the press of people gave 
 way before the glare of their runners' torches. Horsemen 
 shouted to dogs tied behind them. [231] Old people sang 
 the praises of tall Tangana horses which by the steady 
 motion of their quick footfalls provided a comfortable seat. 
 Deckhan riders 6 disconsolately contended with fallen mules. 
 The whole world was swallowed up in dust. 
 
 1 Avaraksiny ' aevabandhanarajjuh Comm. 
 
 2 The Coram.'s prdudhiko yogydzandrtham prasevako yo bukkana 
 iti prasiddhah seems to point to a reading prdudhike 'bags' for 
 prdrohake 'shoots.' 
 
 3 Or, taking celam as = vastram, ' loaded with bundles of clothes.' 
 
 4 The Comm. however says lambama.no ' gardabhaddso banijdni 
 karmakaro vd, which would require the translation ' greedy for &c. were 
 driven on by donkey boys.' Cf. lamband gardabhaddsdh p. 236,1. 9 
 (text). 
 
 ' Vidrdiidh sagokdh Conini. Cf. supra p. 68 note. 
 ' There are no mules in the Deckan,' Comm.
 
 202 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 At the hour of marching the front of the king's residence 
 became full of chieftains arriving from every side, mounted 
 on female elephants, with riders holding up bows striped 
 with gold leaf, swords grasped by confidential servants occupy- 
 ing the inner seats, chowries waved by betel bearers, sheafs of 
 javelins in cases under the charge of those who sat at the back, 
 and saddles curving with scimitars and bristling with golden 
 arrows 1 . Girths, confining on either side the ends of the 
 saddle, kept their cloth cushions motionless and gave a firm 
 seat. The clash of their swaying foot-rests augmented the 
 sound from the precious stones in their anklets 2 . Their shanks 
 were covered with their proper covering 3 of delicate tinted 
 silk. Their copper-coloured legs were chequered with 
 mud-stained wraps, and a heightened white was produced by 
 contrast with trousers soft and dark as bees 4 . They wore 
 tunics darkened by black diamonds glistening on bright 
 forms 5 ; Chinese cuirasses thrown over them 6 , coats and 
 doublets showing clusters of bright pearls, bodices speckled 
 with a mixture of various colours, and shawls of the shade 
 of parrots' tails. Fine waistbands 7 were wound about flanks 
 made thin by exercise. Servants ran up to loose dangling ear- 
 rings which had become entangled with pearl necklaces, tossed 
 by their movements. [232] Their ear-ornaments clashed 
 as they struck against earrings budding with gold filagree 
 work. The stalks of their ear-lotuses were fixed in their 
 turbans. Their heads were wrapt in shawls of a soft saffron 
 
 1 -nalaka- 1 
 
 2 Read pddabandha- ('pddakataka, 'anklet') with Comm. 
 
 3 The Kashmir text and the Comm. read -svasthdnasthagita- for 
 svasthaganasthagita-. 
 
 4 The sense here is far from clear. The Comm. writes pihgd -jah- 
 ghikd, anyejahghdlety ahull \ satuld ardhajahghikd ity, anye ardhajah- 
 ghdlety ahull. The Kashmir text reads sitdhgaih for picahgapingaih. 
 
 5 Eead mecakakancukaic. 
 
 The Kashmir text and the Comm. read apacita 'parihitam pujitam 
 vd. 
 
 1 (Jastam pattikdthorah katisutram ity arthah, Comm. : but the 
 Calcutta and Bombay texts read castram 'fine scimitars fastened to 
 &c.'
 
 CHAPTER VII. 203 
 
 
 
 hue. They had linen turbans 1 inlaid with bits of crest gems. 
 Clouds of bees formed as it were peacocks' feathers in their 
 topknots. Their elephants' housings wei bedabbled from 
 long travel. The recesses of the world were filled with 
 proud restless warriors who bounded along, gay with round 
 Kardaranga shields of various colours and chowries tossing 
 in front of them. The abysses of the .heavens resounded 
 with the noise of the tinkling golden ornaments upon hundreds 
 of prancing Kamboja horses. The sharp tapping of hundreds 
 of fiercely beaten lamba drums deafened the cavities of men's 
 ears. Their names were proclaimed aloud. And craning 
 footmen awaited their commands. 
 
 When the adorable sun arose, the signal conch rang out 
 repeatedly, announcing the moment of the king's arraying 
 the army. After a brief interval he came forth, riding 
 upon a female elephant, which by the play of its flapping 
 ears, swaying as it moved, seemed on this the king's first 
 expedition to be producing an assemblage of earth-support- 
 ing elephants 2 for a conquest of the different quarters. An 
 auspicious umbrella, distinguished by a turquoise rod and, 
 by reason of the bits of ruby inlaid at its top, glowing as in 
 anger at the sight of the sunrise this, and a tunic of new 
 silk, which clung about him, softer than the plantain fruit, as 
 if he were a second king of snakes, recalled the day of the 
 ambrosia churning when clouds of the Milk Ocean's foam 
 whitened the skies 3 . Raised while still young, like the tree 
 of paradise, to the station of an Indra, he veneered the heavens 
 with a powder for placing the whole world at his disposal in 
 the shape of the pollen from the bunches of flowers in his 
 ear-wreath, which was tossed abroad by the wind of the 
 flapping chowries. [233] His splendour seemed to drink up 
 
 1 The Kashmir text and the Comm. read for -colaih -kholaih : 
 kholah ' cirastram, ' helmets ' or ' turbans.' 
 
 2 I.e. by reason of the reverberations of the sound. 
 
 3 Or punningly ' wearing robes white as the Milk Ocean's foam.' By 
 a complicated series of puns the king is compared to the day of the 
 Ocean churning. The white umbrella is the white-clouded sky and he 
 with his white robes is the serpent (^esa whirled in the Milky Ocean. 
 Read lohittiyat(ay}(i with MS. A.
 
 204 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 t 
 
 the very rising sun, whose golden image appeared in his 
 fronting crest-gem. His lip, smeared deep with betel and 
 vermilion, was like^a seal assigning away the various island con- 
 tinents in fief to loyal affection 1 : while in the guise of a horizon 
 of light from pearl necklaces, he forced chowries upon the 
 very heavens. With his brows capriciously raised a third 
 part in reviewing |;he royal company, he seemed to enjoin 
 tribute upon even the three worlds. The long rampart of 
 his arms appeared to embrace the seven great ocean fosses 
 with protecting love. Tightly embraced by Glory, having 
 with her all the sweetness of the milky ocean, he was, as if 
 made of ambrosia, drunk in by thousands of eyes upraised 
 in curiosity by the people of the camp. The weight of his 
 great qualities seemed to sink him deep in royal hearts all 
 moist with affection ; the flood of his magnificence to anoint 
 the very marrow 2 of the beholders. Like the Lord of the 
 Immortals, he appeared busy in wiping away the stain of 
 his elder brother's 3 slaughter : like Prithu, sweeping away all 
 the gathered kings 4 with intent to cleanse the earth: like the 
 sun, preceded by thousands of ushers, like rays, heralding his 
 appearance 5 and clearing the way, nimbly moving in deft 
 performance of their duty, stern in enforcing order, effecting 
 as it were the seizure of the very regions of space, which were 
 hidden by the press of frightened fleeing people, teaching the 
 very wind decorum by swallowing up his goings in a mass of 
 waving pennons, expelling the very sun's rays, which were 
 repelled by a cloud of dust upraised by hurrying feet, keeping 
 aloof the very day, which was hurled aside by the light from 
 a foliage of golden maces. 
 
 Then as the company of kings bowed, with bodies duti- 
 fully bent down, hearts thrilling with fear, heads all agleam 
 with the light of golden diadems whose gems were loosened 
 
 1 Anuruga may punningly mean ' redness.' 
 
 2 Majyanniva, majjdmapi, MS. 
 
 3 Indra killed Vi9varupa, the three-headed son of Tvastri, who was 
 agraja in the sense of being a Brahman. 
 
 4 Or 'hills,' cf. Visnu-P. i. 13. 82. 
 
 5 Lit. 'causing light,' or 'crying Ho! people.' The other adjectives 
 have a punning application to the sun.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 205 
 
 
 by their motions, and crests emitting dust from tossing 
 
 flowers, [234] the rays of their blazing crest jewels, waving 
 downwards, aslant, and upwards, seemed like flocks of jays 
 engaged in producing fair omens 1 . As they soared like 
 courtyard peacocks to the sky, now dense with cloud-masses 
 of dust, it was as if the sky-regents were fixing at their 
 doors festoons of soft sprays from the tree of paradise 2 . 
 Thus welcomed with bows, the hero of heroes, purchasing 
 as it were the kings' souls in the shape of adoration, 
 distributed among them tokens of his favour, such as quarter 
 glances, side-glances, full glances, raised eyebrows, half-smiles, 
 jests, plays upon words, inquiries after their health, return 
 greetings, careless movements of the brow, and instructions, 
 according to their several deserts. 
 
 The king having started, the echo of musical instruments 
 spread loudly hither and thither about the four quarters of 
 heaven, like the snorting of sky elephants affrighted at the 
 tumult. As, angered against their brethren in the sky, 
 the elephants emitted their triple flow, the tracks of the 
 ichor torrent, all black with bees, appeared to pour thousands 
 of Kalindi's rills 3 . The sun's radiance being crimsoned 
 with masses of vermilion powder, the birds 4 feared that the 
 sunset was come. The booming of the drums was lost in the 
 noise of elephants' ear-flapping, strengthened by the uproar 
 of bees. A host of waving chowries swallowed up the whole 
 totality of things moving and motionless. The sky became 
 an unbroken white with clots of foam, pure as Sindhuvara 
 chaplets, tossed by the breath of the cavalcade. Forests of 
 umbrellas, with upright golden stocks and white as massed 
 
 1 Cf. Malati Madhava, Wilson's trans. ' Hindu Theatre,' n. p. 66 
 
 'As the countless jewels shoot 
 Their blaze into the sky, the heavens reflect 
 The countless hues, as if the peacock's plumage, 
 Or the mixed colours of the painted jay, 
 Played through the air &c.' 
 
 2 The clouds represent the doors, the colours of the gems the 
 leaves of the tree of paradise. Read vandanamdla. 
 
 3 The waters of the Kalindl or Yamuna being dark-blue in colour. 
 
 4 I.e., as the Comm. explains, ' the ruddy-geese.'
 
 206 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 
 
 bunches of Tagaras, drank up the day, and the eight regions 
 were lost behind their close array. Blinded by a night of 
 dust, the day blossomed out in a morning light from lines of 
 coronet gems. The heavens were deafened by the din which 
 the horses made with their clanging golden and silvern rows 
 of chariot ornaments. As if to quench utterly the fire of foe- 
 men's valour, [235J1 the elephants bedewed the circle of the 
 quarters with a hot drizzle of ichor. The light of crest gems, 
 flickering like lightning, stole from all eyes the power to 
 open. The king himself was surprised at his forces, and casting 
 his eyes in every direction beheld an army starting out of its 
 encampment, in appearance like the animate world tumbling 
 at an aeon's commencement from Visnu's belly, the ocean 
 overflooding the world in a stream from Agastya's mouth, the 
 Narmada's flood rolling a thousand rills after being dammed 
 and let loose again by Arjuna's thousand arms. Meanwhile a 
 multitudinous babble was going on as follows: 'March on, 
 my son ! ' ' Good sir, why do you lag ? Here is a galloping 
 horse.' ' Friend, you hobble like a lame man, while the 
 vanguard here is coming furiously upon us.' ' Why are you 
 hurrying the camel ? Don't you see, you pitiless brute 1 , 
 the child lying there ? ' ' Ramila, darling, take care not to 
 get lost in the dust ! ' ' Don't you see the barley-meal sack 
 leaks ? What's the hurry, Go-ahead ? ' ' Ox, you are leaving 
 the track and running among the horses.' ' Are you coming, 
 fishwife ? ' ' You female elephant, you want to go among 
 the males.' ' Hullo, the peasack is awry and dribbling : you 
 don't heed my bawling.' 'You're going astray down a 
 precipice : quietly, you self-willed brute.' ' Porridge man, 
 your jar is broken.' ' Laggard, you can suck the sugar cane 
 on the way.' ' Quiet 2 your bull.' ' How long, slave, are you 
 to gather jujube fruit ? ' ' We have a long way to go ; why 
 do you linger, Dronaka, now ? this long expedition is at a 
 
 1 Nihfuka here and in c. viu. p. 263 1. 10 and 276 last line (Bomb. 
 Ed.) = ' pitiless.' (^uka in the sense of compassion is quoted by lexico- 
 graphers, cf. B. and R. s.v. 
 
 2 The Kashmir reading prasaraya is perhaps preferable ; ' drive on 
 your bull ' with the preceding sentence.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 207 
 
 
 standstill for one rascal 1 .' 'The road in front is .all ups 
 
 and downs : old fellow, see you don't break the sugar 
 kettle.' 'The load of grain is too hea-y, Gandaka; the 
 bullock can't carry it.' ' Quick, slave, with a knife cut 
 a mouthful of fodder from this bean field : [236] who can 
 tell the fate of his crop when we are gone' 2 ?' 'Keep 
 away your oxen, fellow ! this field is guarded by watchmen.' 
 ' The wagon is stuck fast : harness a strong pulling steer to 
 the yoke.' ' Madman 3 , you are crushing women : are your 
 eyes burst ? ' ' You confounded elephant driver, you are 
 playing with my elephant's trunk.' ' Trample him, you 
 savage brute.' ' Brother, you are tripping in the mire.' ' O 
 friend of the distressed, raise this ox from the mud.' ' This 
 way, boy ! in the thick of the dense elephant squad there is 
 no getting out.' 
 
 Here groups of elephant men, bachelors, knaves, donkey 
 boys, camp followers, thieves, serving men, rogues, and 
 grooms, sated with an easily acquired meal of plentiful readily 
 pounded remnants of grain, expressed their approval of the 
 camp in bold 4 boisterous jubilation 5 . There poor 6 unat- 
 tended nobles, over- whelmed 7 with the toil and worry of 
 conveying their provisions upon fainting oxen provided by 
 wretched village householders and obtained with difficulty, 
 themselves grasped their domestic appurtenances, grumbling 
 as follows : ' Only let this one expedition be gone and 
 done with.' ' Let it go to the bottom of hell.' ' An end to 
 this world of thirst.' ' Good luck to this servitude of ours.' 
 ' Goodbye to this camp, the pinnacle of all unpleasantness.' 
 Here swiftly running in a line, as if tied together as it were 
 
 1 Head with MS. A nistheyam. 
 
 2 Or ' when people are away.' 
 
 3 Yaksapalita, may, however, be a proper name. 
 
 4 Atidirdh -pragalbhah, 'bold,' Comm. who also suggests rdndlrah 
 ' harlots' sons.' 
 
 5 Read kelikaldih (not kekikaldih) with the Kashmir text and the 
 Comm. 
 
 6 The Kashmir text and the Comm. here insert -vriddha-, ' old.' 
 
 7 Gatasamyogair utpannacittaksobhair, l distracted,' Comm. Read 
 -aydsdvegdgatasamyogair.
 
 208 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 on board a ship gliding down a very rapid current [237] were 
 the king's hired porters, cany ing black hard clubs as heavy 
 as trunks of trees? bearing golden footstools, waterpots 1 , cups, 
 spittoons, and baths, pushing every one aside in irrepressible 
 pride at being in charge of their sovereign's property with 
 himself at hand : also bearers of kitchen appurtenances 
 with goats attached to thongs of pig-skin, a tangle of hanging 
 sparrows and forequarters of venison, a collection of young 
 rabbits, potherbs, and bamboo shoots, buttermilk pots pro- 
 tected by wet seals on one part of their mouths which were 
 covered with white cloths, baskets containing a chaos of fire- 
 trays, ovens, simmering pans, spits, copper saucepans, and 
 frying-pans 2 . Here, with cries of 'The labour is ours, but 
 when paytime comes some other rascals will appear,' village 
 servants, set to scare on 3 the feeble oxen tripping at every 
 step, were indiscriminately badgering the whole body of 
 nobles. There the whole country side had come in eager 
 haste from both directions out of curiosity to see the king, 
 and fools of grant-holders, issuing from the villages on the 
 route and headed by aged elders with uplifted waterpots, 
 pressed furiously near in crowds with presents of curds, 
 molasses, candied sugar, and flowers in baskets, demanding 
 the protection of the crops 4 : flying before their terror of irate 
 and savage chamberlains, they yet in spite of distance, tripping, 
 and falling, kept their eyes fixed upon the king, bringing to 
 light imaginary wrongs of former governors, lauding hundreds 
 of past officials, [238] reporting ancient misdeeds of knaves. 
 Others, contented with the appointed overseers, were bawling 
 their eulogies : ' The king is Dharma incarnate ' ; others, de- 
 
 1 The Kashmir text reads paryanka ' palanquins ', and the Comm. 
 karakas 'tdmbuladhdrah, 'betel-box.' 
 
 2 The sense of the Sanskrit words is here in several cases 
 doubtful. 
 
 3 For khetane the Kashmir text and the Comm. read skhalane pre- 
 rane, which we translate. For khetacetakaih the Kashmir text has 
 khalacetakaih ' rascally servants.' 
 
 4 The printed texts here insert some words which recur below ; 
 v. note on next page and Appendix,
 
 CHAPTER VII. 209 
 
 
 
 spondent at the plunder of their ripe grain, had come forth 
 wives and all to bemoan their estates, and to the imminent 
 risk of their lives, grief dismissing fear,* had begun to 
 censure their sovereign, crying ' Where's the king?' 'What 
 right has he to be king ? ' ' What a king ! ' Hares 1 ran 
 about hither and thither, pursued by furiously running crowds 
 armed with clubs, and struck at every pac^ like polo balls 2 : 
 others were caught by throngs coming upon them all at once 
 and torn in pieces, while others 3 by skill in plunging between 
 the legs of divers animals and eluding many riders' dogs by 
 dodging, managed in spite of showers of clods, clubs, sticks, 
 axes, stakes, spades, hoes, knives, and poles to effect their 
 escape, screaming the while with all the energy left them. 
 Elsewhere a cloud of dust was raised by bands of running 
 foragers with loins a mass of fodder bundles and grey with 
 chaff, sickles swinging from one part of their ancient saddles, 
 loose dirty blankets made of bits of old wool, and, dangling in 
 tatters, torn jerkins presented by their masters. In one 
 place riders were intently occupied in rehearsing the ap- 
 proaching Gauda war 4 . Here all the people, busy with 
 orders to fill up muddy places, were cutting bundles of 
 grass. There shrieking quarrelsome Brahmans, mounted 
 on the tops of trees, were being expelled by the rods of 
 chamberlains standing on the ground. There village dogs, 
 entrapped by bits of food 5 , were being tied in leashes. 
 Elsewhere again horses, driven by princes emulous for 
 victory, enlivened the scene by their collisions. 
 
 Thus the camp, exciting interest by manifold incidents, 
 [239] was like the doom's-day ocean gone abroad to swallow 
 the world at a gulp, hell formed to embower great serpents 6 , 
 Kailasa created for the dwelling of the supreme. Like the 
 
 1 Cf. Hdt. iv. 134. 
 
 2 Qirigudakaih : cf. B. and R. giriguda, 'play -ball' and reff. The 
 Comm. gives the meaning ' clod.' 
 
 3 Insert anyair with MS. A. 
 
 4 The Sanskrit compound here is almost identical with that omitted 
 above : v. note on previous page. 
 
 5 Read grasdkrista for grdmakrista with the Kashmir text. 
 
 6 Or ' kings.' ' 
 
 C. 14
 
 210 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 storehouse whence the Prajapatis brought forth the four 
 ages, it showed a succession of all creatures : like austerities, 
 it was replete *vith toil, yet like them bringing the noble 
 onwards in their way. 
 
 With such a spectacle before his eyes Harsa arrived at the 
 encampment. Reaching his quarters, he heard the stout- 
 armed princes abound expressing their zeal in such talk as 
 this : ' It was the famous 1 Mandhatri who opened the way to 
 world-conquest. With the irresistible onset of his chariot 
 Raghu in a brief time set the world at peace. Seconded by 
 his bow, Pandu imposed tribute on the array of kings 
 haughty in the pride of inherited prowess, nobility, and 
 wealth. Having crossed the realm of China, the Pandava 
 Arjuna, in order to complete the Rajasuya sacrifice, subdued 
 Mount Hemakuta, whose caves resounded with the twang of 
 the bow-ends of the angry Gandharvas. No obstacle save 
 resolution do the conquests of heroes know. Though shield- 
 ed by Himalaya with all its snows, the impotent Druma 2 , 
 fearing a trial of strength, bore like a servant the exactions 
 of the Kuru king. Not too ambitious, surely, of conquest 
 were the ancients, seeing that in a small part of the earth 
 there were numerous monarchs such as Bhagadatta ; Danta- 
 vakra. Kratha, Karna, Kaurava, (^upala, Salva, Jarasandha, 
 and Sindhuraja. King Yudhisthira was easily content since 
 he endured quite near at hand the kingdom of the Kimpu- 
 rushas, when the conquests of Dhananjaya had made the 
 earth to shake. A faineant was Candako^a 3 , who, having 
 subdued the earth, penetrated not into the Amazonian realm. 
 How insignificant is the distance between the Snowy Range 
 and Gandhamadana ! The land of the Turuskas is to the 
 brave but a cubit 4 . Persia is only a span. The Qaka realm 
 but a rabbit's track. In the Pariyatra country, incapable of 
 
 1 Read tatrabhavata (not -am) with the Kashmir text and the 
 Comm. 
 
 2 Druma was the king of the Kinnaras. 
 
 3 There is an oxymoron in the expression alasac Candakogah, since 
 caiida means ' violent.' 
 
 4 Read tifhu for kisku with the Kashmir text.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 211 
 
 
 
 returning a blow, a gentle march alone is needed. 
 [240] The Deckhan is easily won at the price of valour. 
 Mount Malaya is hard by the Dardura rotsk, whose cave 
 temples are pleasant with the .fragrance of sandal branches 
 tossed by the wind from the southern ocean's waves ; and 
 Mahendra joins Malaya.' 
 
 At the door of his lodgings Harsa graciously dismissed 
 the chiefs on either side by motions of his brows ; then 
 entering, he dismounted and retired to a seat in the outer 
 audience tent, where, after dismissing the assembly, he re- 
 mained for a short time. Anon the chamberlain, resting 
 both his hands on the earth, announced that Hamsavega, a 
 confidential messenger sent by the heir apparent of Assam 1 , 
 waited at the gate. 'Admit him at once' the king graci- 
 ously commanded. Inspired by courtesy and respect for the 
 king, the chamberlain went forth in person; and soon 
 Hamsavega, whose very exterior, delighting the eye with 
 graceful flexions, belied the weight of his qualities, entered 
 the palace in courtly style, followed by a long train of men 
 carrying munificent presents. While still at some distance 
 he embraced the courtyard with his five limbs 2 in homage. 
 At the king's gracious summons to draw near he approached 
 at a run and buried his forehead in the footstool : the king 
 having laid a hand on his back, he approached again 3 and once 
 more bowed. Finally he assumed a position not far away, 
 indicated by a kindly glance from the king, who, turning his 
 body a little aside, sent away the chowrie-bearer standing 
 between, and face to face inquired familiarly, ' Hamsavega, 
 is the noble prince well ? ' ' At this moment,' was the reply, 
 ' he is well, since your majesty so respectfully inquires with 
 a voice bathed in affection and moist with a flow of friend- 
 ship.' After a momentary pause he went on in courtly terms : 
 [241] ' Excepting only a heart replete with respect, a present 
 worthy of your majesty, who is a vessel for the grandeur of 
 
 1 Pragjyotisa. - I.e. hands, feet, and head. 
 
 3 For the construction nyastahastah pristhe pdrthivena cf. Raghu. 
 V. vi. 20 nripdndm crufavrittavamcu, for crutanripavrittavamca. 
 
 142
 
 212 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 governing the four oceans, is with difficulty attainable in the 
 world. Nevertheless my master, in his endeavour to add 
 substance to rfis message, has fulfilled the destiny jof this 
 umbrella derived from Varuna, a family heirloom Abhoga 
 its name by consigning it to a worthy charge. It mani- 
 fests many wonder-moving miracles. Every day, to give 
 coolness to its s^iade, the moon's rays, from their stored- 
 up thousands, penetrate it one by one. This having en- 
 tered, pure sweet showers of moon-bright water, skilled to 
 teach the lore of chattering teeth, drip at will and as long as 
 desired from its jewelled ribs. Whoso, like Varuna, is or is 
 to be sovereign of the four oceans, him and no other does it 
 honour with its shade. Fire does not burn it, nor wind bear 
 it away, nor water wet it, nor dust defile it, nor age corrode 
 it. Let your majesty honour it with a glance. My com- 
 mission you shall hear 1 in confidence.' So speaking, he 
 turned round and commanded one of his own men to rise 
 and display it. 
 
 The words were scarcely spoken when the man rose, raised 
 it aloft, and drew it from its wrapper of white bark-silk. Even 
 as it was drawn forth in its exceedingly white splendour, it 
 seemed as if Qiva had burst into a wild laugh, the circle of 
 Qesa's flattened hoods had leapt gleaming up from hell, the 
 Milk Ocean had stood fixed in circular shape in the sky, an 
 autumn array of clouds had joined company in the firmament, 
 Pitamaha's swan equipage had rested with poised wings in 
 the ether, the day of the moon's birth from Atri's eye had 
 appeared to the people with all the charm of its disc of white 
 effulgence, the instant of the lotus' uprising from Nara- 
 yana's navel had been revealed, the delight of gazing to 
 satiety upon the moonlit twilight had been granted to 
 the eye, a vast round sand-isle of the heavenly Ganges had 
 emerged in the bosom of the sky, and the day been 
 exchanged for the full-moon night. [242] Distressed 2 by 
 apprehension of a moonrise, the pairs of ruddy-geese in the 
 
 1 Read crosyasi (for frosyati) with the Kashmir text. So the MS. 
 
 2 Read duyamdna (for huyamana) with the Kashmir text.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 213 
 
 
 
 neighbouring lotus pools slowly and softly parted, dropping 
 the ends of lotus fibres from their busy beaks. Closing their 
 voiceless lips in fear of a gathering of autiftnn clouds, the 
 groups of domestic peacocks turned away in despondency. 
 In a mad joy at the moon, opening their petals with a 
 broad gleaming smile, the white lotus beds awoke. 
 
 With wonderment in their minds the kjjig and chiefs, as 
 their glance mounted up in the line of the handle, gazed 
 with awe upon that great world-marvel of an umbrella, 
 which might be compared to the triple world's forehead 
 mark, the White Island's babyhood, the autumn moon's 
 partial incarnation, Dharma's heart, the moon- world's palace, 
 Empire's mouth with its white circle of teeth, the sky's 
 circular hair-parting showing a white line of pearls in 
 array 1 , the moon's halo with its white centre of great efful- 
 gence, Airavata's round ears at rest in all the loveliness of 
 their white smiling shells, the world-adored track of Visnu 
 all pale with Ganges' white eddies 2 . Tied around its rim was 
 a circle of small chowries, made of lotus fibre from Manasa 
 and resembling the flames of light from Varuna's diadem. To 
 its point was attached for an emblem a hamsa with pinions 
 poised as if waiting anxiously to hear the tinkle of imperial 
 glory's anklets. Its charming stock was a smooth miracu- 
 lously stiffened lotus root from Mandakim, like a Vasuki with 
 closed hoods, converted to a rod. Its whiteness seemed to 
 cleanse the Zodiac, its outgoing flood of radiance to veil 
 the day, its height to depress the heavens. It was like an 
 ascent of all fair omens, a white bower for Glory, a cluster 
 of flowers on the tree-trunk of Brahma 3 , the moonlight's round 
 navel, the white smile of Fame, the gathered foam of the 
 water of all swords' edges, the nucleus of heroism's splendou r. 
 
 [243] This having been first inspected by the king, the 
 servants in due order displayed the remaining presents. 
 Among them were famous ornaments inherited from Bhaga- 
 
 1 The reference is to the galaxy. 
 
 a The Ganges is said to issue forth from Visnu's foot. 
 
 3 Sc. the world. _
 
 214 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 ( 
 
 datta and other renowned kings, ornaments which crimsoned 
 the heavenly spaces with the light of the finest gems : the 
 prime of sheeny crest jewels : pearl necklaces which seemed 
 the source of the Milk Ocean's whiteness : silken towels, 
 pure as the autumn moon's light, rolled up in baskets of 
 variously coloured reeds : quantities of pearl, shell, sapphire, 
 and other drinking vessels, embossed by skilful artists : 
 loads of Kardaranga leather bucklers with charming borders, 
 bright gold-leaf work winding about them, and cases 
 to preserve their colour : soft loin-cloths smooth as birch 
 bark : pillows of samuruka leather 1 , and other kinds of 
 smooth figured textures : cane stools with the bark 
 yellow as the ear of millet : volumes of fine writing with 
 leaves made from aloe bark and of the hue of the ripe pink 
 cucumber: luscious milky betel nut fruit, hanging from its 
 sprays and green as young harlta doves; thick bamboo 
 tubes containing mango sap and black aloes oil, and fenced 
 round with sheaths of Kapotika leaves, tawny as an angry 
 ape's cheeks : bundles contained in sacks of woven silk and 
 consisting of black aloe dark as pounded collyrium, Go$lrsa 
 sandal stealing the fiercest inflammation away, camphor cool, 
 pure, and white as bits of ice, scent bags of musk oxen, 
 Kakkola sprays, clove flower bunches, and nutmeg clusters, 
 all bristling with masses of ripe fruit: cups of ullaka", 
 diffusing a fragrance of sweetest wine : [244] heaps of black 
 and white chowries: carved boxes of panels for painting, 
 with brushes and gourds 3 attached: curious pairs of Kin- 
 naras*, ourang-outangs, jlvanjivaka birds, and mermen, with 
 necks bound in golden fetters : musk deer scenting the space 
 all round them with their perfume : female camara deer> 
 used to running about the house: parrots, garikas, and 
 
 1 Samuruka is a kind of deer. 
 
 2 The Comru. doubts whether this is the juice of a kind of fragrant 
 fruit or a kind of decoction. 
 
 3 Sc. to hold the paints. 
 
 4 The Kinnaras are described as mythical beings in the shape of 
 men with horses' heads, perhaps originally a kind of ape. Some species 
 of ape may be meant here.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 215 
 
 t 
 
 other birds enclosed in gold-painted bamboo cages and 
 chattering copious wit: partridges in cages of coral: and 
 rings of hippopotamus ivory, encrusted with rows of huge 
 pearls from the brows of elephants 1 . 
 
 Delighted at the sight of the umbrella, the king mentally 
 welcomed it as a fair omen on his first march, and addressed 
 himself in friendly terms to Hamsavega, saying : ' I marvel 
 not, fair sir, to obtain from the prince, rich in every precious 
 gift, as the moon was got from the ocean, this great umbrella, 
 fit to be held above the head of the Supreme. The first 
 lessons of the great are in conferring favours.' The collection 
 of presents having next been removed, after a moment's pause, 
 ' You require rest, Hamsavega,' he said, and dismissed him 
 to the chamberlain's house. Rising himself, he bathed, and 
 then, seeking fair auspices, entered eastward the shade of 
 Abhoga. 
 
 The very moment he entered, such a coolness arose 
 from the shade that the moon seemed to have become his 
 crest jewel, dew-dropping moon-stones seemed to kiss his 
 forehead, camphor dust to melt upon his eyes, a frost from 
 drops of dissolving snow to form pearl necklaces, a rain of 
 Haricandana juice to fall without a pause upon his breast, his 
 heart became cool as if made of night-lotuses, an invisible melt- 
 ing ice seemed to anoint his limbs. Astonished he thought, 
 [245] 'What but an undying alliance could be a fit return 
 for this present?' At the hour of dining he sent to Ham- 
 savega the remains of his toilet sandal enclosed in a polished 
 cocoanut wrapped in a white cloth, a pair of robes touched 
 by his person, a waistband called Pariveca whereof one part 2 
 showed clusters of clear pearls like autumn stars, an ear- 
 ornament called Tarangaka, reddening the day with the 
 light of a precious ruby, and a plentiful repast. In this 
 and other proceedings the day was spent. 
 
 Anon the light-wreathed sun, his form dimmed by 
 the great masses of dust from the encamped array, 
 
 1 These pearls are often alluded to in Sanskrit poetry, e.g. Kumara- 
 S. i. 6. 
 
 2 Or perhaps ' with the name ' Parivega ' formed by groups of &c. J
 
 216 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 i 
 
 dipped in the western ocean, as if to cleanse his polluted 
 frame. As though to announce to the god the presentation 
 of the umbrella^ Abhoga, he departed to Varuiia's quarter. 
 By the closing of all the day-lotus beds the earth with all her 
 isles seemed prematurely to clasp hands in obeisance before 
 her lord. Like a glow of affection for the king, the twilight 
 flush, akin to the proffered homage of the whole animate 
 creation, took the world in its embrace. The eastern heaven 
 grew dark, as if alarmed at the Gauda's sin. Beneath the 
 gathering gloom the earth became a black expanse, as though 
 the fire of all other kings' splendour had been quenched. 
 The heavens strewed thick their constellations bright as 
 opening Tograra-blossoms, like flowers for the twilight levee 
 of the ruler of the earth. Dust-grey 1 in the sky shone Aira- 
 vata's track, as though he had rushed towards the fragrance 
 of the ichor of the scent elephants in the camp. Abandoning 
 Indra's quarter, as if infected by the sniff of the angered 
 tiger-king, the lover of Rohini 2 mounted the firmament. 
 Over the ten quarters the moon's rays sped, thrilling, like 
 rumoured invasion, the hearts of proud ladies. Agitated 
 in the play of their creatures*, the lords of rivers shook 
 as if sick with terror at the emperor's new march. Leaving 
 all the realms of space, the weft of darkness passed into 
 the cave hollows, like anxiety into the hearts of kings 4 . 
 [246] From the night-lotus beds, as from the eyes of hostile 
 neighbouring chiefs, sleep waned away. 
 
 At that hour the sovereign, who was lying beneath an 
 extended awning, dismissed his servants with the words 
 ' Begone now,' and then to Hamsavega said ' Explain your 
 errand.' With a low bow the other began his narrative : 
 'In former times, your majesty, the holy earth, having 
 through union with the Boar become pregnant, gave birth 
 
 1 The dusty colour is taken as due to the dust of Airavata's speed. 
 
 2 Rohiniramanas, ' the moon,' may also mean ' bull,' which is sup- 
 posed to be frightened by the tiger's scent. The tiger-king is Harsa. 
 
 3 Or otherwise ' the lords of armies in all the functions of their 
 spirits.' The ' lords of rivers ' are the oceans. 
 
 4 Or with the usual pun ' mountains.'
 
 CHAPTER VII. 217 
 
 in hell to a son called Naraka. Before this hero's feet, while 
 he was still in his boyhood, the crest-jewels of the lords of 
 nations were apt to bow. Without the command of this stout- 
 armed ruler of the world the sun himself, though scanned 
 with angrily bent side-glances by the female cakravakas of 
 the domestic lotus tanks, went not to his setting, and 
 Aruna reversed his chariot wheels in feaj. It was he who 
 won this umbrella, this external heart of Varuna. In the 
 posterity of this hero, when many great Meru-like kings, 
 such as Bhagadatta. Puspadatta, and Vajradatta, had passed 
 away, there was born a Maharajadhiraja named Susthi- 
 ravarman, a splendid hero famous in the world as Mriganka : 
 great-grandson of Maharaja Bhutivarman, grandson of Caii- 
 dramukhavarman, and son of Sthitivarman, who wore the 
 unshaken majesty of Kailasa. This king was born with a 
 pride which seemed unborn. Even as a boy he dealt out 
 presents to all Brahmans through affection, and reverses 1 to 
 all enemies through hate. In him was seen at its best the 
 so unattainable sweetness of Glory, that child of the salt 
 ocean. For he took away the conch-shells of the lords of 
 armies 2 , not their jewels ; grasped the stability of the earth, 
 not its tribute ; seized the majesty of monarchs 3 , not their 
 hardness. To this auspiciously named king was born by his 
 queen QyamadevI a son and heir Bhaskaradyuti, otherwise 
 named Bhaskaravarman, as Bhisma was born to Qantanu by 
 Bhaglrathl. Now from childhood upwards it was this prince's 
 firm resolution never to do homage to any being except the 
 lotus feet of Qiva. Such an ambition, so difficult of attain- 
 ment in the three worlds, may be reached by one of three 
 means, by a conquest of the whole earth, [247] by death, or by 
 a friend like your majesty, peerless hero of the world, burning 
 the heavens with a blaze of impetuous valour. The friend- 
 ship of monarchs again commonly has regard to utility. 
 
 1 Pratigraha is used in a double sense, (1) = presents given to Brah- 
 mans, (2) = the rear of an army. 
 
 2 Or 'lords of rivers,' = oceans. The use of conchs was a sign of 
 
 independent rule. 
 
 3 Or ' mountains.'
 
 218 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 And what possible contribution of utility could incline your 
 majesty to friendship ? Wealth is but a remote consideration 
 to your majesty, whose aim is to amass fame. One who 
 relies upon his arm alone has no occasion for desiring the 
 assistance of his other members, much less of a stranger. 
 To one greedy to seize the four combined oceans what 
 gratification is th^ere even in the proffered gift of a part of 
 the earth ? Even the alluring present of a beauteous maiden 
 is nothing to one whose eye wantons with the sight of glory's 
 lotus face. Seeing, therefore, that ours is an object attainable 
 only by impossible expedients, let your majesty, graciously 
 regarding a mere petition, hear. The sovereign of Assam 
 desires with your majesty an imperishable alliance, like that 
 of Kuvera with the foe of Kama 1 , that of Dacaratha with 
 Indra, that of Dhananjaya with Krisna, of Vaikartana 2 with 
 Duryodhana, of the Malaya wind with the month Madhava. 
 If your majesty's heart too is inclined to friendship and 
 can comprehend that friends enter upon a slavery disguised 
 under a synonym, then enough ! Commission me to say 
 that the sovereign of Assam may enjoy your majesty's, as 
 Mandara Visnu's, hearty embrace, so that the crushed bits of 
 bracelet 3 gems may grind as they clash against the jewelled 
 edges of great arm rings. In this moonlike face, pouring forth 
 a ceaseless ambrosial flood of pure beauty and magnificence, 
 let the glory of the sovereign of Assam at length indulge 4 to 
 satiety the longing of her eyes. If your majesty accepts not 
 his love, command me what to report to my master.' 
 
 When he ceased speaking, the king, who from previous 
 reports of the prince's great qualities had conceived a very 
 high respect for him and whose affection had been raised to a 
 climax by the affair of the umbrella Abhoga, replied almost 
 bashfully with profound respect : ' How could the mind of 
 one like me possibly even in a dream show aversion, 
 Hamsavega, when such a great and noble spirit, such a 
 
 1 I.e. Civa, Cf. Megha-D. 76, a. 2 Karna, the son of the sun. 
 
 3 Kataka by a pun ( = 'the slope of a hill') applies also to Visim 
 and the mountain. 
 
 4 Or with the Kashmir reading ksalayatu ' bathe her eyes.'
 
 CHAPTER VII. 219 
 
 
 
 treasure of virtue and captain of the worthy, bestows his love 
 as an absent friend upon me ? Though keen to scorch the 
 whole world, the rays of him of the piercrhg splendour fall 
 cool upon the lotus bed that gladdens the eyes of the 
 universe. [248] Who are we, bought by the multitude of 
 his virtues, to be called friends ? the ten regions are the 
 unhired servants of the sweet qualities <jf the noble. Who 
 needed to intercede with the moon on behalf of the night 
 lotus, which exhibits its likeness in a nature absolutely bright 
 and open x ? The prince's design too is excellent. Stout- 
 armed himself, with me, a devotee of the bow, for his friend, to 
 whom save Qiva need he pay homage ? This resolve of his 
 increases my affection. The heart respects the lion, though 
 a brute, for his pride : how much more a friend ! Therefore 
 use your endeavours that my yearning to see the prince may 
 not torment me long.' 
 
 Hamsavega responded : ' What else remains ? Even 
 your majesty's generous words give a pain to my noble master. 
 The good are timid of dependence, and herein especially our 
 haughty Vaisnava line. But not to mention my master's 
 family, let your majesty consider : W T hen towards servitude 
 inclined by overwhelming calamity, like a wicked mother, old 
 in years ; spurred on by greed like an unsatisfied wife ; harass- 
 ed by ill imaginings with their manifold cravings, begotten 
 of youth, like bad children; beholding circumstances over-ripe, 
 like an elderly daughter in his house, and suggesting recourse 
 to another man ; urged to exertion by all planets of distress, 
 like poor kinsmen ; pursued by foul deeds, like aged servants, of 
 long standing and not to be shaken off: when thus, cherishing 
 in his heart in vain the desire of grasping the whole round of 
 delights, as though the power of all his senses were blighted, a 
 man makes up his mind to enter a palace, as a malefactor 2 a 
 
 1 The argument is that every one, however exalted, is at once at- 
 tracted by that which is perfect in itself, the sun by the day lotus, 
 the ten regions by the noble, the moon by the night lotus, and I by 
 your king. 
 
 2 The notion of the malefactor and the causes which lead him to 
 crime runs through the whole of the preceding.
 
 220 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 t 
 
 cowdung fire, to the burning torment of all his frame, 
 first of all, withering like a festoon spray at the very portal, 
 he has the distress of being shut out by lackeys. 
 Entering at the door, he is beaten by others like a deer, 
 dashed away time after time, like the dummy in elephants' 
 practice, by buffets from the hands of a group of lackeys 1 , 
 downbent through^ greed of wealth, like a tree branch 
 over a treasure. No petitioner, he is turned away and shot 
 forth [249] by the mean 2 , till he flies into desperation : no 
 thorn, he is plucked away, as he clings to the feet, and 
 hastily hurled aside : no Kama, he is annihilated by the 
 scorching glance of a master 3 angered by his unseasonable 
 approach. Like an ape, he changes not colour when angrily 
 reprimanded : like a Brahman-slayer, he performs degrading 
 offices, forbidden to touch, his shaven poll seared by daily 
 obeisances : like Ti^anku, he stands day and night with 
 downbent head, excluded from both worlds 4 : like a horse, 
 he submits for a mouthful of food to be driven at will 5 : 
 like a fasting monk, he wastes his frame, retaining 6 the 
 desire of life in his heart : like a dog, he turns away from 
 his proper spouse and in bondage to vile habits consumes 
 himself: like a dead man, he receives his ball of meal in grue- 
 some 7 quarters : like a crow, he lives for nought a wastrel 8 
 life, his manly vigour subservient to a greedy tongue 9 : 
 like a ghoul frequenting graveyard trees, he hovers 
 about royal favourites made rough by their accursed 
 
 1 Pratihdramaiidalakara may also mean 'trunks surrounded by 
 ' gloves '.' 
 
 2 Amargaiiasya may also mean ' no arrow ' and udvegam vrajatah, 
 ' speeds on its flight.' ' No arrow, he is drawn far back, turned outwards, 
 and driven swiftly away.' 
 
 3 Sc. Qiva or a king. 4 Ram. I. Ix. 
 
 5 Sukhavdhya = (V) 'easily driven,' (2) 'exiled from happiness.' 
 
 6 Or as applying to the monk ' with death (jiva-iiaca) determined 
 in his heart.' 
 
 7 Anucita may be divided anu-cita = ' post -burial,' i.e. 'cemeteries.' 
 
 8 There is a pun in vihitayuso, which might be divided vi-hita-ayuso 
 = ' having a life fit for a bird.' 
 
 9 Or as applying to the crow ' through greed of tongue devouring 
 human ordure.'
 
 CHAPTER VII. 221 
 
 
 
 success 1 : like a child, he is innocently duped by the talk 
 of parrot kings, conferring delight by a false tongue and 
 showing affection 2 only on their lips: like* a vampire, [250] 
 there is nothing he will not do under his master's spell : 
 like a painted bow, he is for ever bent in the one act of 
 distending a string of imaginary virtues 3 , but there is no force 
 in him* : like a heap of dust sweepings gathered by a broom, 
 he carries off toilet-leavings 5 : like a phlegmatic patient, he is 
 daily worried by acrid doorkeepers 6 : like a Buddhist, he has 
 attained to life- weariness through learning the vanity of 
 things 7 , and longs for the yellow robe : like the meal offered to 
 the Divine Mothers, he is cast out into space even at night : 
 like one under a taint, he aggravates a wretched existence 
 by poor lodging 8 : like a pumping machine, he has left 
 all weight behind him and bends even for water : degraded 
 below the worm, he worships even with his words the feet 
 of those uncontented with his head alone. Abandoned by 
 shame, as if she were alarmed by hard strokes from chamber- 
 lains' canes : avoided by self-esteem, as if stifled in a heart 
 contracted by meanness: parted from magnanimity, as if 
 angered by his condescension to low acts ; through devotion 
 to riches he heaps up troubles, increasing his contemptible- 
 ness under the idea of magnifying his means. Fool ! though 
 there exists a wood 9 fragrant with the scent of myriad 
 flowers, he does homage to a mirage: though a noble, he 
 trembles like a malefactor as he draws near : though of good 
 presence, his being is fruitless as a painted flower: though 
 learned, his speech is as blundering as a fool's: though 
 
 1 Or ' made rough by the ashes of the burnt.' 
 
 2 Or ' redness.' 
 
 3 AUJcagunadhyaropana = (\} 'ascribing unreal virtues,' (2) 'stretch- 
 ing an unreal string.' 
 
 4 Or ' but he has no force of an arrow.' 
 
 6 There is a pun here, as nirmalya might mean ' purity.' 
 
 6 Katuka may mean either (1) 'doorkeeper' or (2) 'hot flavours.' 
 
 7 The reference is to the nihilist tenets of the Buddhists. ' Through 
 vain petitions ' or ' through nihilist doctrines.' 
 
 8 Or ' by lodging on the ground.' 
 
 9 Vane may also mean ' water ' in reference to the mirage. The literal 
 sense is that the courier might have recourse to a life in the woods.
 
 222 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 capable, he folds his hands helplessly, like a leper. Roasted 
 without fire at the elevation of his equals, dying without 
 expiring [251] atf'the rise of his inferiors, tossed like a straw 
 by insults, burned without respite by the fire of pain, though 
 partial unportioned, though cold to pride yet scorching 
 his kin, though of humble carriage 1 yet making no way, 
 though his weight^ is fallen from him yet gravitating down- 
 wards, though void of spirit yet a seller of human flesh 2 , 
 though free from intoxication yet not master of his actions, 
 though no hermit 3 yet giving up his soul to pensiveness, a 
 burnt-poll 4 bowing as soon as he gets up, a domestic 
 fool for ever dancing to amuse the wise, a household fire- 
 brand burning his stock, a human ox bending his neck to 
 get even a wisp of grass, a mass of flesh born only to 
 fill his belly, a sore of his mother's womb, for his sins a 
 servant, for him what atonement is there ? What means 
 of reformation ? Whither shall he go to find peace ? 
 What is his life like ? What manly pride is his ? What 
 possible pleasures ? What dream of enjoyment ? This 
 dreadful name of servant, like a torrent of mud, lays every- 
 thing low. ' Ah me ! ' he sighs, ' to hell with such wealth, 
 perdition seize such advancement, hail to such worship- 
 fill enjoyments, my service to such grandeur, away with 
 such glory, joy go with such pomp, for the sake of which my 
 head must seek the earth.' An eunuch whose love is but 
 words, a worm of inodorous carrion, a mannikin of no account 5 , 
 a walking footstool all grey atop with the dust of feet, [252] 
 in coaxing notes a human cuckoo, in gratifying cries a 
 peacock, in bosom-rubbing a land tortoise, in mean fawnings 
 a dog, in modulated notes a pipe, in strainings of body a 
 harlot's person, in the rice-fields 6 of manliness a straw, in 
 jerkings of head a lizard, in curling himself up 7 a hedgehog, 
 
 1 Or ' though a chariot,' vimdna. 
 
 2 I.e. his own. Human flesh is offered to goblins or spirits. 
 
 3 Or 'hapless.' 
 
 4 This was the name of a sect of ascetics. 
 
 5 Or punningly ' a hell of dishonour.' 
 
 6 The word -pdlisu is ambiguous =(1) 'rice field,' (2) 'possessor of.' 
 
 7 Of the servant ' in shrivelling up his soul.' ^
 
 CHAPTER VII. 223 
 
 
 
 in rubbing of feet a very footstool 1 , in slappings with 
 hands a ball 2 , in beatings with sticks a lute board, if a 
 wretch of a servant belongs to the worM of men, then 
 a rajila snake is a cobra, and a withered stalk the best of 
 rice. Better for a manly man is a moment of manliness ; at 
 the price of bowing the wise deem not even the joy of a 
 world-sovereignty worth a bow. Therefore, let your majesty, 
 approving of our love, bethink himself that the king of 
 Assam died only a few days ago.' 
 
 So much said, he became silent, and shortly after bowed 
 and took his leave. The king spent that night with a heart 
 held captive by yearning for a sight of the prince : for over 
 the great self-devotion works as a charm that needs no 
 simples. On the morrow he sent Hamsavega away with a 
 load of answering gifts in charge of eminent envoys. For 3 
 himself he thenceforth advanced by ceaseless marches against 
 the foe. One day he heard from a letter-carrier that Bhandi 
 had arrived with the Malwa king's whole force, conquered by 
 the might of Rajyavardhana's arm, and was encamped quite 
 near. At this news the fire of brotherly grief awoke again ; 
 his courage gave way, and he retreated into the darkness as 
 it were of a swoon ; laying aside all his occupations, remaining 
 in his own quarters [253] with his attendants noiseless and 
 still through the chamberlains' prohibitions, he waited awhile 
 with his royal retinue for Bhandi's arrival. 
 
 Soon with a single horse and a retinue of a few 
 nobles, he came in sight. His soiled garb, his breast filled 
 with the points of enemies' arrows, like an array of iron pins 
 implanted to restrain his heart from bursting, his beard 
 resting like reverence for his master in his bosom, all 
 betokened his grief. On his arm, flabby from neglected 
 exercise, dangled for an ornament a remnant of his charm 
 bracelet. His parched lip, faint in colour from careless 
 application of betel, protruded under the force of long sighs, 
 
 1 There is some obscure pun in pratipadaka ( = 'leg of a couch' text 
 p. 7, 1. 2). 
 
 2 Read kanduka for katuka with the Kashmir text. 
 
 3 Or ' by himself.'
 
 224 THE HABSA-CARITA. 
 
 like a coal from a heart burning with sorrow's flame, and with 
 a stream of tears for a shawl he hid his face, as though 
 abashed by the 'crime of preserving his life after his master's 
 removal. With limbs enfeebled he appeared to shrink through 
 shame into himself: and his long sighs seemed to vomit 
 forth the now purposeless prowess of his arm. Like a 
 sinner, a criminaj, a malignant he seemed, like a man 
 plundered and deluded, a young elephant despondent at the 
 fall of the monarch of the herd, a lotus bed robbed of its 
 loveliness by the sunset, Drona's son distracted by Duryo- 
 dh ana's death, the ocean deprived of its jewels. 
 
 In this guise he drew near the king's portals, and, dis- 
 mounting from his horse, entered the residence with downcast 
 looks. While still some distance away, he uttered a cry and fell 
 at the king's feet. But he, on seeing him, rose, and advancing 
 with tottering steps, uplifted him, and clasping his neck in 
 a close embrace, wept long and piteously. The fury of his 
 grief relaxing, he turned back again and sat as before upon 
 his seat : finally, when Bhandi had wiped his face, he wiped 
 his own. A little time having elapsed, he enquired the 
 facts of his brother's death, and Bhandi related the whole 
 story in full. Next the king asked what was Rajya9ri's plight. 
 ' Your majesty,' was the response, ' I learnt from common 
 talk that after his majesty Rajyavardhana was taken to 
 paradise and Kanyakubja was seized by the man named 
 Gupta, queen Rajya^ii burst from her confinement, and with 
 her train [254] entered the Vindhya forest. But not to this 
 day have the numerous searchers sent after her returned.' 
 ' What care I,' the king answered, ' for other seekers ? 
 Where she has gone, I myself, abandoning all other calls, will 
 go. Your honour also must take the army and advance against 
 the Gauda.' So saying, he rose and went to the bath 
 chamber ; and when Bhandi had caused his mourning beard 
 to be shaved, had bathed in the chamberlain's apartments, 
 and had received signs of favour in the shape of clothes, 
 flowers, unguents, and ornaments for the body, the king ate 
 and spent the day alone in his company. 
 
 On the next day Bhandi, approaching the king, said :
 
 CHAPTER VII. 225 
 
 
 
 ' Let your majesty inspect the Malwa king's army and royal 
 equipage, won by the power of his majesty Rajyavardhana's 
 arm.' The king consenting to this being dofie, he displayed 
 the booty, such as elephants in thousands, great as moving 
 boulders, with muddy cheeks whose temples were hairy 
 with swarms of bees clamouring about the intoxicating scent 
 of incessantly dripping ichor, elephants booming with deep 
 roars like clouds alighted upon the earth, and, like con- 
 centrated autumn days, emitting the fragrance of full-blown 
 Saptacchada groves : horses swift as antelopes and gay with 
 lines of gold-bedight chowries : ornaments of divers kinds, 
 raining floods of morning radiance and by their light 
 covering the heavens with many a rainbow : wondrous pearl 
 necklaces that had toyed with the scent of the bosoms of 
 love-intoxicated Malwa women, like stars and yet flooding 
 the heavens with a torrent of unborrowed light : yak-tail 
 chowries, like Harsa's own glories, white as a mass of moon- 
 light: a white umbrella with a golden stock, like the lotus 
 dwelling of Qri: beauteous women, like Apsarases come 
 down out of fondness for valour redolent of many a fight: 
 regal paraphernalia such as lion thrones, couches, and settees : 
 all the Malwa king's adherents with their feet restrained by 
 iron fetters : the whole of his treasure chests, heavy laden 
 with wreaths of ornaments and provided with written records 
 of their contents. 
 
 The inspection over, the king appointed overseers to take 
 charge of the booty according to their several functions. 
 The next day [255] he set out with the horse in search of his 
 sister, and in a comparatively few days' march reached the 
 Vindhya forest referred to. Entering, he saw while still at 
 some distance a forest settlement, distinguished by woodland 
 districts turned grey by the smoke from granaries of wild 
 grain in which heaps of burning Sastika 1 chaff sent up a 
 blaze. Wherein were huge banyans, encircled with cowpens 
 formed of a quantity of dry branches; tiger-traps, con- 
 structed in fury at the slaughter of young calves 2 ; zealous 
 
 1 A kind of rice ripening in sixty days, commonly called sathl. 
 
 2 \'atsarupaka : cf. yatsarupa p. 257 1. 3 from end, Bombay ed., and 
 Comm. svalpd vatsd vatsarupdh. 
 
 c. . 15
 
 226 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 foresters violently seizing the axes of trespassing wood- 
 cutters; and Durga arbours built of tree clumps in the 
 thickets. The Outskirts being for the most part forest, many 
 parcels of rice-land, threshing ground, and tilth were being 
 apportioned by small farmers, and that with no little vigour 
 of language, since it was mainly spade culture and they were 
 anxious for the support of their families. No great amount 
 of coming and going tramped the earth owing to the 
 difficulty of ploughing the sparsely scattered fields covered 
 with Kaga grass 1 , with their few clear spaces, their black soil 
 stiff as black iron, the branches bursting from the tree trunks 
 set up here and there, their growths of impenetrable gyamaka, 
 their wealth of Alambusa, and their Kokilaksa bushes not 
 yet cleared away. Near the tillage scaffolds constructed 
 above ground suggested incursions of wild beasts. 
 
 In every direction at the entrance to the forests were 
 drinking arbours made of wayside trees, which by their 
 coolness seemed to dispel the summer heat : arbours, where 
 the shade was dappled by fresh shoots made grey by the 
 dust of travellers' stamping feet, where were Nagasphuta 
 bushes planted in the vicinity of freshly dug tanks bedecked 
 with bunches of Sal flowers easily obtained from the woods, 
 tiny huts formed of close-woven wattles, heaps of crocks 
 dotted with meal and encircled by twisted braids of flies, 
 stones of rose apples which travelling folk had eaten scat- 
 tered over the ground about them, masses of Dhull-Kadamba 
 flowers with the pollen formed, wooden stands surmounted 
 by an array of bristling 2 water jars to steal away thirst, 
 cool porous vessels with dripping bases for allaying weariness, 
 pitchers black with moist aquatic plants for the purpose 
 of keeping the water cold, bits of pink gravel taken from 
 ewers to cool the air, cups having pink flowers tied by 
 straw whisps about their necks, tree trunks bristling with 
 bunches of juicy young mango fruit forbidden to wither 
 by bundles of dew-besprent twigs, and successive troops of 
 resting pilgrims drinking the water. 
 
 1 The Kashmir text and A read 
 
 2 Kantakita^' containing grass stalks'? cf. c. v. p. 139.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 227 
 
 
 
 In other places again [256] blacksmiths Avere almost 
 intensifying the heat by burning heaps of wood for charcoal. 
 On every side the prospect was filled with tHk inhabitants of 
 the district, who dwelt in the surrounding country, entering 
 the woods to collect timber and enveloped in the provisions 
 guarded for them by old men stationed in the hamlet houses 
 of the vicinity. Their bodies they had anointed to prepare 
 themselves for their hard sylvan toils. On their shoulders 
 were set strong axes, and about their necks hung their 
 breakfast bundles. They wore ragged clothes for fear of 
 thieves. Their water they bore in jars having mouths covered 
 with corks of leaves and attached to their necks which were 
 encircled by triple collars of black cane. Strong oxen marched 
 before them in couples 1 . 
 
 Ranging on the outskirts were hunters, who grasped snares 
 with intricate loops formed of animals' sinews 2 , and bore coiled 
 traps and netted nooses fastened to a quantity of screens 
 used in shooting wild beasts. Fowlers roamed hither and 
 thither, loaded with cages for falcons, partridges, kapinjalas, 
 and the like, while their boys loitered about with aviaries 
 hanging from their shoulders. Troops of childish trappers 
 wandered in eager pursuit of female sparrows caught with 
 twigs 3 whereon a little castaway pulse broth was smeared. 
 Young hunters, practising bird-catching, coaxed on a tribe 
 of dogs frightened at partridges hidden in clumps of grass. 
 
 There were people moving along with bundles of Cidhu 
 bark, hued like an old ruddy-goose's neck, countless sacks of 
 recently uprooted Dhataki flowers of the colour of red ore 
 and of cotton plants, plentiful loads of flax and hemp bundles*, 
 quantities of honey, peacocks' tail-feathers, wreaths of com- 
 pressed 5 wax, barkless Khadira logs frilled with hanging 
 Ldmajjaka grass, large bundles of Kustha, and JRodhra yellow 
 as a fullgrown lion's mane. Village wives hastened en route 
 for neighbouring villages, all intent on thoughts of sale and 
 
 1 Or yuga may mean 'yoke': for balad read balavad with the 
 Kashmir text, or with A purahsaradballvarda* 
 
 2 Mrigatantu 1 3 The MS. A reads lagna for vadhii. 
 
 4 Read, with A, atasl^anapfdakdndm. "' Or 'easily obtained'^ 
 
 152
 
 228 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 i 
 
 bearing on their heads baskets filled with various gathered 
 forest fruits. 
 
 Here and there the preparation of unsightly fields of 
 barren soil was being effected by numerous lines of wagons, 
 bearing heaps of manure [257] from old dust heaps and 
 yoked to strong young steers, while to the creaking of their 
 loose and noisy ?vheels were added the angry cries of the 
 dust-grey ploughboys 1 who sitting on the poles urged them 
 on. The surrounding country was black with numerous sugar 
 cane enclosures, showing wide carefully tended branches, 
 buffalo skeletons fixed on stakes to scare with their sharp 
 points the rabbits which devastated the rising buds, and high 
 bamboo fences which the antelopes lightly leapt when startled 
 by ox-drivers' sticks which the watchers hurled at them. 
 
 At very wide intervals were the dwellings of the forest 
 householders, girt with orchards of emerald-bright Snuhd, 
 entangled with thickets of bamboo suitable for bows, and 
 difficult of access owing to rows of thorny Karanja. They 
 had garden enclosures with clumps of Garmut, Gavedhuka, 
 Granthiparna, Qigru, Surana, Surasa, Vahgaka, Vaca, and 
 the castor plant, and a network of Kasthaluka creepers, 
 reared upon tall planted uprights, provided a shade. Young 
 calves 2 were tied to Khadira stakes fixed in the ground in 
 circular jujube arbours, and crowing cocks more or less indi- 
 cated the positions of the houses. At the foot of Agasti 3 
 trees in the yards tanks and drinking vessels* for birds had 
 been constructed, and pink masses of jujube were scattered 
 around. The walls were formed of partitions made of [258] 
 slips of bamboo, leaves, stalks, and reeds, while for ornament 
 gorocana pigment and Kimguka flowers were used 5 . There 
 were piles of charcoal tied with Valvaja grass, numerous 
 
 1 Reading sairika (hdlikah] with Comm. and A. The texts have 
 sairibkct, ' ox.' 
 
 2 Vatsarupdh svalpd vatsdh Comm. : cf. supra note. 
 
 3 Read angandgasti- with the Comm. 
 
 4 Ksiprapupikd 1 The Comm. paksipupikd 'paksdndm vetravaldni 
 bhdndabheddh points to a reading paksipupikd. The Kashmir text has 
 ksiprapaksipupiJcd. A has paksiprapikd. 
 
 5 Read with MS. A kimfukafforocandviracita / maiidanair valvaja .
 
 CHAPTER VII. 229 
 
 
 
 heaps of cotton from the Seemul tree fruit, stores of Nala 
 rice, waterlily roots, candied sugar, white lotus seed, bamboos, 
 and threshed rice ready at hand ; also collections of Tamdla 
 seeds 1 , mats worn from being used to pound ashes and 
 disposed upon heaps of Kagmarya^, a wealth of withered 
 Rdjddana and Madana fruit, abundance of Madhuka fruit 
 decoctions, pots of safflower in excellent cupboards, no lack of 
 Rajamasa, cucumber, Karkatika, and gourd seeds, and col- 
 lections of living pets, such as wild-cats, maludhana snakes, 
 ichneumons, galijatakas 3 , and the like. 
 
 1 MS. A reads tamalavyaih. 
 
 2 A (?) B read bhajmamalinamldnakdcmaryakutavydprita-, 'mats 
 used for heaps of Kdcmarya and so worn and dusty ' ? 
 
 3 MS. A -pdlijatakadibhir, cf. p. 235, infr. 
 
 Here ends the seventh chapter entitled The Gift of the Umbrella 
 of the Harsa-Carita composed by Crl Bana Bhatta.
 
 e CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 [259] As it produces at once all the objects which desire could 
 ask, 
 
 Even Fate seems to pay beforehand 1 its homage to the 
 fortunate ; 
 
 By association with learned men, and by the joy of be- 
 holding a kinsman who has been loved and lost, 
 
 Who would not be made happy in the world 2 , and by 
 the attainment of a costly jewel 3 ? 
 
 Next morning the king rose up and going out of that 
 village went into a forest of the Vindhya ; and there he 
 roamed hither and thither for many days. But one day as 
 he was wandering, the son of Qarabhaketu, a tributary chief 
 in the forest, named Vyaghraketu, taking with him a young 
 mountaineer, came up to the king. Now the young moun- 
 taineer had his hair tied into a crest above his forehead with, 
 a band of the Qyamalafa creeper dark like lampblack, and 
 his dark forehead was like a night that always accompanied 
 him in his wild exploits, with an involuntary frown which 
 branched in three lines ; his ear had an ear-ring of glass-like 
 crystal fastened in it, and it assumed a green hue from a 
 parrot's wing which ornamented it, while his somewhat 
 bleared eye, with its scanty lashes, seemed by its native 
 colouring to distil hyena's blood 4 which had been applied as 
 a medicine, his nose was flat, his lower lip thick, his chin 
 low, his jaws full, his forehead and cheek-bones projecting, 
 his neck a little bent down [260] while one half of his 
 
 1 Cf. Bombay ed. p. 140. 1. 2 Bhuvane, MS. A. 
 
 3 Qr! Harsa will gain all these blessings in the course of the eighth 
 book. 
 
 4 Pliny says that hyena's gall "illitum frontibus lippitudini 
 prodest," xxvin. 27.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 231 
 
 
 
 shoulders stood up 1 , he seemed to mock the broad rocks 
 of the Vindhya's side with his brawny chest, which was 
 broadened by exercise and hardened by incessantly bending 
 his bow, while his arms, which were more solid than a 
 boa-constrictor, made light of the tallest faZa-trees of the 
 Himalaya ; he wore a tin armlet, decorated with white 
 godanta beads 2 , which was placed on his fore-arm, the back 
 of which was covered with a bundle o*f the rootlets of 
 Ndgadamana 3 fastened together by the bristles of boars ; 
 he had a thin belly but a prominent navel ; his huge 
 broad loins were rendered formidable by a sword, the 
 end of which was anointed with quicksilver and its handle 
 was made of polished horn, it was wrapped in a short black 
 antelope skin as in a woven covering, and its sheath was 
 adorned 4 with the spotted skin of a citraka snake, placed 
 between, two strips of the skin of an ahiram snake. His 
 brawny thighs were covered with the flesh that had as it were 
 fallen down from his waist which had grown thin and spare in 
 his early youth ; his dark body 5 seemed as it were to blossom 
 with a leathern quiver on his back, made of a bear's skin, 
 wrapped round with a spotted leopard's skin, its woolly hair 
 black with the bees that clustered on it, and filled with 
 arrows bearing mostly crescent-shaped heads ; he carried a 
 hunter's extemporised box of colours with him in a partridge 
 whose red palate was displayed through its open beak, while 
 its neck was strung on the end of the sharp notched 
 extremity of the bow, and a hare whose soft white hair on 
 its breast was clearly seen by reason of its body being 
 stretched out (as it hung suspended), while its nostrils were 
 stained with a line of blood red like a Bandhuka flower and 
 an extempore svastika sign was produced by one of its legs 
 which was caught in a hole cut by an arrow in the other 
 
 1 Skanna may mean ' fallen, drooping.' 
 
 - Godanta is said to be a white fossil substance, apparently an 
 earthy salt. The Scholiast calls it a snake. 
 
 3 A plant used as an antidote against poison. 
 
 4 MS. A reads gankrita for tarakita.- This passage is obscure. 
 
 5 AB karsnyam.
 
 232 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 i 
 
 one, it hung head-downwards on his stout bamboo-like 
 arm which bore a bow resting on his left shoulder and which 
 was adorned with a profuse pigment of peacock's gall, and 
 was full of fierce vigour and with its sinews fashioned of 
 Khadira roots 1 , while the top of the arm 2 was gay with 
 a blue jay's tail fastened on the upper part 3 . His right 
 hand seemed busily engaged with a vikarna* arrow, having 
 its point dipped in a potent poison, and looking like a 
 black snake which had been stupefied by certain roots 5 . He 
 was like a moving dark Tamala tree on the side of a moun- 
 tain or a pillar of solid stone artificially wrought 6 , or a moving 
 mass of black collyrium [261] or a melting block of iron 
 from the Vindhya, a very fever to the elephants, the noose 
 of death to the deer, a comet of ill omen to the lions, the 
 last day of the Durga-puja 7 to the buffaloes, the personified 
 essence of destruction, the embodied fruit of sin, the cause of 
 the Kali age, the lover of doom's-night. 
 
 Having made him stand at a distance, the chief addressed 
 the king, " My lord, there is a general of the Qabaras named 
 Bhukampa, the lord of all this Vindhya-range, the leader of 
 all the village chiefs, this is his sister's son Nirghata, who 
 knows every leaf in this Vindhya forest, and still more its 
 localities; let your majesty ask him, he is able to carry out 
 every command." Nirghata laid his head on the ground 
 and made his obeisance and offered the partridge and hare 
 as his present. The king respectfully asked him, " Sir, you 
 are acquainted with all this region, you love wandering at 
 this season; has a noble lady come within the general's sight 
 or that of any of his attendants ?" 
 
 1 This line is obscure ; but the MSS. AB give 110 help, having the 
 same reading. 
 
 2 Should we read bahutikhara which means 'shoulder' in Bk. vi. 
 (p. 204, 1. 1) ? 
 
 3 Or perhaps " three parts standing out." 
 
 4 So Kashm. text. 
 
 s Or 'held by the tail.' 
 
 6 Or perhaps 'torn up by a lever,' cf. Bombay ed., pp. 104. 9, 123. 
 8-9, 169, 1. 12. 
 
 7 A day especially celebrated by sacrifices of goats, sheep, and 
 buffaloes.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 233 
 
 
 
 Nirghata, feeling himself honoured by being thus ad- 
 dressed by the king, bowed and thus respectfully spoke, 
 " Sire, scarcely the deer can wander he*e unnoticed by 
 the general, much less then women, or such a distin- 
 guished lady. Still according to your command every day 
 a search is carried on by diligent messengers. And in 
 a great thicket of trees, reverenced by munis, which 
 grows at the foot of some mountains a league from this 
 place, there dwells near a mountain stream a wandering 
 mendicant who lives on alms, named Divakaramitra, with 
 a train of disciples, haply he might learn some tidings." 
 The king reflected, "I have heard that a follower of the 
 Maitrayani 9akha, the boy friend of the deceased Grahavarman 
 of auspicious name, having abandoned the three Vedas, when 
 he was a leading Brahman teacher, though still young in 
 years, turned his studies to the Buddhist doctrine and 
 assumed the red dress. [262] Now even the sight of a 
 friend generally gives much comfort to one's heart, and the 
 good qualities of every one are worthy of a visit, and who 
 would not shew respect to a muni? And, again, religious 
 asceticism, fit mate to virtue, causes honour to be paid even 
 to a fool, still more to a really wise man who wins the 
 hearts of all men. Since my heart has been continually 
 desirous of seeing him, this is a lucky chance that has come 
 in my way, we will visit him as we have so earnestly 
 sought for such an interview." Aloud he said, " Shew me, 
 Sir, the place where the mendicant dwells." So saying, he 
 proceeded in the direction indicated. 
 
 As he went on, there rose in his view all sorts of trees, 
 some full of fruit, Karnikaras in blossom, Campakas in 
 abundance, large Phalegrahis, Namerus bowed down with 
 fruit, palms and Naladas with dark green leaves, Sarala pines 
 and the yellow Nagakesaras, lines of Kuruvakas, bristling 
 with their opening buds ; every direction was painted with 
 the beauty of the shoots of the red A$oka, while a beautiful 
 grey hue was thrown over them by the pollen of the 
 blossoming Kesaras ; the Tilakas had their surface covered 
 with their own pollen as with sand, while assafoetida
 
 284 THE HARSA-CAR1TA. 
 
 i 
 
 spread everywhere. Betel nuts abounded on all sides, the 
 Priyahgus were brown with quantities of flowers, every- 
 where was heard the pleasant murmur of the bees gathered 
 on the sprays which were red with pollen, [263] while the 
 undisturbed rubbing of the elephants' cheeks was revealed 
 by the tell-tale trunks of the Mucukunda trees, which were 
 stained by the dark ichor. The grassy glades were all bright 
 with the young antelopes skipping about without fear, while 
 the Taniala trees darker than midnight obscured the 
 sunshine; the Deodars were spangled with their clusters 
 of flowers, while the lines of rose-apples and Jambhlras 
 were studded with patches of flickering betel-vines ; the 
 air was kissed by clumps of Dhulikadamba-trees white with 
 the powder of their flowers, while the ground was moist 
 with the dropping honey; the nostrils were refreshed with 
 perfume; the hollow trunks of the Kutujas were tenanted 
 by the hens with their new broods, while the young sparrows 
 uttered their cries as they were tended by the mother-birds, 
 and the beaks of the cakora birds were busy in feeding their 
 mates, and the bhurundas were fearlessly eating the ripe 
 brown-red fruit of the Pilu trees, and the merciless parrots 
 were piercing the never-failing fruit of the Katphalas, while 
 they dropped the unripe berries ; the young hares basked on 
 the smooth rocks ; lizards rolled about securely in the roots 
 of the Gephalika water-plants ; the antelopes were free from 
 fear, the ichneumons played in peace, the soft-voiced kokilas 
 devoured the opening buds, the deer lay ruminating in the 
 mango-groves, troops of nllandajas 1 rested at their ease, and 
 the female gayals as they gave milk to their young were 
 watched by the motionless wolves, [264] the drum-like flapping 
 of the elephants' ears grew languid in the pleasant sleep in- 
 duced by the lulling sound of the cataracts falling from the 
 mountain slopes near by ; the ruru deer listened well-pleased 2 
 to the songs of the neighbouring kinnarls, the hyenas were 
 delighted, the snouts of the young boars were stained with 
 
 1 The Schol. explains this as a sort of deer ; the name would seem 
 to denote some kind of bird. 2 MS. A ramamdna.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 235 
 
 
 
 the juice of the Pitadru trees which was yellow when freshly 
 pierced, polecats were making a low noise in the Gunjd 
 shrubs, and tribes of fdlijdtakas 1 lay asleep in the nutmeg- 
 trees, while the young monkeys, angry at being bitten, tore 
 in pieces the nests of the red worms, and the baboons, eager 
 for the bread fruit, leaped on the Laval i shrubs ; the water- 
 basins at the foot of the trees had been made with sand, the 
 mountain-streams were checked in their rush by the zigzag 
 lines of waterpots, while pitchers hung on the thick boughs 
 and branches, and the bowers were full of empty begging-bowls 
 suspended by looped strings ; models of caityas stamped on 
 pink clay were set up in the neighbouring hermits' huts ; the 
 ground was stained with the water which was coloured by 
 the dye of the brown rags ; the peacocks raised their storm 
 of cries as if the thickets were so many clouds ; the branches 
 of innumerable trees met in confusion like the gcikhas 2 of the 
 Veda; the trees assumed dark forms as if made of rubies, 
 they obscured all eyes as if made of darkness, they seemed 
 to lift great dark lakes of verdure into the air like so many 
 Yamunas, they were like pleasure-hills of the spring, dark- 
 hued as with emeralds, or like flowering mountains of 
 collyrium they seemed children of the Vindhya born in the 
 forest, or masses of hell's darkness which had burst up from 
 the earth or close neighbours of the days of the rainy season 
 or partial avatars of the nights of the dark fortnight, or 
 palaces of the wood-nymphs constructed of sapphires. 
 
 The king reflected, "The venerable mendicant cannot be 
 far off." [265] Having alighted, and washed his mouth in a 
 mountain stream and having made his troop of cavalry halt 
 in that place while the forest glades were deafened by the 
 neighing of the horses as they welcomed the sudden rest, 
 and in his heart having assumed a deportment suitable for 
 a visit to such a holy man, and leaning with his right hand 
 on Madhavagupta's shoulder, he proceeded on foot attended 
 by a few tributary kings. 
 
 Then in the middle of the trees, while he was yet at 
 
 1 MS. A h&sjdtayah for valayah. 
 
 2 I.e. texts current in different schools.
 
 236 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 t 
 
 a distance, the holy man's presence was suddenly announced 
 by the king's seeing various Buddhists from various provinces 
 seated in different situations, perched on pillars, or seated 
 on the rocks or dwelling in bowers of creepers or lying in 
 thickets or in the shadow of the branches or squatting on 
 the roots of trees, devotees dead to all passion, Jainas 
 in white robes 1 , white mendicants 2 , followers of Krisna 3 , 
 religious students, ascetics who pulled out their hair, fol- 
 lowers of Kapila, Jainas, Lokayatikas 4 , followers of Kanada, 
 followers of the Upanishads, believers in God as a Creator 5 , 
 assayers of metals, students of the legal institutes, students 
 of the Puranas, adepts in sacrifices requiring seven ministering 
 priests 6 , adepts in grammar, followers of the Pancaratra and 
 others besides, all diligently following their own tenets, 
 pondering, urging objections, raising doubts, resolving them, 
 giving etymologies, disputing, studying, and explaining, and 
 all gathered here as his disciples. Even some monkeys who 
 had fled to the 'three Refuges 7 ' were gravely busy performing 
 the ritual of the caitya, while some devout parrots, skilled in 
 the Qakya castras, were explaining the Koca 8 , [266] and 
 some mainas, who had obtained calm by expositions of the 
 duties of the monastery life 9 , were giving lectures on the 
 law, and some owls, who had gained insight 10 by listening 
 to the ceaseless round of instruction, were muttering the 
 various births of the Bodhisattva, and even some tigers 
 waited in attendance who had given up eating flesh under 
 the calming influence of Buddhist teaching, while the fact 
 that some young lions sat undisturbed near his seat shewed 
 at once what a great sage he was, as he thus sat as it were 
 
 1 The Jaina Qvetambaras. 
 
 2 Hindu ascetics in white robes, who had abandoned Buddhism. 
 
 3 Bhagavatdh. 4 An atheistical school. 
 
 5 Followers of the Nyaya. 
 
 6 Or containing seven leading types, see Sayana, R.V. x. 124. 1. 
 
 7 I.e. Buddha, the Law, and the Assembly. 
 
 8 The Buddhist dictionary by Vasubandhu, see Burnouf s Introd., 
 p. 563. 
 
 9 The ten cikshapadas are precepts regulating the monastery life. 
 
 10 The Kashmir text reads grihltdlokaih for grihltdllkaih. This is 
 opposed to their usual blindness by day.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 237 
 
 
 
 on a natural lion-throne. His feet were licked by some deer 
 who seemed to drink in ascetic calmness; he propitiated 
 universal charity by means of a young dove* which sat on his 
 left hand like a lotus dropped from his ear and ate wild rice, 
 while he dazzled the spectators by the rays which streamed 
 from the nails of his other hand, as he poured water on a 
 peacock, which stood near with its neck uplifted, like an 
 emerald water-jar, or strewed grains of panic and rice for the 
 ants. He was clad in a very soft red cloth, as if he were the 
 Eastern quarter of the sky, bathed in the morning sunshine, 
 teaching the other quarters to assume the red Buddhist 
 attire, while they were flushed with the pure red glow of his 
 body like a ruby freshly cut; with his gently bright eye 
 bent down in humility, before which the lotuses in the lake 
 closed their buds, he seemed to rain ambrosia to revive the 
 little insects which the crowd had unwillingly crushed, he 
 was the Supreme Buddhist 1 Avalokite9vara, compacted of 
 all the letter-atoms of all the 9astras, absorbed without 
 faultering in penances, revealing the real nature of all 
 things to the student, like the light, one whom Buddha 
 himself might well approach with reverence, Duty herself 
 might vvorship, Favour itself shew favour to, Honour itself 
 honour, Reverence itself revere, the very source of muttered 
 prayer' 2 , the circumference of the wheel of religious obser- 
 vance, the essence of asceticism, the body of purity, [267] the 
 treasury of virtue, the home of trust, the standard of good 
 conduct, the entire capital of omniscience, the acme of 
 kindness, the extreme limit of compassion, the very finality 
 of happiness, Divakaramitra, who was still in the prime of 
 life. His reverence was excited by his calm and reverent 
 appearance, and he devoutly (sadaram) saluted him while 
 still at a distance, with head, mind, and voice. 
 
 Divakaramitra, being by nature full of kindness, was 
 charmed with his visitor's dignified bearing, which, being 
 
 1 For paramasaugat a cf. Fleet's Gupta Inscriptions, p. 232. _ There 
 may also be a pun, "a supreme Buddhist and yet recognising an l9vara." 
 
 2 The Kashmir text and A have japasi/a, which is also required by 
 the alliteration.
 
 238 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 i 
 
 such as he had never seen before, surpassed all men and 
 seemed worthy of a supernatural world and shone forth in 
 the fulness of his magnanimity, and also with his courtesy 
 which at once revealed noble birth ; and without hesitation he 
 welcomed him with his eye and his heart. Heroic in mind 
 though he was, he sprang up hurriedly from his seat and 
 gathered together his robe which was somewhat disordered by 
 his sudden movement as it hung from his left shoulder, and, 
 being skilled in courteous compliments, he raised his right 
 hand which was graced with all the lines and signs of a 
 great man, and greeted the king in a gentle voice and with 
 hearty welcome and every good wish; and, shewing all honour 
 to him as to a guru, he invited him to share his own seat. 
 
 Then he said to a disciple by his side, " Bring water for 
 his feet in an ewer." But the king reflected, " The kindness 
 of the noble is a fast bond, though it is not made of iron ; 
 with good reason my old friend Grahavarman, devoted 
 to all merit, often described his virtues to me." He 
 then said aloud, "This favour which you shew me seems 
 superfluous after the blessing which the very sight of you 
 confers ; after you have proved your kindness by welcoming 
 me as your own with your testing eye, the labour of offering 
 me a seat seems only to make me a stranger. The very 
 ground 1 in your presence is too high a station; and when 
 my whole body has been sprinkled with ambrosia by the 
 gracious address of a saint like yourself, [268] water for the 
 feet, which deals only with a part 2 , is needless, let your 
 highness sit down, I am seated well enough," so saying he 
 sat down on the ground. 
 
 The seer said to himself " The courtesy of the great is 
 the true adornment, gems and the like are mere stones," 
 so, when the king, however much pressed, would not consent, 
 he resumed his old seat. Having paused awhile with his heart 
 bound fast in the fetters of his eyes, which were fixed on the 
 monarch's lotus-face, he thus addressed him, seeming to wash 
 away the sin of the Kali age by the bright gleams of his 
 
 1 Read with the Kashmir text atibhiimir bhumir eva. 
 
 2 Read with the Kashmir text pradecavritti.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 239 
 
 
 
 teeth, and exhaling as it were, when he opened his lips, a 
 bower of spicy plants, bright with a mass of blossoming 
 flowers, which had sprung from his life-long Vegetable diet, 
 " From to-day this world of ours, displaying its essential 
 goodness, is not merely not to be blamed, it is positively to 
 be praised. What marvel is not seen by mankind, when this 
 form of thine appears unexpectedly to our view? Such 
 heart-delights help us to infer what our good deeds iu 
 former lives must have been. Our penances have given us 
 their fruit even in this life, when they let us look on a 
 favourite of the gods whose sight is so hard to be attained. 
 Our eyes are satiated with ambrosia, our minds desire 
 not even the happiness of nirvana; it can only have been 
 by great previous merit that our eyes can rest on such 
 a paragon. Happy was the day of thy birth ! Fortunate 
 was thy mother who bore thee who givest life to all living 
 creatures. Blessed indeed are those merits, of which thou 
 art the fulfilment. Preeminently meritorious are those 
 atoms which make up the total of thy limbs. Fortunate is 
 that good fortune which has visited thee, blessed is the 
 human nature which is thine. For verily, though I have 
 been longing for liberation, the sight of thee has made me 
 once more believe in human birth, without my own will I 
 have seen Kama himself. The eyes of the wood-nymphs have 
 to-day won their desire ; these forest-trees have attained the 
 end of their being, since thou hast come within their range. 
 Thou art all ambrosia thy words must be only sweet. 
 [269] But ponder as I may, I cannot imagine what earthly 
 being could have instructed thee in courtesy, when thou art 
 still such a boy. The range of virtues was void till thou wast 
 born. Happy is the king in whose family thou hast arisen 
 like a precious pearl. My mind is bewildered when I think 
 how we can gratify such a worthy visitor come so un- 
 expectedly. What are we indeed, who share a diet of roots 
 and fruits and a drink of the mountain-stream with every 
 forester ? But this wretched body of ours is only for 
 another's service, all we have is left for the welcome of 
 our friends. Our few drops of learning are at our own
 
 240 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 disposal, but our friendship cannot hesitate how to make 
 use of them. If it does not hinder some moment of action 1 , 
 and if the secret can be openly uttered, be pleased to make 
 it known; my heart is all eager to hear. Under what burden 
 of anxiety have you come into this inhospitable place, and 
 how long will you go on wearying yourself with wandering 
 about this empty wood ? why is your body thus worn, unfit 
 to bear such hardships < " 
 
 The king respectfully replied, " Reverend Sir, you have 
 performed everything by your zealous words which ceaselessly 
 rain forth ambrosia-like honey to gladden my heart, I am 
 indeed fortunate that a venerable saint should thus consider 
 an insignificant person like me worthy of respect. Be pleased 
 to learn what is the cause of my being fatigued with 
 wandering in the forest. For I have only one young sister 
 left, who is the sole link that keeps up my life, now that I 
 have lost all my loved kindred. Now she, while wandering 
 fearful of outrage from her enemies in consequence of the 
 loss of her husband, entered the thickets of this Vindhya 
 forest, swarming with hordes of vile foresters and unnumbered 
 troops of elephants, and terrible beyond measure with its 
 lions and 9arabhas, [270] and having its paths infested by 
 huge buffaloes, and impassable with sharp spear-grass, and 
 full of pits everywhere. Night after night we have been 
 ceaselessly exploring the wood in search of her, but we have 
 not found her. Be pleased to tell me if any tidings of her 
 have reached your ears from some forester." 
 
 The holy man made answer with some agitation, " No 
 tidings of this nature have come to me ; we are not worthy 
 to bring to your highness such welcome narrations." But 
 while he was thus speaking, a mendicant of tranquil age sud- 
 denly came up in bewilderment, and folding his hands before 
 the ascetic spoke in a compassionate tone with his eyes full of 
 tears, " O my lord, it is indeed a sad occurrence. A young 
 woman overpowered by heavy misfortune, though apparently 
 highly prosperous in former days, in helpless despair is even 
 now mounting the funeral pile. Consider that she is not yet 
 1 Read with the Kashmir and Calcutta texts kancit.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 241 
 
 
 
 dead, come to her aid with suitable topics of consolation ; 
 even a poor worm in pain which found no rest has often ere 
 now experienced the sage's compassion." 
 
 Fearful for his sister, melting within with grief from his 
 fraternal affection, and having his heart greatly agitated, 
 speaking with difficulty in broken accents, with his voice 
 choked and his eyes full of tears, the king^nade inquiry, " O 
 Mendicant, how far off is the woman whom you describe and 
 can she be still alive ? If you asked who she was or to whom 
 she belonged or from whence she came or why she entered 
 this wood or why she mounted into the fire, I want to know 
 in full what she answered to each question, and how she 
 came into your sight and what manner of person she was." 
 
 The Mendicant replied, " Listen, noble Sir. I had offered 
 my worship in the early morning to the sun and I was wander- 
 ing on and on by the soft sand of this river-bank. [271] In 
 a bower of creepers near the mountain-stream I heard a mono- 
 tonous mournful bewildering sound of women's weeping like 
 the murmur of lute-strings 1 in a very loud note, or the hum 
 of bees distressed at a sudden frost cutting their lotus-beds. 
 With a sudden feeling of pity I turned to the spot; and 
 there I saw a woman surrounded by a troop of other women, 
 whose eyes were closed with the sharp pain of the spear- 
 points of the Ctara-grass which had pierced their heels, and 
 whose feet were swollen beyond the power of moving by the 
 fatigue of a long journey, while their toes were bleeding with 
 the wounds from the jagged stones ; who had birch-bark tied 
 on their ankles which were aching with the wounds from stakes, 
 while their legs were fevered and lame with blisters, and their 
 calves were white with dust, and their knees were torn by 
 the matted fibres of the date-palms, and their thighs were 
 wounded by the Catavarl shrubs; their silk skirts were 
 torn by the Ftdar-i-plants, their jackets rent by the sharp 
 ends of the bambu branches ; their soft hands were pierced 
 by the thorny .Bacfor^-creepers as they pulled them down in 
 their wish to gather the fruit, their arms were wearied 
 by the quantities of bulbs, roots and fruits which they had 
 1 The Kashmir text and the Comm. read varnatantrinam. 
 
 c. 16
 
 242 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 < 
 
 dug up with the horns of the deer; they chewed the soft 
 myrobalans to relieve the dryness of their mouths without 
 their favourite betel, while they used red arsenic as an oint- 
 ment for their eyes which were swollen and bleeding with the 
 blows of the flowers of the Ku$a grass, and their curls were 
 torn by the thorny creepers ; some used boughs as umbrellas 
 against the sun, ethers held plaintain-leaves as fans, others 
 carried water in the hollow of a lotus-leaf, others took the 
 fibrous lotus-roots as their provisions, others carried pine oil 1 
 in cocoa-nuts balanced on loops made of strips of China silk 
 hanging from a yoke ; while the rest of the crowd were be- 
 wildered eunuchs 2 , humpbacks, dwarfs, deaf, barbarians, (and 
 all the other mis-shapen guards of the gynaeceum). [272] The 
 centre figure which lay prostrate in the wood, though in deep 
 misery, was still clothed in the grace and dignity of high 
 birth, her body dyed 3 by the reflected boughs of the creepers 
 near by, as if it were covered with the freshly bleeding 
 wounds of her desperate grief, her feet red, as with the cus- 
 tomary lac, through the blood pouring from the wounds made 
 by the hard spikes of Darbha grass, her face pale though 
 shaded by a lotus-leaf which one of the women held up by 
 its stalk, seeming to be more empty than the desolate 
 ether, made as of earth in her insensibleness, made as of 
 air in her incessant sighing, made as of fire in her constant 
 fever, made as of water in her streaming outflow of tears, 
 like the sky in her want of all support, like the lightning in 
 her tremulousness, like sound in her ceaseless wailing, like 
 the kalpa tree of paradise 4 , dropping off her silken garments, 
 jewels, flowers, gold, and painted decorations. She lay on 
 the ground like Ganges after her descent, while her limbs 
 still shewed their insolent power ready to humble imperial 
 heads (as Ganges trampled on Qiva's head when she fell 
 upon it) ; her feet 5 were grey with the pollen of the wood- 
 
 1 Saralatailena Kashm. and MS. A. 
 
 2 Read -golcamkalaka.lamv.1ca-. 
 
 3 Read -patallkriyamana- (A -pdtal'ikrita-}. 
 
 4 The Kalpa tree dropped everything which its votary desired. Cf. 
 p. 73, 1. 9. Note puns in Comm. in mukta and vana. 
 
 6 With a pun in pada which also means ' rays.'
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 243 
 
 
 
 flowers, and she herself longing for another world like the 
 paling moon of early morning, her long bright eyes dimmed 
 with the outflow of tears, and she herself facfing like a lotus- 
 bed of the Mandakim, passing a weary time like a bed of 
 night water-lilies withering beneath the fierce rays of the sun; 
 pale and thin like the flame of a lamp at morning, deceived by 
 its exhausted wick 1 ; like a female elephanl^ plunged in a lake 
 and only rescued by the care of her companions, lost in the 
 forest and in thought, [273] bent upon death and the root of 
 a tree, fallen into calamity and on her nurse's bosom, parted 
 from her husband and happiness, exhausted by wandering 
 and emptied of her youth, bewildered in her dishevelled locks 
 and in pondering how to end her life, pale with the dust of 
 the road and the pains of her limbs, burned with the fierce 
 sunshine and the woes of widowhood, her mouth closed with 
 silence as well as by her hand, and held fast by her com- 
 panions as well as by grief. I saw her with her kindred and 
 her graces all gone, her ears and her soul left bare, her 
 ornaments and her aims abandoned, her bracelets and her 
 hopes broken, her companions and the needle-like grass- 
 spears clinging round her feet, her eye and her beloved fixed 
 within her bosom, her sighs and her hair long, her limbs and 
 her merits exhausted, her aged attendants and her streaming 
 tears falling down at her feet, her band of followers and her 
 life reduced to a scanty remnant, languid in opening her 
 eyes, ready only to shed tears, continuous in anxieties, broken 
 short in hopes, wasted in her body, thick in her sighs, filled 
 with misery, emptied of courage, dominated by fatigue, 
 deserted by her heart, immovable in her purpose but shaken 
 from her self-command, herself the home of calamities, the 
 receptacle of cares, the abode of ever varying conditions, the 
 fixed site of want of fixity, the seat of fainting fits, the centre 
 of calamities, the goal of misfortunes, the very dismay of 
 dismays, the special object of pity, the ne plus ultra of help- 
 lessness. As I saw her, I reflected, ' Strange ! do calamities 
 assail even such a form as this ?' But even in that destitute 
 condition she bowed her head respectfully as I came up. I 
 
 1 Daca, also means ' state.' 
 
 162
 
 244 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 thought to myself, as, in my great compassion I wished to 
 speak to her, ' How shall I venture to address such a noble 
 lady? If I call her 'my child' it will be too affectionate, 
 'mother' will be too flattering, 'sister' will be giving myself 
 too much honour, 'your majesty' would be the address of 
 her attendant, [274] 'princess' will be too general, 'lay 
 sister ' will be orn^v my hope, ' mistress ' will be to accept the 
 position of her slave, 'lady' would be suitable for other 
 women, 'long-lived one' would be cruelty in the circum- 
 stances, ' fortunate one ' would be mockery in her present 
 plight, ' moonfaced ' would be an improper idea for a muni, 
 ' girl ' would be disrespectful, ' venerable ' would too much 
 imply old age, ' holy ' would not be borne out by the fortune 
 which has befallen her 1 , ' madam ' would be too applicable to 
 everybody. Moreover, ' who art thou ?' would be rude, 'why 
 dost thou weep ?' would remind her of the cause of her grief, 
 ' weep not ' is not to be said unless one can remove the cause 
 of her tears, 'be consoled' has no foundation to rest on, 
 'welcome' is flat and stale; 'are you well?' is false. 
 
 "While I was thus reflecting, a woman of venerable aspect 
 but overwhelmed with sorrow, came out from that crowd of 
 women, and laying her partially grey head on the ground, 
 scalded my feet with her tears which expressed the vehement 
 emotion of her bosom, and my heart with her mournful 
 words. ' Holy father, the nature of a religious mendicant 
 is always compassionate for all beings ; and the Buddhists 
 are skilled in the self-devotion of relieving every sorrow, 
 and the doctrine of Qakyamum is the family-home of pity, 
 and the Jaina saintship is ever ready to help everybody, 
 and the religion of the Munis is a means to attain the 
 next world, and no higher kind of merit is known in 
 this world than saving life. Young women are naturally 
 the objects of compassion, still more so when they are 
 overwhelmed in misfortune ; and the good are the ' happy 
 land' of the mourners. This our mistress, being helpless 
 through the death of her father, the loss of her husband, 
 the absence of her brother, and the disappearance of all 
 her other relatives, in her excessive tenderness of heart 
 1 Cf. Acts xxviii. 4.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 245 
 
 
 
 and childless desolation, naturally wise but overwhelmed by 
 the cruel insults of her base foes her delicate nature 
 tortured by her weary wandering in the forest and her heart 
 bewildered by these continually fresh calamities inflicted by 
 accursed fortune, [275] unable to bear her dreadful misery 
 any longer, rejecting her older friends as they tried to 
 hinder her, whom she had never gone contrary to before even 
 in her dreams, and despising the friends of her youth who 
 tried to reason with her and whose love had never known a 
 break even in play, and spurning away her attendants who, 
 helplessly weeping, tried to dissuade her and whose words 
 she had never before scorned even in thought, she is now 
 entering into the fire. O save her! Even a saint like 
 thyself may employ in her case those words of thine skilled 
 in such counsels as can remove even unendurable sorrow.' 
 As she spoke these mournful utterances, I raised her up and 
 still more distressed myself gently addressed her, ' Madam, it 
 is as you say. This noble lady's grief is however beyond the 
 reach of my words ; but your request will not be in vain, if we 
 can save her but for a moment. My own teacher is near 
 at hand, who is like another holy Buddha. When I tell 
 him this occurrence, he will certainly come, boundlessly com- 
 passionate as he is. He will guide our pious sister into the 
 path of wisdom by the good words of Sugata which pierce 
 the mists of sorrow, and by his own wise counsels, illustrated 
 with apt examples and weighty with various sacred texts.' 
 When she heard this, she fell again at my feet, urging me to 
 make haste. So I have come in haste, announcing to my 
 teacher this startling and mournful occurrence, which 
 threatens death to so many helpless young women." 
 
 The king at once understood the mendicant's agitated 
 words, which were interrupted by his tears, even though his 
 sister's name had not been mentioned; and with his mind 
 oppressed by grief, and with all uncertainty dissipated by 
 the reflection that her condition so exactly agreed with every 
 circumstance told about her, and with his ears burning at 
 the tidings, said to the chief mendicant, " Holy Sir, this is 
 indeed my poor sister, base, hard-hearted, cruel and un-
 
 246 THE HA&5A-CAU1TA. 
 
 < 
 
 fortunate as I am, I have left her to fall into this condition 
 through pitiless undeserved misfortunes, my torn heart only 
 too surely tells rhe so." [276] Then he turned to the inferior 
 mendicant and said, " Rise up, holy sir, shew me where she 
 is ; make haste 1 , we will go at once to win the merit of 
 saving these many lives, if by any means we can imagine her 
 
 to be still alive," and as he uttered the words he himself 
 
 c 
 sprang up. 
 
 Followed by the holy man who was attended by all his 
 disciples, and followed by all his tributary kings who had 
 alighted from their horses, which they led after them, the 
 king made the Buddhist disciple go in front to shew the road, 
 and went on foot after him, seeming to devour the way with 
 his rapid strides. As he drew near, he heard from between 
 the trees various utterances such as suited the emergency 
 from that crowd of women all anxious to die, " O holy Yama, 
 come quickly, where art thou, O goddess of our family, O 
 divine Earth, dost thou not support 2 thy wretched daughter ? 
 whither is Laksmi gone, the matron of 3 Puspabhuti's 
 house ? O lord of the Mukhara family 4 , why dost thou not 
 restore to consciousness this thy widowed wife, distracted 
 with her various griefs ? holy Sugata, thou art asleep to 
 thy distracted worshippers. O Royal Duty, ever fostering 
 the house of Puspabhuti, why art thou become so indifferent ? 
 I raise my hands in fruitless supplication to thee also, O 
 Vindhya, thou friend in calamity! O Mother forest, dost 
 thou not hear the cries of this distressed daughter ? O Sun, 
 save this devoted wife, helpless in her misery. thou, 
 saved with difficulty, ungrateful Honour, thou utter bar- 
 barian in conduct, dost thou not save the princess ? what have 
 her royal marks secured for her ? O queen Ya9ovati, devoted 
 to thy daughter, thou hast been carried off by the robber fate ! 
 O king Pratapaclla, dost thou not fly to rescue thy daughter 
 from the flames ? thy paternal love is indeed weak. O king 
 Rajyavardhana, dost thou not hasten ? thy love for thy sister 
 
 1 The Kashmir text and A read yatasva. 2 Dharayasi A. 
 
 3 An ancestor of Qri Harsa, see ch. iii. 
 
 4 Raja9ri's slain husband was Grahavarman of the Mukhara family.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 247 
 
 
 
 is indeed cold, the world of the dead is indeed deaf to pity ! 
 Away O fire, art thou cruel enough to kill a woman? art 
 thou not ashamed of thy blaze? O brother. wind, I am thy 
 suppliant, hasten to tell the king Harsa that the princess 
 is burning, he is the consoler of all who are in trouble. O 
 pitiless barbarian, Sorrow, thou hast thy desire ! [277] O 
 demon Separation, thou mayest well be content! In this 
 lonely wood, whom shall I call ? to whom* shall I speak ? to 
 whom fly for refuge ? to which direction shall I turn ? what 
 shall I do in my forlornness ? O Gandhari 1 , this bundle of 
 creepers is mine. O savage Mocanika, cease that quarrelling 
 over the gathering of boughs. O Kalahamsl, why do you 
 still smite your head ? O Maiigalika, why do you still weep 
 so passionately? O Sundari, your companions are all far 
 away. O Qabarika, how will you stay in this horrible camp 
 of corpses ? O Sutanu, will you too go into the fire ? O 
 Malavatl tender as a lotus-fibre, you are fainting. O mother, 
 Matangika, have you too accepted death ! O dear Vatsika, 
 how will you dwell in the hated city of the dead ? O 
 Nagarika, you have gained glory by this loyalty to your 
 mistress ! O Virajika, you are made famous by your resolu- 
 tion to die in your mistress' calamity! O pitcher-bearer, 
 you are happy in knowing how to face the fall from a 
 precipice ! O Ketaki, how will you ever find again such a 
 mistress even in dream ? O Menaka, may the God Fire, 
 when he burns your body, give you a service under the 
 princess in every successive birth ! O Vijaya, fan the fire ! 
 O SanumatP, Indivarika bows her farewell, longing to go 
 to heaven ! O KamadasI, give me room to circumambulate 
 the pile ! O Vicarika, make the fire ! O Kiratika, strew a 
 heap of flowers! O Kurarika, cover the pile with Kuru- 
 vaka buds ! O chourie-bearer, clasp my neck for the last 
 time 3 ! O N armada, you must forgive my excessive 
 bursts of laughter provoked by our jests ! O Subhadra, 
 may your journey to another world be fortunate ! O 
 
 1 These are the names of various attendants who are preparing to 
 enter the funeral pile with their mistress. 
 
 2 Or ' on the mountain.' 3 The MSS. read caramam for cdmaram.
 
 248 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 Grameyika, who lovest the virtues of the noble, may you rise 
 to a happy birth ! O Vasantika, make room ! queen, thy 
 umbrella-bearer, bids thee farewell, give me a last look ! 
 Your beloved Vijayasena abandons life ! Muktika, the 
 manager of your dramas, wails aloud near you ! Patralata, 
 your loved betel-bearer, O princess, falls at your feet ! O 
 Kalingasena, [278] this is our last embrace, press me tightly 
 to your bosom ! O Vasantasena, my life is departing ! 
 Manjulika, how often do you wipe these eyes dimmed with 
 a thousand tears of intolerable sorrow, and how long do you 
 weep while you embrace me ? Created existence is always 
 like this, O Ya9odhana ! O Madhavika, why do you still 
 hold me fast ? Is this a situation for consolations ? The 
 time is past, O Kalindi, for reverential salutations to your 
 companions ! distracted Mattapalika, it is a useless waste 
 of time to fall humbly at the feet of your beloved ones ! 
 Cakoravati, loosen thy hold of my feet, passionate one ! O 
 Kamalinl, why these repeated reproaches against fate ? The 
 happiness of union with our friends is over only too soon ! 
 Farewell, O revered chamberlain Tarangasena ! O dear 
 Saudamini, I have at least seen you ! O Kumudika, bring 
 the flowers with which to worship the fire ! O Rohim, give 
 me your hand to support me as I climb the pyre ! O mother 
 nurse, be firm ; verily such is the retribution of those who 
 have sinned ! I give my last salutation to your honoured 
 feet ! O mother, this is my last bow of farewell as I depart 
 to the next world ! O Laval ika 1 , at the time of death why 
 is there this joyful shouting in my heart ! with what fore- 
 boding do my limbs bristle and thrill with delight ? O 
 Vamanika, my left eye throbs ! In vain, O friendly crow, do 
 you keep alighting on a milky tree 2 in front of me born to 
 ill-fortune ! O Harini, I hear to the north the neighing of 
 horses ! O Prabhavatl, whose is this lofty umbrella which I 
 see between the trees ? O Kurangika, who is it that has 
 
 1 This sudden change from sorrow to joy implies Qri Harsa's ap- 
 proach. 
 
 2 This seems to be a good omen a crow seen on one's right hand 
 is a good omen in the Bengal! poem ' Candi.'
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 249 
 
 
 
 uttered ray lord's auspicious name ? O queen, thou art 
 indeed happy in the joy of the coming of King Harsa !" 
 As he heard these various voices, the iing hurried up 
 and saw Rajyagii fainting as she prepared to enter the 
 funeral pile, and full of agitation, he pressed her forehead 
 with his hand as she lay with her eyes closed in her swoon. 
 [279] At that reviving touch of her dear brother's hand which 
 seemed to diffuse a life-restoring power alfe if healing plants 
 were fastened to his arm, and to drop a mysterious influence 
 as of amulets in his bracelets, and to rain ambrosia from the 
 moonbeams of his nails, and to bind on her forehead a moon- 
 gem crest which dropped a cool dew like that which falls 
 when the moon rises, and to calm her fevered heart with his 
 fingers cold like lotus-fibres and to bring back her wandering 
 life, Rajyagri instantly opened her eyes. Clasping the neck 
 of her brother thus unexpectedly restored to her as if seen 
 in a dream, and pouring forth a flood of tears from her eyes 
 which were like the channels of two rivers, with the stored 
 reservoir of grief overpowering all her soul and bursting out 
 violently at his sudden appearance, she cried out, "O father, 
 O mother, friends." Meanwhile her brother, as he tried to 
 comfort her, covered her mouth with his hands, and kept 
 calling out in a loud voice through the agitation caused by his 
 fraternal affection, " O my child, be firm," and the holy 
 teacher exhorted her to obey the words of her elder brother, 
 and the courtiers implored her, " Dost thou not see, O queen, 
 the condition of the king? cease now to weep!" Her 
 attendants said to her, " Mistress, have pity on thy 
 brother," and her aged relations restrained her, " O daughter, 
 cease for the present and weep again at some future time," 
 and her young friends counselled her, "Dear friend, how 
 long will you weep ? be silent, you greatly pain the king." 
 Though surrounded by all these various comforters, the 
 princess wept violently for a long time with a loud out- 
 burst of grief, her throat choked by the tears which broke 
 forth to shew the pressure of the griefs which she had so 
 long pondered over, and her soul filled with the weight of 
 her distress ; but when the first vehemence of her emotion
 
 250 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 was spent she allowed her brother to lead her away from 
 the fire and sat down at the foot of a tree near by. [280.] 
 
 The holy teaoher, having slowly recognised that it was 
 Harsa himself, felt a still deeper feeling of reverence, and, 
 after a short pause, made a secret sign to his disciple, and, 
 the latter having brought some water, he himself presented 
 it to the king in some lotus leaves that he might wash 
 his face. The kiAg also, having respectfully accepted it, 
 first washed his sister's eyes which were flushed from her 
 continued weeping and seemed like a red lotus sprung 1 from 
 her long flow of tears, and then washed his own. When 
 the king had washed his face all the spectators stood silent 
 as if painted, and then he turned and spoke gently to 
 his sister, " My child, salute this holy man. He was your 
 husband's second heart and is our guru." At his words the 
 princess made her obeisance, while tears again filled her eyes 
 at the sudden shock of the news that he had known her 
 husband ; and the holy man, who felt that his stoical 
 calmness was threatened by the tears which gathered in his 
 own eyes and could only be kept back by an effort, turned 
 away his eyes for a while and heaved a long sigh. After 
 standing still for a time, he tenderly spoke in a gentle voice, 
 " O virtuous monarch, you have wept long enough, and 
 your royal attendants have not even yet ceased their weep- 
 ing, let the due rites of ablution be performed, when all 
 have bathed, it will be well for us to return home." 
 
 Then the king, in compliance with right custom and the 
 teacher's words, rose and bathed in the mountain stream, 
 and proceeded to that place with his sister. There he 
 devotedly waited upon her in her sorrow and made her and 
 her attendants partake of the food prepared for the funeral 
 offerings in honour of her husband ; and then afterwards ate 
 of them himself. Then he heard from the attendants the 
 full story of his sister's misfortunes from her imprisonment 
 onward, how she was sent away from Kanyakubja, from her 
 confinement there during the Gauda trouble*, through the 
 
 1 The MSS. readjatam forjdlam. 
 
 2 A. reads Gaudasambhramaguptito, B. -sambhrame-.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 251 
 
 
 
 action of a noble named Gupta 1 , how she heard the news 
 of Rajyavardhana's death, and refused to take food, and then 
 how, faint for want of food, she wandered dmiserably in the 
 Vindhya forests and at last in her despair resolved to mount 
 the funeral pile. [281] Then the teacher came to the king, 
 as he was sitting quietly at the foot of a tree with his sister 
 in a lonely place away from all their attendants, at first he 
 sat down and waited ; and then little* by little he thus 
 addressed him, " My lord, listen, I have something to say to 
 you. Yonder ear-ring of night, the inconstant Moon, in his 
 pride of youth despised all his many wives, however radiant 
 in their youthful bloom, and carried off Tara the wife of 
 Brihaspati the priest of Indra, wishing to make her his own 
 wife, and fled from heaven, and wandered about in many 
 pleasant places with her whose eyes were as beautiful as 
 those of the timid partridge and who was lovely in every 
 limb, and responded to his love 2 . But at last through respect 
 for the words of all the gods he restored her to her husband, 
 the lord of speech, still in his heart he was continually 
 burned, though without fuel, by the fire of absence from her. 
 " One day, as he was rising from the Eastern mountain, he 
 beheld his own reflection in the pure water of the ocean, 
 and as he gazed he fondly remembered Tara's smiling 
 face, and, stirred with passion, even though in heaven, he 
 dropped big tears from his eyes, which were as bright as 
 if they had drunk up the radiance of all the lotuses. The 
 pearl-oysters swallowed all these tears as they fell into the sea. 
 When they had become pearls in the bellies of the oysters, 
 the King of the snakes, Vasuki, dwelling in hell, somehpw 
 became possessed of them ; and he made of them a single 
 wreath which shone even in hell like a cluster of stars ; and 
 he called it Mandakini. By the power of the holy Soma 3 , 
 the lord of all plants, it became an antidote against all 
 poisons, and in consequence of its having been produced 
 from the moon which is the ever- cool fountain of ambrosia, 
 its touch relieves the pain of all creatures. Vasuki therefore 
 
 1 See supr. pp. 178, 224. 2 Abhikamaya, A. 
 
 3 The Moon.
 
 252 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 
 
 always carried it about with him to soothe the burning heat 
 of poison [282]. 
 
 "As time passed on, one day a mendicant named Nagarjuna 
 was brought to hell by the nagas; he begged it from the snake- 
 king as a gift and received it. When he went out of hell, he 
 gave it to a king, his friend, Satavahana, the lord of the three 
 oceans 1 ; and in course of time it came into our hands by the 
 regular succession bf pupil-hood. Although to offer a present 
 to one so exalted as yourself is almost an insult, still I pray 
 you to deign to accept it in consideration of its potency 
 against poison, since you know the virtues of medicines, and, 
 as you are ever engaged in helping all living beings, your 
 life well deserves to be guarded." So saying he uncovered 
 the pearl-wreath Mandakim, which was wrapped up in the 
 skirt of the mendicant who was standing near by. 
 
 When the pure bright mass of rays suddenly gleamed forth 
 as the jewel was unveiled, illumining the different quarters 
 of space, it was as if the trees burst out from their very 
 roots as longing for their twining creepers to bud 2 , as if 
 troops of wild geese in the lakes hurried as it were eager for 
 new lotus roots, making the sky white with their flapping 
 wings, as if orchards of Ketakl-trees blossomed, white with 
 the pollen as the clusters burst open through their weight, 
 and bright with the needle-like anthers 3 made visible by the 
 opening of the calyx, the lotuses seemed to awake, rough 
 with their unfolding leaves, the lions moved about, seeming 
 as if they filled the horizon with their tossing light-coloured 
 manes the wood-nymphs smiled, as though besprinkling 
 the forest-glades with the flashing of their teeth, thickets 
 of Ka9a grass blossomed, as though laughing openly with 
 their filaments bursting out of their buds, herds of 
 yaks roamed about, looking white as they waved their 
 bushy tails, the mountain streams seemed to dash along, 
 rolling their waves which swelled and foamed and danced 
 
 1 He therefore ruled Jambudvlpa, Plaksadvlpa and Calmalidvlpa. 
 
 2 Lit. 'budding creeper-brides'. 
 
 3 Or is it ' the sharp long leaves ' ?
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 253 
 
 
 
 the full moon seemed to rise as though rejoicing in gaining 
 a new set of stars, as its circle of spreading rays filled the 
 different quarters of the sky, the day setftned to be made 
 clean though its horizon had been grey with the ashes of the 
 forest-fires, and the faces of the women soiled with tears 
 were as it were washed once more [283]. 
 
 The king, after repeatedly opening and closing his eyes 
 which were dazzled by the mass of rays in front of him, at 
 last with a great effort beheld the wreath filling all the 
 quarters of the heavens as if it were the collected spouting 
 of all the elephants of the sky, or the cloudless 1 autumn 
 moonlight drawn in lines there, or the path of the new 
 moon's motion with its steps clearly traced, or the wreath 
 of the seven rishis dropped motionless from their hands 2 , 
 or a digit of the moon in the North-east quarter, eclipsing 
 the splendour of all the ornaments in the world 3 , or beauty 
 embodied with its quality of whiteness in perfection, risen 
 from the milky ocean, or Ganges, which takes away all 
 misery, come down to the successive mountains of our earth, 
 or a banner of silk ceaselessly fluttering which announces 
 the coming of embodied Imperial power, or the teeth of 
 Qiva seen directly in front, white like camphor, or Laksmi's 
 garland which she gave at her svayamvara, fulfilling her 
 bridegroom's desires, or the joyous smile of the goddess of 
 Earth 4 hardly visible beneath her concealing hand, or the 
 rosary of personified Royal Duty, intent on its three great 
 objects, counsel, treasure and an army, or the tablet in- 
 scribed with the catalogue of Kuvera's treasures, ornamented 
 with his own seal 5 . As he gazed, he was filled for a long 
 time with astonishment. 
 
 Then the teacher, taking it up, bound it on the king's 
 noble shoulder, and the king, shewing his pleasure, thus 
 
 1 Or punningly 'having great pearls'. 
 
 2 Or punningly 'without the constellation hasta\ 
 
 3 Or punningly 'eclipsing the ashes worn by Civa the ornament 
 of the whole world '. 
 
 4 The Kashmir text and MS. A have sudhaydh for vasudhdyah. 
 6 Samudra may punningly refer to the sea.
 
 254 THE HARSA.-CARITA. 
 
 < 
 
 addressed him, "Reverend Sir, men are unworthy of such 
 gifts. This is all the result of your ascetic observances or 
 the special favoiVr of the gods. [284] Who are we, even to 
 have control over our own selves, still less to presume to 
 accept or reject your gifts ? Ever since I beheld you I have 
 been devoted to you, with my heart captivated by your 
 preeminent virtues. This body of mine is placed unreservedly 
 at your disposal till death. You are now absolutely free to 
 do with it what you please." 
 
 After a while, when the courtiers had discussed the 
 beauty of the wreath, Rajya9ri, having gained courage, 
 called her betel-bearer Patralata and whispered something 
 in her ear ; and the latter turned respectfully to the King 
 and said, " Sire, the queen bids me say that she never 
 remembers to have uttered before a loud remark in your 
 highness' presence, far less a command ; but this outrageous 
 tyranny of sorrows makes her speak, and this sad plight 
 brought about by evil fate makes her forget her due respect 1 . 
 A husband or a son is a woman's true support ; but to those 
 who are deprived of both, it is immodesty even to continue to 
 live, as mere fuel for the fire of misery. Your highness' 
 coming stopped my resolution to die, even on the point of 
 accomplishment; let me therefore in my misfortunes be 
 allowed to assume the red robe." The king heard her and 
 remained silent for a time. 
 
 Then the teacher spoke gravely, "0 lady, verily sorrow is 
 a synonym for ' demon/ another form of epilepsy, the heyday 
 of darkness, a peculiar kind of poison, an undying 2 King of 
 the city of the dead ; it is a flame which has no nirvana, a 
 consumption which never ends ; a Janardana 3 where no 
 Laksmi dwells, a mendicant 4 who has nothing to do with 
 holiness, a destroyer of sleep, yet without wisdom 8 , [285] a 
 
 1 MSS. A and B read iyam hi pucam asahyatd vyaharayati hata- 
 daivadattd ca dafil githilayati vinayam, which we adopt. But we might 
 read -ddegdn in the Bombay text as governed by vyapdrayantl. 
 
 2 Or " other than Yama." 
 
 3 A name of Krisna as ' agitating mankind.' Every epithet in 
 this speech is susceptible of two or more meanings. 
 
 4 Or " a destroyer." 6 Or " a kind of sleep with no waking."
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 255 
 
 
 
 very crisis of fever like fire 1 , a Vinayaka 2 who is no attendant 
 of Qiva, a host of evil planets with no Mercury in their rear, 
 a flame with nothing auspicious in it 3 , an outburst of madness 
 from love, a fire rising out of the mind 4 , a fury of passion out 
 of a tender heart 3 , parching out of softness, utter gloom out 
 of affection 6 . This wound of the heart ever running with 
 tears 7 , this thief of life, stealing in under the long dark 
 night 8 , this cause of chaos, overpowering all beings 9 , this lord 
 of misrule skilled in destroying all bodies, this lingering 
 sickness ruthless with wasting, sighing, and delirium, this 
 evil constellation, foreboding destruction to all the world, this 
 thunderbolt not produced from the clouds, life-destroying 
 and with a long-lasting flash 10 , even all the hearts of the 
 wise cannot stand against it, though illumined by all the 
 lightning-flashes of perfect knowledge and profound in 
 grasping all the secret meanings hidden in deep books, [286] 
 ripe with the lore of many poems, laden with the weight of 
 many castras, far less the hearts of women tender like the 
 flowers of the new jasmine, and weak like the fibres of the 
 juicy lotus stalk. 
 
 " Say therefore, O faithful to thy vow, what is it that thou 
 art doing, who is reproached, to whom art thou wailing thus 
 loudly, and telling thy heart-consuming sorrow? We mortals 
 must bear everything, closing our eyes, without bewilderment. 
 O holy lady, these ancient ordinances, who can alter them ? 
 The long ropes of the water-wheel, birth, old age, and death, 
 go round and round, night and day, to the five races of 
 men ; the hard all-sweeping ordinances of Yama are cunning 
 to trace out the ways of all the minds which preside over the 
 five different families of the five kinds of great beings 11 . In 
 
 I Or "ever active." 2 Ganea and also "an obstacle." 
 3 Or " a light without yoga." 4 Or the Manasa lake. 
 
 5 Or " dust out of moisture." Or " colour (riiga)." 
 
 7 Read with Kashmir text ajasrdsra-. 
 
 8 Or 'under the bewilderment of many faults.' 
 
 9 Or "all the elements.' 10 The lightning is Ksanaprabha. 
 
 II This is obscure. Perhaps it means the five races of embodied 
 beings, Gods, men, the Manes, cattle and birds. Or perhaps panca- 
 kula means ' the assembly (the pancdyit) of the elements.'
 
 256 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 i 
 
 every home the hours of time, never waiting even 1 for a 
 moment, flow on and on, cunning to reckon the years 2 of 
 life. The stern- command of Yama goes forth at once 
 through the world, offering the sacrifice of the lives of 
 all beings. The drums of the Lord of the dead keep 
 incessantly clanging, skilled in announcing the departure of 
 all living beings. The messengers of fate roam in companies 
 in every quarter and in every city, with eyes red like hot 
 iron, and bodies black like the Kalakuta poison and carrying 
 black nooses in their hands. The proclamations of the 
 dreadful onset for the destruction of all living beings pass 
 from house to house, striking terror through the din of the 
 bells of Yama, as they are shaken in the hands of the awful 
 messengers. In every direction run the broad highways of 
 the travellers to the other world, with the young jackals 
 which haunt the cemeteries howling for joy, [287] highways 
 crowded with the biers of the dead, discoloured with the hair 
 scattered by the widows, and echoing with their wailings of 
 grief, while the eyes of the vultures eagerly watch the 
 banners of the King of the dead, as they flutter grey with 
 the smoke of the funeral piles. The tongue of the goddess 
 of Doom's-night, black like the charcoal of the funeral piles 
 and covered with blood, licks up the lives of living beings, 
 like a cow that licks her calf's shoulder, eager to swallow 
 all creation as a mouthful. The hunger of the god of death, 
 as he devours all beings, never learns satiety. The stream 
 of the transitory rushes on ever speeding. The meetings 
 of the company of the five elements last only for a moment. 
 The sticks that compose the body's machine 3 , which encages 
 the soul, are apt to fly asunder in the night. The atoms 
 which build up this corporeal frame, are ready to crumble, 
 helpless against the onsets of good or evil fortune. The 
 threads of the cords that bind the living principle break at a 
 touch. Nothing is self-depending, all is ending. 
 
 " Considering all this, O wise woman, thou surely wilt 
 
 1 The MS. A reads Ksanam apy aksamamanah. 
 
 2 The Kashmir edition and A read ayuh-kald. 
 
 3 The Kashmir edition and A read gatrayantra.
 
 CHAPTER VIIT. 257 
 
 I 
 
 not allow darkness utterly to overwhelm thy tender mind. 
 A single moment of reflection steadies the soul. And though 
 sorrow has made a wide inroad, is not thy eldfer brother to be 
 regarded by thee, who is as a guru and as a father ? Were 
 it not for him, who would not honour thy noble resolve to 
 assume the red dress ? A holy mendicant life is the surest 
 consolation for every sorrow ; this is the best home for the 
 wise. But he now stops thy desire, for tliou must only do 
 what he commands. Whether thou regardest him as a 
 brother, as an elder, as one beloved, or as a virtuous man, or 
 as a King, thou must in any case obey his decree." 
 
 When he ceased, the King replied, "Who could speak 
 thus except your reverence ? You and your fellows are the 
 pillars, created by destiny, of its own will and unasked, to 
 support the world under its grievous calamities. [288] You 
 are the lamps of religion, softly bright with kindness and 
 powerful to dispel the darkness of delusion. But excessive 
 affection like mine, when emboldened by kindness thus 
 lavishly shewn to it, learns to covet what is properly beyond 
 its reach ; and to receive great favours, emboldens even a 
 cautious man to venture, urged on by his levity of heart, 
 and self-love teaches even a retiring man to thrust himself 
 forward, forgetful of all considerations of what is proper 
 or improper. But the noble will always on their part 
 recognise the constraining influence of a request, as the 
 ocean-tide recognises its shore ; and your highness made 
 over to me this your body, unsolicited 1 , primarily to shew 
 me hospitality. Therefore I would prefer a petition to 
 my honoured lord 2 . My sister, so young and so tried by 
 adversity, must be cherished by me for a while, even if it 
 involves the neglect of all my royal duties ; but I also made 
 a vow in the presence of all the world, when I bound myself 
 to obey my right arm which was uplifted to destroy the 
 insolent enemies who had slain my brother ; and unable to 
 endure the insult offered, I surrendered my whole soul to 
 
 1 Scil. when he accompanied Harsa ; the Kashmir edition (but 
 not A.) reads abhyartkitena. 
 
 2 He here uses the Buddhist term ' bhadanta.' 
 
 C. 17
 
 258 THE HAESA-CAR1TA. 
 
 righteous vengeance. Will your highness therefore deign to 
 employ himself for a while in this business of mine ? Grant 
 this body of yours to me your guest 1 . From this day forth, 
 while I discharge my vow, and console my subjects in their 
 sorrow for my father's death, I desire that she should remain 
 at my side and be comforted with your righteous discourses, 
 and your passionless instruction which produces salutary 
 knowledge, and yo'ur advice which calms the disposition, and 
 your Buddhist doctrines which drive away worldly passions. 
 At the end, when I have accomplished my design, she and I 
 will assume the red 2 garments together. What will not the 
 magnanimous grant to a suppliant ? Dadhlca, that ocean of 
 constancy, made the lord of heaven win success by the gift 
 of his bones 3 . How often did not Buddha, the chief of 
 Sages, when his compassion was appealed to, disregard his 
 own life, and offer himself as a victim to carnivorous animals ? 
 You well know other instances besides these." [289] Having 
 uttered these words, the King was silent. 
 
 The Buddhist sage replied, " The fortunate do not need 
 to utter their wishes twice; at once by means of the thought 
 alone you make your virtues receive the homage of the 
 offering of your servants' bodies 4 . The service of one so 
 incapable of true service is tied to your command whether 
 in a great or a small matter." Pleased at the way in which 
 the other so warmly accepted his friendship, the King, after 
 staying there that night, the next morning dismissed 
 Nirghata, well satisfied with gifts of garments and orna- 
 ments, took his sister with the holy man and went back, 
 in a few marches, to his camp stationed along the bank of 
 the Ganges. 
 
 As he was relating there to his friends the story of the 
 recovery of Rajyac.ri, the sun completed his journey through 
 the heavens; and the day, dear to the cakravaka pairs, folded 
 
 1 I.e. become in turn my guest. 
 
 2 Kasuyani. 
 
 3 The myth of Dadhyac (later Dadhlca) occurs in the Rig-veda ; the 
 bones were used as thunderbolts against Vritra. 
 
 4 The MSS. A and B read gunus tdvakah. Put a stop after 
 janena.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 259 
 
 
 
 up its light like a lotus-bed tawny-coloured with thick honey. 
 The Sun absorbed again in his body the web of his sancti- 
 fying 1 rays, which had been spread far and wiSe to the ends of 
 the world, red like freshly spilt blood, just as the preceptor 
 Qakalya swallowed back the Yajur-veda 2 vomited by his 
 disobedient disciple Yajfiavalkya. Then in gradual succes- 
 sion, the Sun, bright with its gathering mass of deepening 
 colours, seemed to be like the congenital'crest-jewel 3 which 
 Bhima carried off from A9vatthaman's turban, horribly red 
 with the fresh blood ; or like the begging vessel consisting 
 of Brahma's 4 skull, filled with the blood from the veins of the 
 bald heads, which Qiva flung down in his furious eagerness 
 to present a Rudra-alms, or like the far-stretching lake of 
 blood 5 , made by Rama (Jamadagnya) when incensed at his 
 father's murder, [290] and filled through a thousand channels 
 from the throats of the vile Ksatriyas, which were cut by 
 the axe which cleft the bull-like shoulder of the monstrous 
 Kartavlrya, or like the tortoise Vibhavasu 6 as it rolled in 
 the sky, bereft of life and with head, paws and feet contracted 
 through fear in its round shell and covered with blood from 
 the attacks of Garuda's cage-like claws, or like the egg 
 which contained Aruna's half-formed embryo body when its 
 mother Vinata broke it 7 ; or like a cliff of Meru, rich in 
 metallic ore, tossed up by the goddess Kali, vexed at the 
 long delay of the world's destruction beyond its appointed 
 time, or like the awful cauldron of Brihaspati 8 , bearing 
 signs of the cooking of an oblation in some magic rite for the 
 destruction of the demons, and having its inside red with the 
 
 1 Pdpamumsi. 
 
 2 One or two words have been supplied here from the Commentary. 
 For the legend see Visnu Pur. iii. 5. 
 
 3 Mahabh. x. ch. 14, 15. 
 
 4 This seems to allude to the legend of Brahma's fifth head having 
 been cut off by Civa. 
 
 6 This alludes to Paragurama's slaughter of the Ksatriyas, when 
 he cleared them from the earth seven times and filled five lakes with 
 their blood. 
 
 6 Mahabh. i. 29. 7 Mahabh. i. 16. 
 
 8 The priest of the gods. 
 
 172
 
 260 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 ( 
 
 bloody stew, or like the yawning gulf of Mahftbhairava's 1 
 mouth, fearful with the smeared blood of the demon Gaja, 
 as his body wasVapidly swallowed. 
 
 Then the evening appeared, leaning on the clouds which 
 shone with the sun's many forms as reflected in the ocean, 
 like a goblin who has just seized his fill of raw flesh, while 
 the ocean had its waves dyed in the evening glow as if it 
 were once more crimson with the blood of the demons Madhu 
 and Kaitabha, when crushed by the brawny thighs of Visnu. 
 At the close of the evening-tide, the moon was brought to 
 the King as a respectful offering by the Night, as if it were 
 the impersonated Glory of his Race bringing him a cup from 
 the pearl Mountain, to slake his boundless thirst for fame. 
 or the impersonated glory of the Kingdom bringing him the 
 stamp of the primeval King 2 on the silver patent of his 
 sovereignty, to encourage him in his resolve to bring back 
 the golden Krita age, or the Goddess of the Future 3 con- 
 ducting a messenger from the White Dvlpa to animate him 
 to the conquest of all the seven Dvipas 4 . 
 
 Here ends the eighth chapter in the great poem, the Harsa-Carita, 
 composed by Cri Bana Bhatta, the son of Citrabhcanu, and crest-jewel 
 of the company of great poets. 
 
 1 A name of Civa. - Manu or Prithu Vainya. 
 
 3 Or perhaps ' Majesty ' (dyati). 
 
 4 This concluding description, like all such in the book, is at least 
 semi-symbolical ('the pathetic fallacy'). The sunset is described in 
 terms suggesting bloody wars and the fall of Harsa's enemy, followed 
 by the rising of the moon of Harsa's glory. Bana's narrative abruptly 
 ends here which was begun in p. 79.
 
 APPENDIX A. 
 
 I. 
 
 The following is the description of MalatI omitted p. 25 . 
 
 [35] ' Under the semblance of her form's radiant halo 
 she seemed to be bringing with her all the pure water of the 
 river. Like Gaurl on her tiger, she was mounted upon a 
 great maned steed, in colour resembling a bunch of opened 
 Atimuktaka blossoms. Sportively inserted in the girth of 
 her horse, which turned prick-eared to listen to the clear 
 tinkle of the anklets, her feet, glowing with clotted lac and 
 stained with saffron on the upper surface, poured out on 
 either side bright red streams of light, as if she were 
 trailing forests of sprouting red Acokas, attracted by morbid 
 cravings for her kicks 1 . [36] About her loins a girdle rang 
 like a proclamation devoting to murder and rapine the 
 hearts of all the animate world. Hanging down to her toes, 
 a gown of white bleached silk, lighter than a snake's slough, 
 concealed her creeper-like form. Visible through the robe's 
 thin fabric, her limbs, white with viscous sandal, sug- 
 gested a lake with lotus fibre-stalks discernible 'mid the 
 translucent water. Underneath gleamed a petticoat of 
 safflower tint and variegated with spots of different colours, 
 as if she were a crystal ground enclosing a treasure of jewels. 
 Dotted as with clusters of large bright planets by a collar 
 of pearls round as Avnildkl fruit, she recalled the autumn 
 
 1 A reference to the superstition that the Acoka cannot blossom 
 until kicked by a woman, cf. p. 149 supra.
 
 262 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 sky, overcast with a mass of thin white cloud. Above 
 bosoms like full cups she wore a necklace with jewelled 
 pendants, spraymg forth red and green rays, like a festoon 
 of wild flowers signalizing the entrance of some happy man 
 into her heart. Set upon her forearms, each golden bracelet, 
 having an emerald crocodile-shaped signet, made green the 
 ends of heaven with a texture of light like land lotus-beds 
 accompanying her under the idea that she was Laksmi. 
 Her joined lips, darkened by a deep black stain of betel, 
 seemed to pour forth, mingled with the afterglow, a dusk 
 swallowed up by her moonlike face. A thick swarm of bees, 
 settling eagerly upon the blooming blue lotuses of her eyes, 
 covered half her face like a veil of dark blue silk. Attached 
 to her left ear, a peacock-blue earring, of a tint borrowed 
 from indigo, resembled a patch of dark cloud amid her 
 lightning radiance. [37] From a pair of pendant ear-orna- 
 ments, formed of three pearls comparable to Vakula fruit, she 
 poured a rain of light, as if besprinkling her soft creeper- 
 like arms. Her right ear being provided with a pendant in 
 the shape of a string of leaves containing Ketakl flowers 1 , 
 it seemed as if the moon's tongue were through greed for 
 her beauty licking her cheek. Her face, Love's sum of 
 riches, bore, as it were, for a seal, a round sectarial mark, 
 black as Tawia^a-bark and dispensing a fragrance of civet. 
 Dancing upon her forehead and kissing her hair-parting 
 was a frontal jewel, whose upward-streaming flickering 
 radiance formed, as it were, a shawl of red muslin about 
 her head. With tresses hanging loose from careless fastening 
 and swaying at her back, as if wearing a streamer of dark 
 chowries, she resembled the pennon of Kama with her crest- 
 jewel for its crocodile 2 . She might be described as the 
 moon's family goddess, the simple which could restore to 
 life the God of the flowery bow, the shore of love's ocean, the 
 effulgence of youth's moonrise, the great river of passion's 
 
 1 The Ketakl flower is white, and therefore compared to the 
 moonlight. 
 
 2 The MS. reads -avaculinl and -pattikeva ; \\e have read iva in both 
 places.
 
 APPENDIX A. 263 
 
 I 
 
 ambrosia, the efflorescence of dalliance's tree, the primer of 
 archness, the moonlight of beauty, the strength of steadfast- 
 ness, the sanctum of reverence, the nursery garden of 
 bienseance, the conference of excellencies, the wisdom of 
 magnanimity, the satiety of youthfulness. 
 
 [38] Behind her, mounted on a tall mule, came the 
 bearer of her betel casket, a girl composed, as it were, of 
 flowers, her eyes being long like a string 0f blue lotus petals, 
 her lips rosy, her teeth gleaming like jasmine blossoms, her 
 arms soft as Cirlsa chaplets, her hands delicate as red 
 lotuses, her breath fragrant as Vakula buds, and her aspect 
 bright as the Campaka.' 
 
 II. 
 
 The following is the description of Bhairavacarya omitted p. 87. 
 
 [113] 'Soon amid a great throng of recluses he beheld 
 Bhairavacarya, who thus early had bathed, presented the 
 eightfold offering of flowers, and attended to the sacrificial 
 fire. Seated on a tiger-skin, which was stretched on ground 
 smeared with green cow -dung, and whose outline was marked 
 by a boundary ridge of ashes, he was wrapt in a black woollen 
 cloak, as though, apprehending an entrance into an Asura 
 cavern, he were rehearsing a dwelling in the darkness of 
 hell. Like realgar paste purchased by the sale of human 
 flesh 1 , his flashing splendour, lurid as lightning, cast a glow 
 upon his disciples. With his hair, knotted at the top and 
 showing the round shells of his rosary hanging from one 
 braided part, he seemed to be imprisoning the saints, who, 
 presuming upon a smattering of knowledge, roamed overhead. 
 [114] His time of life, marked by a few white hairs, had just 
 passed five-and-fifty years. The hair-line on his skull was 
 giving way to baldness, the orifices of his ears were covered 
 
 1 The manahpild or realgar stone is very precious.
 
 2G4 THE HAKSA-CA1UTA. 
 
 < 
 
 with hair, and his forehead broad ; while a slanting forehead- 
 mark, made with ashes, produced the effect of a white line of 
 skull bone burst* by the heat of burnt gum repeatedly held 
 over half his head 1 . A natural frown, contracting the interval 
 between his brows, seemed by the meeting of these to give 
 him one long unbroken line of brow tawny in colour. His very 
 long eyes, somewhat yellow as with gutta serena in the pupils, 
 sparkling bright in the centre, and from their red comers 
 sending out a film of rays, appeared to trace round him a 
 many-coloured circle like a rainbow, and to shower about the 
 parts of space an oblation to Qiva variegated with rows of 
 white, yellow, and red symbolical marks 2 . The tip of his nose 
 was curved like the end of Garuda's beak, his cheeks nan-owed 
 by the wide gash of his mouth, and the outgoing light of his 
 teeth, somewhat indented, whitened the stretch of heaven as 
 with the light of the moon, the crest of that Civa who was 
 ever treasured in his heart. As if overweighted by the whole 
 Qaivite canon resting on the tip of his tongue, his lip hung 
 a little downwards. A pair of crystal earrings, dangling from 
 his pendulous ears, suggested that Venus and Jupiter were 
 pursuing him in the confidence of acquiring a knowledge 
 surpassing gods anoj Asuras. Upon one forearm, having an 
 iron bracelet and bound with the line of a charm-thread of 
 various herbs, he wore a bit of shell like one of Pusan's teeth 
 broken by the holy (^iva and out of devotion converted into 
 an ornament. His right hand shook a rosary, like a Persian 
 wheel containing the buckets for raising water from the well 
 of all delightful emotions. His beard, dangling upon his 
 breast and somewhat tawny at the end, was like a broom 
 sweeping away all the dust of passions therein contained. 
 Covered with a circle of very thick black hair, his bosom 
 seemed scorched by the illumination won through meditation. 
 The ring of a rather loose-hanging wrinkle ran round his 
 middle: [115] the flesh upon his buttocks swelled out in 
 bulk : his girdling loin-cloth was of pure white linen : while 
 
 1 For this custom of. p. 135 supra. 
 
 2 K. R. Kale explains this of a rice oblation smeared with yellow 
 turmeric and reddish saffron.
 
 APPENDIX A. 265 
 
 
 
 circling round him in a tight paryaiika band was an ascetic's 
 wrap in hue white as ambrosia foam, as if Vasuki, manifested 
 by the power of many unfailing charms, we/e performing the 
 circuit of honour about him. His feet, whose soles were 
 tender like red lotuses, appeared by the clear woven rays 
 which fell from their nails to be crushing hell to pieces in 
 the delight of carrying away its great treasures. They 
 were constantly attended by a pair of* pure white water- 
 washed slippers, like a pair of ha/nisas become intimate with 
 him during his pilgrimage to the holy fords of the Ganges. 
 Constant at his side was a bamboo staff with a barb of iron 
 inserted in the end, which might be compared to a goad for 
 driving away the god whose function it was to remove 
 obstacles to the full attainment of knowledge 1 . Rarely 
 speaking, slowly smiling ; every man's benefactor, and chaste 
 as a boy ; supreme in austerities, surpassing in wisdom ; 
 restrained in anger, unrestrained in kindness; graced, like 
 a great city, with unfailing native nobility 2 ; delicately 
 tinted 3 , like Meru, as with the sprays of the Tree of 
 Paradise; like Kailasa, having his head purified by the 
 dust of Pa9upati's feet: like (Diva's heaven, the resort of 
 Mahe9vara throngs ; like the ocean, |eansed by many a 
 male and female stream ; like the Ganges flood, made pure 
 by visiting many a sacred bathing-place : dwelling of dliarma, 
 tlrtha of truth, storehouse of sincerity, burgh of purity, hall 
 of high character, domain of patience, rice-plot of unassum- 
 ingness, pedestal of constancy, support of steadfastness, mine 
 of mercy, home of happiness, pleasance of pleasure, palace of 
 propitiousness, [116] mansion of venerableness, congress of 
 refinement, genesis of good feeling, end of evil : such was 
 the holy Bhairavacarya, a very Qiva incarnate.' 
 
 1 Scil. Ganesa was himself only an obstacle. But MS. A reads 
 anapanayana f the not driving away.' 
 
 2 R. R. Kale shews that these words contain a pun when applied to 
 ' a great city,' since by Pan. 6. 2. 89 the word nagara does not lose its 
 accent when compounded (adlnaprakriti). 
 
 3 Chayti contains a pun. Bhairavacarya is tinted like, Meru shaded 
 with the sprays.
 
 ' APPENDIX B. 
 
 ADDITIONAL NOTES AND CORRECTIONS. 
 
 (The black figure refers to the page, the plain figure to the line.} 
 
 6 8-10 For pattrabhangamakarikd cf. Kdd. p. 115, 1. 15, and for 
 makarika Kad. p. 211, 1. 14 (slmantamakarika) and below, 
 text, p. 37, 11. 8-9 (cudamaniinakarika) [Peterson's 2nd ed.]. 
 The word makarika appears to denote a wia&ara-shaped 
 forehead ornament, perhaps with an erotic signification, the 
 makara being Kama's token. Pattrabhahga appears to be 
 regularly used of personal ornamentation, probably in the 
 shape of leaves (vide text, p. 146, 1. 3 with the pun on pattra 
 and cf. B. and R.) : apdcrayapattrabhahgaputrikd (text, p. 140, 
 1. 2, cf. also p. 153, 1. 18) is in this last respect exceptional. 
 
 The reference to the chess-board in this passage is perhaps 
 due to the fact that one of the Indian chess-men was a 
 makara in the sense of being an elephant. Kola punningly 
 refers, no doubt, to the black army on the chess-board. 
 Thus kritakalasannidhdnam has three senses, (1) 'with the 
 black at hand ' of the chess-board, (2) ' with Yama at hand ' 
 of the wives of Yama, (3) ' with blackness at hand ' of the 
 ascetic's forehead. 
 
 13 20-3 The verse contains puns in akalusamdnasa ('pure of mind' = 
 Brahma) and pahkajdlaya ( = abode of Brahma, cf. B. and 
 R.). 
 
 17 1 Or we might read 'drinking in,' as a flower drinks in the 
 sunshine. 
 
 17 9 For 'heavens.' read 'world.' 
 
 17 14 For 'coral trees' read 'Pdrijata scent,' the reference to the 
 Tree of Paradise being merely a pun. 
 
 17 28 sqq. Read ' for the two ruddy -geese of a loved one's breasts.' 
 For the comparison cf. Kad. p. 83, 11. 14-15. The 'sand- 
 bank' is that surrounding the ocean, cf. p. 160, 11. 1-2 infra.
 
 t APPENDIX B. 2G7 
 
 18 19-20. Read 'in the air and falling with the force of their 
 
 curvetting to tear up the earth,' valitavikatam going with 
 patadbhir. > 
 
 19 1 Sidd/iyayoga= f one who possesses an infallible charm': in 
 
 this youth happiness possesses just such a charm. 
 
 19 7 Read ' on a horse with no person in attendance.' 
 
 19 18 ' Took it all in ' : we have translated pratltya, but the reading 
 
 of MS. A (pratinivritya ' having retui^ied ') is better. 
 
 20 2-4 Read arohati (for aropayati) with MS. A. Atinamre might 
 
 mean ' towards the very courteous.' 
 
 20 9--10 It will be better to take these words as referring to Vikuksi 
 'that appears in a favourite of heaven like yourself.' 
 Devdnampriya is similarly employed below, text, p. 268, 1. 14. 
 
 22 12 Insert ' with a lip ' before ' wearing etc.' 
 
 24 6-8 Read '...my misdemeanour, as if committed in a previous 
 
 birth, has wrought its fruit.' 
 
 25 9-10 Or more correctly '...high birth is not devoid of true 
 
 nobility,' or 'through your lord's nobleness high birth 
 acquires a meaning.' 
 
 26 27-30 Read 'Who am I to grant attention as a favour, or to 
 
 command body or life ? Even without asking the charming 
 and lovely are masters of our all (or ' of everyone ').' 
 
 27 6-12 Some of the puns in this passage are omitted. 
 
 27 13-14 For 'your heart will tell you that' read 'that is honouring 
 oneself,' and cf. Kad. p. 199, 11. 17-18. 
 
 27 17 'That implies experience' is probably wrong for nipunopaksepah, 
 but the correct rendering is not clear. Comparing Kad. p. 
 180, 1. 10, we may suggest that it means 'a polite in- 
 sinuation ' or ' threat ' ; for the use of nipuna cf. also Kad. 
 p. 220, 1. 8. 
 
 29 11-12 'Spent that fair night': literally 'wooed that lovely 
 woman.' 
 
 29 28 Bhratri is probably a proper name, as Dadhica has no brother, 
 
 and it would be unnecessary to describe his brother or 
 cousin as a Brahman. It might mean 'foster-brother.' 
 
 30 8-9 and n. 1 As -kuta was a common termination in place 
 
 names, it will be better to keep the Sanskrit name Prltikuta. 
 That this was the name of Bana's home appears below, p. 45. 
 
 30 19 For the reference to herons and cats cf. Mann iv. 9 1. 30. The 
 'Cock' rules required the eating of food of only the size of 
 an egg.
 
 268 THE HAUSA-CAiUTA. 
 
 
 
 30 n. 2 We may here note some of the puns in this passage : 
 
 pravardhamdna = (\} as in text, (2) 'giving forth a roar as it 
 rises fronj the footprint of the patriarch Visnu ' ; sabilaka- 
 ldgama = (l) as in text, (2) 'deep and singing as it goes'; 
 mahdmuni=(l) 'great saints,' (2) 'Jahuu'; vipaksaksobhak- 
 sama = (l) as in text, (2) 'potent to shake the hills'; 
 ksititalalabdhdyati=(\) 'renowned over all the earth,' (2) as 
 in text; crauta = (l) as in text, (2) ' cant ' ; janapaktayah = 
 (1) as in texf, (2) 'the cooking of the people'; agrihltagah- 
 cardh = (\) as in text, (2) 'not retreating to holes' like 
 snakes. The punning expression bhdglrathlpravdha iva 
 vipaksakxobhaksamah recurs on the inscription hid. Ant. 
 xni. p. 78, 1. 15. 
 
 31 22 For 'a mountain' read 'the weight of the earth.' Catur- 
 
 udadkigambh : ira = i deeY> with four oceans.' 
 33 6 A verse in the Comm. defines hairika as 'a goldsmith's 
 
 supervisor.' 
 
 33 n. 3 On asuraoivara v. n. p. 193, n. 3 and also Kad. p. 227, 1. 2. 
 In the note, p. 193, vtitika is probably interpreted wrongly, 
 as the sense ' madmen ' (' inspired ') will suffice. The word 
 occurs Kad. p. 287, 11. 11-12 bhujahgavrittayo mahdvdtikdh 
 and below, p. 152, 1. 7. 
 
 37 8-9 'Moonlight': sodupdh punningly means also 'possessing 
 rafts.' 
 
 37 21 Eead 'the ripe (red) clusters of the grislea tomentosa.' 
 
 38 2-3 Read ' as the summer grew more mature.' 
 
 39 16-18 Read 'Insects baked..., which were studded with etc.' 
 
 39 26 'Wearing matted locks': or punuingly 'resting on rootlets': 
 
 the pun injatd occurs above, text, p. 14, 1. 5 and passim. 
 
 40 31 For ' brother ' read ' cousin ' or ' half-brother.' 
 
 45 u. 2 On pancdngula cf. Fleet, C. I. I. in. p. 146. It recurs Kad. 
 
 p. 41, 1. 13. 
 
 46 1 It is not clear who this brother was: perhaps bhrdtari here 
 
 means 'cousin' or ' fosterbrother ' ; cf. note on p. 29, 1. 28 
 supra. 
 
 48 29 Cf. Colebrooke's Essays, I. 190. 
 
 49 8 Read Pardcara. 
 
 50 5-6 Read 'with the huge pearls which studded it.' 
 
 50 10 Or 'let your worship treat him etc.' Kalydndbhinivecin is 
 used, Kad. p. 104, 1. 7, p. 136, 1. 6, as a synonym for 
 kalyanin, which itself occurs, text, p. 117, 1. 11 below, and 
 Kad. p. 102, 1. 1.
 
 APPENDIX B. 269 
 
 I 
 
 50 32-3 Or read 'grow longer owing to one hoof being extended 
 behind by means of a footrope': for this method of 
 hobbling, the object of which was to give^the horse a certain 
 carriage of body, cf. J. L. Kipling, Beast and Man in India, 
 p. 170. 
 
 53 30-2 Read 'his head, which was constantly cooled..., he carried 
 
 high etc.' 
 
 54 24-5 Dalantam, the Kashmir reading (which is supported by the 
 
 alliteration) would require the rendering 'he seemed to 
 burst with pride.' 
 
 57 9 sqq. In this sentence we have probably a reference to the facts 
 
 underlying Iliuen Tsang's story (Beal, Si-Yu-Ki, I. p. 213) 
 that Harsa at the advice of a Bodhisattva refrained from 
 mounting the simhasana or ' lion-throne.' For the laksanani 
 clasping his members cf. Kdd. p. 186, 11. 17-18. 
 
 58 2-5 Or perhaps 'he gave away to the Kings from the coruscations 
 
 of his ornaments thousands of rainbows, which had been 
 sent to him by Indra as presents ; in his conversations he 
 rained wine (sc. sweetness) which he himself had abandoned ' 
 (cf. note 2). 
 
 59 26-7 For makaramukha- the Kashmir text has mukha-, which 
 
 gives a better sense. 
 
 61 30 Omit 'self.' 
 
 62 27-8 For this conceit cf. Kdd. p. 192, 11. 5-6. We read 
 
 -darfanusukharasarasardfimanthantapaksmand : cf. the 
 Kashmir text. 
 
 64 10-11 Read ' to the creators the day of their final bath etc.' 
 
 65 12 Omit 'royal.' 
 
 65 26 Read aparavaktm. 
 
 66 9-11 Read 'the other by his silence seemed not to comprehend 
 
 the speech Bana having paused a moment in silence etc.' 
 
 67 1 MS. A has atyanuvritti, which is doubtless right. 
 67 5 Or ' that they unfailingly grasp people's characters.' 
 
 67 35 to end of the paragraph A great portion of this passage recurs 
 nearly verbatim in the Vasavadatta (Hall), p. 168, 1. 6- 
 p. 171, 1. 3. 
 
 72 1-6 It would be perhaps better to take sukhitayil with kiyan- 
 mdtram nah krityam 'We have but little concern with 
 happiness so long as etc.'
 
 270 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 t 
 
 73 19-74 2 The epithets have different senses according as they 
 
 apply to the lives and to the studies of Bana's cousins. In 
 their live^ they are ' men of mild (or ' pure ') ways, believed 
 when they speak, holders of the status of preceptors (or ' a 
 high status'), conscientious in speech, weighty owing to 
 their application to virtue, and renowned for goodness.' In 
 their studies they are 'expounders of texts, devoted to 
 exegesis, engaged upon difficult words, logicians, deep in the 
 study of able, works, and averse to all infelicitous language.' 
 For similar passages cf. C. I. I. in. p. 175, J. R. A. S. 
 (Bomb.), x. p. 78, 11. 32-3, Epigr. Lid. I. p. 87, 11. 22 sqq. 
 
 74 12 For ' respectfully ' read ' affectionately.' 
 
 74 14-75 15 Most of this passage recurs verbatim Vasavadatta (Hall), 
 p. 273, 1. 1-p. 276, 1. 4. 
 
 74 20 The punning sense of marganavyasana is 'addiction to pillaging 
 
 expeditions.' 
 
 75 1-10 In a few cases we have in this paragraph placed the wrong 
 
 alternative in the text ; the whole should run : In Nriga's 
 becoming a chameleon a confusion of colours was seen. By 
 Sandasa, the murderer, the earth was confounded. Nala, 
 inadequately skilled in dicing, was overcome by Kali.... 
 Kartavlrya was slain for persecuting a Brahman by reason 
 of his cows. Marutta...was not highly honoured by the 
 Brahman of the gods.' The alternatives should go in 'the 
 notes. 
 
 75 12 Vaiie punningly means 'in the water' and madanarasdwsto 
 
 'drunk with Madana juice.' 
 
 76 8-10 This passage refers, as Biihler has shown (Ind. Ant. xix. 
 
 p. 40), to Harsa's conquest of Nepal. 
 
 78 10 Read ' being fed with oblations.' 
 
 78 15-16 MS. A has sandhydm avadhlrayati 'dishonouring the twi- 
 light.' 
 
 80 10 For praspkotita 'bursting out' (nlrdjanlkrita) v. note on p. 226, 
 
 1. 20 infra. 
 80 17 For 'tinged by' read 'indistinguishable from.' 
 
 80 34 The reeds were used for the sacrificial fire, cf. Katyayana 
 
 Cr.-S. 22. 10. 25: or should we read varnairl 
 
 81 4 We may take mahattara in the sense of a 'village head,' cf. 
 
 C. I. 1. in. p. 169, n. 7. It is 'a title' Epigr. Ind. I. p. 275. 
 81 10 According to the Comm. mathitapayah may punningly mean 
 
 ' buttermilk and milk.' 
 81 12 Kudristayah punningly = ' weak eyes.'
 
 APPENDIX B. 271 
 
 t 
 
 81 c. 1 Read gunin (sic). 
 
 82 11-12 Read 'might of king's raids,' the reference to Diva's arrow 
 
 being merely a pun. I 
 
 82 16 For 'lover's retreat' read 'home of Kama.' 
 82 24 On asuravivaravysanin and vatika v. note on p. 33 bove. 
 
 82 n. 2 If viksepa (which appears in MS. A) is to be kept it 
 doubtless means 'camp,' regarding which sense v. Ind. Ant. 
 vii. pp. 62 and 252, XL p. 161 n. etc. 
 
 82 n. 6 Read ' Or punningly " Gaurls yet not attached to ^iva ".' 
 
 83 15 Read ' their hair-nets but the fashion of young ladies.' 
 
 83 last line Biihler suggests (Epigr. Ind. I. p. 70) that the name 
 
 should be read as Pusyabhuti, as many proper names in 
 -bhnti have the name of a constellation for their first member. 
 
 84 9-10 Read 'a Budha in the assembly.' It is to be noted that these 
 
 proper names are significant, Prithu meaning ' broad,' etc. 
 
 86 19 Or ' bamboo sieve for straining earth.' 
 
 88 15 Or pratipattayah may mean ' manner of address.' 
 
 88 29-30 and n. 4 But MS. A has anuktesu, which requires the 
 
 rendering 'friends are masters of our bodies even if un- 
 mentioned.' 
 
 89 1 Or ' on the following day.' 
 
 89 24 Or ' a hilt of ivory.' 
 
 90 9-10 Or 'which is but little skilled in the contempt gained by 
 
 accepting the property of others.' 
 
 90 26-7 Mahakalahridaya = l having Mahakala (sc. Qiva) for its 
 
 centre,' cf. p. 104, n. 3. 
 
 91 7 Or ' at such and such an hour.' 
 
 91 35-7 The murmur of the bees corresponds to the muttering of the 
 
 charms ; their clusters to braids of hair. 
 
 92 1 Read ' mystic hand-clasps.' 
 
 92 21-2 Or 'and the incense and smoke of resin, transfused (literally 
 
 'broken up') with the light of magic lamps, filled the 
 heavens etc.' 
 
 93 29-31 With reference to the temple the long compound means 
 
 ' having its top adorned with thick crisp curls of sleek, dark 
 cloud.' 
 
 93 35 Read ' globes.' 
 
 94 10-11 For 'raised... leg' read 'raised the right leg crosswise in a 
 
 bent shape,' cf. below, p. 174, 1. 23.
 
 272 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 I 
 
 94 22-3 Read ' who is made an instrument by such ^aiva outcasts as 
 
 you.' For the use of upakaranlkar cf. text, p. 35, 1. 9. 
 
 95 30 For ' coralbeds ' read ' coral-tree sprays.' 
 
 95 35 Or ' from the prison of a close encampment.' 
 
 96 last line An instance of such 'victory columns' (jayastambhCilf] is 
 
 the Mandasor stone pillar with Yacodharman's inscription, 
 C. I. 1. m. pp. 142 sqq. 
 
 97 33 Read 'having been enslaved by your virtues and having 
 
 attained m*y true self.' 
 
 98 14 We read with Kashmir edition iiah. MS. A here reads 
 
 tvadvirakakaraiiam karanlyam na siddhir. 
 
 101 2 sqq. The Kashmir text reads -pravarut and MS. A -prasarat for 
 
 -prabhavdt. We may here note the puns in this paragraph 
 which we have left unmentioned: Kritamukhat (\} 'be- 
 ginning of golden age,' (2) 'clever'; tejonidheh = (\} 'source 
 of light,' sc. the sun, (2) ' treasure of splendour or valour ' ; 
 mgraha-(\] 'forms' (of the hills), (2) 'armies'; brah- 
 maJcardt=(V) 'Brahma's hand,' (2) 'prayer-maker'; ghaml- 
 gamdt=(Y} 'approach of clouds,' (2) 'possessed of profound 
 learning'; nandandt = (l) 'heavenly garden,' (2) 'giver of 
 delight'; crldhardt=(\} 'Visnu,' (2) 'sovereign.' 
 
 102 last line Laksmi clasps Visnu's breast (parahridaya 'the supreme 
 
 (spirit's) breast ' or ' the greatest (king's) heart '). 
 
 102 n. 6 MS. A, eight of the best other MSS., and the Madhuban 
 
 Inscr. have Yacomati, cf. Biihler, Epigr. Ind. I. p. 70. 
 
 103 22 Better ' loveliness' boon-winning.' 
 
 103 last line-104 1 Read 'the centre of the king's existence, love etc.' 
 
 104 12 The Adityahridaya is still a common stotra, cf. Biihler, Epigr. 
 
 Ind. I. p. 70. 
 
 105 30-1 The Comm. here suggests a rendering ' red as a firefly ' for 
 
 indragopakarucd, 
 109 10 Read dhavalantyo with MS. A and the Kashmir text. 
 
 109 n. 2 In the first quotation read sauhdrddd, and in the second 
 
 alahkardmcukddikam and purnakam. 
 
 110 25 and n. 7 Read ' leaving her husband, the disc-wielder.' 
 
 111 8 Or ' old ladies of the family could be seen.' 
 
 111 14 Or 'the Mothers incarnate.' 
 
 112 27 The echoes repeat the festival. 
 
 112 n. 1 MS. A has vikatavlkdmcca: cf. tdmbulavltikd Kdd. p. 183, 
 
 1. 11, p. 191,1. 23 etc. 
 112 n. 2 MS. A has caranavikuttana, doubtless the right reading, 
 
 confirming our conjecture: cf. Kdd. p. 73, 1. 19
 
 , APPENDIX B. 273 
 
 113 18 Or perhaps 'the soft ring of the brazeu gong was clearly 
 
 heard.' 
 
 114 15 We read itfsavayantyo with MS. A. 
 
 117 12 Daksina 'courtly' also means by a pun 'southern.' 
 117 18 For 'gateway' read 'structure.' 
 
 117 25 The word kritayiigayogyau has two senses, (1) 'fit for the 
 Krita age,' (2) ' taking exercise together.' 
 
 119 14 ' Unwatched ' : or ' considerately treated.' 
 119 23 Or ' Malwa nobles,' but cf. p. 66, 1. 7. 
 
 119 n. 1 Ksudrdh also has two senses, (1) ' mean persons,' (2) 'small.' 
 
 120 28 The red Amldtaka flower is punningly compared to loyalty ; 
 
 anuraga = (\) 'redness,' (2) 'loyalty.' 
 
 121 5 and n. 1 For ' dignity ' read ' fairness.' 
 
 121 6-8 This noble's glory is 'going forth' in the sense of 'spreading 
 
 abroad,' cf. p. 90, 11. 4-5 supra. 
 
 122 13 Gunavatta might be translated 'the possession of attri- 
 
 butes ' : the Kashmir text has an easier reading gunavrittci 
 'as if become an attribute,' with doubtless puns in guna 
 and vritta. Cinta, would be better rendered by ' anxiety.' 
 
 122 33 DharanldharCindm-(V) 'royal houses,' (2) (with reference to 
 
 Diva's footprint) 'hills.' The word mahecvara doubtless 
 implies that the Mukharas were, like Harsa himself, 
 Civaites. 
 
 123 10-11 The reading of MS. A (yathd neyam) gives better sense 
 
 ' that all our lives she may incur no trouble, 'tis for my lord 
 to provide.' A. reads acitam (?), the Calc. ed. nddhitam, 
 and, in a note, arttitam. 
 
 124 21 Sarasdtarpanahasta means ' hand-marks of liquid pigment,' if 
 
 the Comm. rightly explains dtarpana as pistapaticdhgula, 
 for which cf. p. 123 n., and compare nihitaraktacandanahasta 
 Kdd. p. 224, 11. 16-17, and dtarpaiiapancdngulayah, Vdsa- 
 vadattd p. 183, 1. 3. 
 
 124 35 The reference is to the vicesaka or ' beauty-spot.' 
 
 125 6 Bhakti we have translated 'cutting' in accordance with the 
 
 Comm., who explains it by mcchitti: we might translate 
 1 adorning,' a sense which both bhakti and vicchitti will 
 bear. 
 
 c. 18
 
 274 THE HARSA-CARITA. 4 
 
 125 15 The sense is not quite clear ; with our transl. cf. Ind. Ant. xui. 
 
 p. 77, 1. 7 of inscr. ; we might compare Raghu V. xvn. 25 
 hamsa&hnadukiilavdn with S. P. Pandit's note : MS. A has 
 -hamsatulaicca (? = ' beds of goose down '). 
 
 126 5 Tauvarajye exactly = an installation of the heir to the throne, 
 
 a time of great jubilation. 
 126 29 Sc. red lotuses. 
 128 2 For muk/ieny patati in this sense cf. Kdd. p. 35, 1. 6 (with 
 
 Peterson's 'note) and p. 38, 1. 2. 
 
 128 24 Langhayan means punningly 'leaping over' (of the lotus 
 
 beds). 
 
 129 11 Bead Rati (sic). 
 
 129 20-21 The reading of MS. A adhomukhim gives better sense 
 ' while with downcast face she seemed to chide her friends 
 and heart etc.'; cf. p. 120, 1L 25-6. 
 
 129 SOsqq. We have puns in sudhd = (l] 'plaster,' (2) 'ambrosia,' and 
 
 bhubhrid=(V) 'mountain,' (2) 'king.' 
 
 130 1-4 and n. 1 Read 'enemies' faces' (sic). We should perhaps 
 
 translate 'enemies' faces with coloured masks.' Also 
 sekasukumdra may mean 'oil-besprent,' and the words 
 ' which had ' ought perhaps to be omitted. We have taken 
 the instrumentals as connected with anjalikdrikdbhih. 
 
 131 4 The 'night bowl' nidrdkalaca is no doubt employed as a 
 
 charm at the bed's head; cf. Kdd. p. 68, 1. 7, p. 178, 1. 14. 
 
 133 13 The red eyes of the cakora are referred to below, p. 170, n. 2 
 
 and also Kdd. p. 140, 1. 6, Raghu- V. vn. 22. 
 
 134 21 Read 'to have his horse (or 'the horses') saddled.' 
 
 135 30 Or ' young devotees ' or ' squires,' ' apprentices ' : the word 
 
 navasevaka appears to have a semi-technical sense, cf. 
 p. 200, 1. 22 and Kdd. 76, 1. 20, p. 207, 1. 6, p. 331, 1. 16. 
 
 138 30-33 It would be possible here to read ' their dry mouths ' and 
 
 ' their cravings.' 
 
 139 3-4 ^aldkd is explained by Kailas c. as ' collyrium stick ' : the 
 
 Comm. says pdsdiiakanikdh ' bits of stone.' 
 139 11 Read 'porous jar.' 
 
 142 18-21 The Sanskrit sentences may here be differently divided : 
 
 ' I know, my boy, your filial affection. At times like this 
 an over tender heart distracts even a sober man's mind. 
 Hard to resist is family affection, all-confounding.' 
 
 143 2 For 'fathers 'read 'parents.' 
 149 6 For ' pallid ' read ' parched.'
 
 , APPENDIX B. 275 
 
 151 n. 2 MS. A has kulaputraih pvasitaifca. 
 154 21 Read 'glory, of (sic). 
 
 154 n. 1 Query vanam vdpi 1 
 
 155 n. 1 Read uparirudhyamdna (sic). 
 
 158 19-21 Place comma after manorathdndm and read 'the paths of 
 
 men's desires are sundered, their Eldorados are laid 
 desolate etc.' Of. Kdd. p. 312, 1. 23 bhagnd panthdno 
 gundndm, and the whole passage. * 
 
 159 30 For ' humps ' read ' frontal globes.' 
 
 159 n. 5 MS. A has prabhdtasamaye and samucclyamdndsu. Read 
 
 samuceiyamdndsu (sic) in note. 
 
 160 14 'With eyes aflame'; sc. the prince could not bear to look 
 
 upon the objects which met his view. 
 
 160 n. 1 (gdva = (\] grey, (2) belonging to a corpse. 
 
 161 27-8 Or better ' made bright the afterglow of their love.' 
 161 n. 1 MS. A has babhanjuh. 
 
 163 12 Read 'love.' 
 
 164 6-9 Rather ' As the twang of the broken sapling, by robbing the 
 
 lion of his sleep, redounds to the elephant's own destruction, 
 So, by awaking a hero's wrath, to the villain's own ruin 
 turns the foul blow dealt upon the confiding.' 
 
 167 7 and n. 2 Kdlakramopacaydndm is probably right after all, cf. 
 Kdd. 176, 1. 20; the impossibility of gradual increase 
 implies the sudden intensity of the sorrow. 
 
 167 31 sqq. The Sanskrit has here a complicated simile ; the prince's 
 
 washed face and throbbing lip are compared to the autumn 
 sky at the close of the rains, when the lightning has almost 
 ceased, his white eye to the opening lotuses. MS. A has 
 jijayisateva. 
 
 168 26 Qri, the goddess of sovereignty, is roaming, sc. not yet settled 
 
 with a new king. The paragraph contains several significant 
 allusions (' the pathetic fallacy '). The red sunset is a sign 
 of bloody wars; the separation of the ruddy-geese of the 
 separation of the brothers; the buzzing bees of arrows; 
 the rise of the blotted moon of the rising power of the 
 Gauda king. The last is important as the word used for 
 the moon ((Japdnka) confirms the Comm.'s statement in 
 p. 195 (text) that this was the Gauda king's name (Hiuen 
 Thsang's Che-chang-kia). One MS. of the Harsa-Carita 
 names him Narendra-Gupta, v. Biihler Epigr. Ind. I. p. 70.
 
 276 THE HARSA-CARITA. t 
 
 169 7-8 'Softened etc.'; this however may go with 'you,' after 
 
 ' tractable.' 
 
 170 15-18 MS. A reads corruptly -kritapatdvagunthanljanadruman- 
 
 gandm iva t and nirdkartum for tyaktum. The reading 
 janahgamanganam is probably the right one, as the con- 
 ception of Qri as a Candala woman runs through this speech 
 and its reply. 
 
 170 n. 5 Guror contains a second sense ' an elder's will.' 
 
 171 14-15 Read 'freed from fear by my sire's death.' Sc. Puspabhuti 
 
 had held it in check. 
 
 172 n. 3 The meaning might be ' Why not take the sovereignty 
 
 worn out as it is with you ?' But Rajyavardhana had 
 himself compared Crl to old age. 
 
 173 30 The Malwa king is identified by Buhler with the Devagupta 
 
 of the Madhubau Inscr. (Epigr. Ind. i. p. 72), and 
 Kanyakubja he regards as Grahavarman's capital. Malwa 
 may, he says, be the Malwa in the Punjab near Thanesar. 
 
 174 12 Or perhaps the river writhes with Kaliya's brood. 
 
 174 16-20 The hand is here compared to a spray (pallava) used for 
 sprinkling water. The 'sweat' in the next sentence is a 
 common Hindu erotic idea. 
 
 176 1 For ' you desire ' read ' it desires.' 
 
 177 n. 2 MS. A here agrees with the Kashmir rendering, which 
 
 should be adopted 'which, breached within and timid 
 through brotherly affection, seemed as it were in flight.' 
 The reading is confirmed by antarbhinnahridayatvat, Kad. 
 p. 273, 1. 18. 
 
 180 24 The senapati had really risen from a bed of reeds (para). Cf. 
 Vasavadatta, p. 297, 1. 9. 
 
 183 2 For 'his 'read 'this.' 
 
 183 7 Rather ' dream of aught dishonourable.' 
 
 183 19 The serpent Cesa supports merely the earth (not the oceans) 
 and does not enjoy the earth (v. next sentence). 
 
 185 8 Caksuraga appears to be a technical word with an amatory 
 
 sense, as it occurs in similar passages below, p. 283, 1. 11 
 (text) and Kad. p. 41, 1. 1. 
 
 186 22-25 and n. 2 The notion in this sentence is that Bhima is 
 
 pleased with the taste of carnage, since it is sweetened by 
 the kisses of his demon wife.
 
 APPENDIX 1$. 277 
 
 The title sandhivigrahadhikrita besides vyapritasandhivigraha 
 and sandhivigrahika is found also on inscriptions, e.g. C. 1. 1. 
 in. pp. 10, 35, 104, 108, 128, 167 ; Incf. Ant. xm. pp. 84, 
 118; J. R. A. S. (Bomb.) x. p. 27 ; Epigr. Ind. I. p. 88, 1. 50. 
 
 188 7 The Kashmir text inserts iti after pardgato'ham, perhaps to 
 
 mark the end of the quotation. We ought apparently to 
 translate paragato' ham by ' I am arrived,' cf. Kad. p. 262, 
 1. 13, p. 264, 1. 11, and our text, p. 243, 1. 3. 
 
 189 12-14 We may better take suciram with ruditam 'I have not 
 
 abandoned myself for long even to tears.' 
 
 189 25 Skandagupta is probably the same person whom Harsa names 
 
 on the Madhuban Inscr., Epigr. Ind. I. p. 73. 
 
 190 3 Take 'uplifted' with 'thickets.' With reference to the 
 
 Vinclhya this compound means ' with bamboos, creepers, 
 woods, and thickets adorned with peacocks' tails.' 
 
 190 n. 2 Omit the note. 
 
 192 28-9 It would be possible with Dr Bhau Dhaji to render 
 ^ailusamadhyam adhyasya by ' having joined a company of 
 actors.' 
 
 192 n. 1 Kead dbhijdtyasya. 
 
 193 5-7 We have here omitted Candlpatih (which might mean 
 
 'lord of Candi,' so Hall) with the Kashmir text and read 
 Caicunagih with MS. A. Kanthacca is read by MS. A and 
 the Kashmir text. MS. A reads ak&ry&kutuhall 'curious 
 where he should not be.' 
 
 193 13 MSS. AB have ' Mount Govardhana.' 
 193 15 Mekala is part of the Vindhya Mountains. 
 193 16 Eead 'the Paunaki prince' (MS. A has Paunika). 
 193 26 The Kashmir text and the Comm. read Dadhna. 
 
 193 n. 3 Concerning asuravivara and vatika cf. note on p. 33 supra. 
 
 194 3 We might translate 'ensconced in a reed grove with an 
 
 uplifted thicket of reeds in their hands.' 
 
 194 12 For 'sweet-toothed' read 'drunken.' Dr Bhau Dhaji's MS. 
 apparently read madhumoditamadhuraka- in one word. 
 For madhuraka MS. A has madhurasa. 
 
 194 14 Probably MS. A is here right in reading Jaruthyam 'in 
 JdruthV 
 
 194 n. 6 Read -kaladutadristayah.
 
 278 THE HARSA-CARITA. 4 
 
 198 7-10 We have here read samvibhajya klistakdrpatikakidaputra- 
 lokam ucitaih prasddaddnair, vimucya bandhandni. 
 
 198 24 The word 1 dksapatalika 'one in charge of aksapatala i.e. 
 
 documents ' occurs frequently on inscriptions, cf. C. I. I. in. 
 p. 180, 1. 76 and p. 190, n. 2. We have a 'notary-in-chief' 
 (mahdksapatalika) id. p. 177, 1. 46, and a 'village notary' 
 (gramaksapatalddhikrita} id. p. 257, 1. 15. Mahdksapata- 
 Iddhikaranddhikrita occurs on Harsa's Inscr., Epigr. Ind. 
 i. p. 73. t 
 
 199 17 For balddhikrita cf. C. 1. 1. in. pp. 109 n., 210 n. ; Kdd. p. 331, 
 
 I. 14. 
 
 199 22 Bead katukakatuka-. For katuka ' officer' cf. text, p. 250, 
 
 1.4. 
 
 200 22 On navasevaka v. note on p. 135, 1. 30 supra. 
 
 200 27-8 The apes are carried for superstitious reasons (raksdrthatn\ 
 Comm. 
 
 200 n. 3 The sense of jdghanika is uncertain : possibly it means 
 ' debauchee,' cf. jaghanya. We translate jdghanlkara. 
 
 200 n. 4 The translation suggested in the notes is supported by 
 Kad. p. 88, 11. 4-5, p. 97, 1. 21, p. 191, 11. 2-3, p. 212, 1. 17 
 etc., and supra p. 106, 1. 6. 
 
 200 n. 5 Ndslra means ' vanguard,' Kad. p. 331, 1. 14, which confirms 
 
 the meaning ' vanguard ' here. 
 
 201 28 MS. A reads trastavesara- ' frightened mules ' 
 
 202 5 Antardsana 'the inner seat' occurs in a similar passage, 
 
 Kad. p. 112, 1. 5. Perhaps the sense is 'a near seat.' 
 
 202 u. 1 MS. A has tilaka. 
 
 203 21 Read 'inlaid ruby' for 'ruby inlaid at its top,' as upari goes 
 
 with dhriyamdiiena. 
 
 204 n. 2 We have followed MS. A: otherwise it would have been 
 
 necessary to read drastrln for drastrindm. 
 
 205 5 Read 'palace peacocks,' and for the idea cf. Kad. p. 183, 
 
 II. 6-7. 
 
 205 16 'Spread': for tastdra intransitive cf. Kad. p. 76, 1. 21, p. 368, 
 
 1. 11. MS. A has tatdra. 
 
 206 4-6 We have read haritakritdh for haritlkritdh : MS. A has 
 
 harmdm kritdh. 
 
 207 2 For ' old fellow ' read ' standstill.' 
 
 208 16 ' The whole body of nobles ' : or asamvibhakta might mean 'the 
 
 not specially provided nobles.'
 
 , APPENDIX B. 279 
 
 208 19 'Fools of grant-holders': dgrahdrika occurs on inscriptions 
 in the sense of ' an officer in special charge of an agrahara,' 
 C. I. I. m. p. 52, n. 2, p. 257, 1. 12. 
 
 208 27 Ayuktaka is a regular word for ' official ' on inscriptions, e.g. 
 
 0. I. I. in. p. 166, 1. 20: we have dyuktapurusa, id. p. 8. 
 Cctta 'knaves' is the word which Fleet renders (C. I. I. ill. 
 p. 98 n.) by ' irregular soldiers.' MS. A has ceta. 
 
 208 n. 4 Here (Bombay ed. p. 238, 1) the texts read uddhuyamdnadhuli- 
 
 patalam kvacid ekdntapravrittdcvavaracakracarvyamdndgd- 
 migauda vimrigyamdnasasyasamraksanam, which as far as 
 gauda recurs below, continuing with -vigraham. It is clear 
 that in the first passage only mrigyamdnasasyasamraksanam 
 is needed. The repetition must be due to some homoeote- 
 leuton (perhaps abhidadhdnair and dhdvamdnair). The MS. 
 A is here right and reads -carcyamdnd-. 
 
 209 1 ' Ripe ' : we read nispanna with Comm. and the Kashmir text. 
 
 209 27 ' Collisions ' : or samghatta, may mean ' races,' as supra text, 
 p. 65, 1. 3. 
 
 211 23-4 For this custom of touching on the back cf. Kdd. p. 230, 
 
 1. 19, p. 335, 11. 9-10 and Hiuen Thsang, Si- Yu-Ki (Beal), i. 
 p. 85 ; (Julien) I. 86. 
 
 213 13 There is doubtless a pun in danta, implying that the umbrella 
 
 has circles of ivory. For mandalaka MS. A has manda- 
 ladyuti. 
 
 214 14-15 'And of the hue etc.': the Sanskrit adjective may here go 
 
 with the next clause. The Kashmir text in this line reads 
 the adjective dgurava-. 
 
 216 15 ' Rushed towards' : or perhaps 'fled from,' as the gandhadvipa 
 is a terror to all other elephants. The Moon in 1. 18 refers 
 to Qagaiika, the Gauda king (cf. sup. note on p. 168). 
 
 216 20 The 'ladies' are the wives of Harsa's enemies, whose lands 
 are soon to be seized. 
 
 216 22-3 Vimuktasarvdcd may punningly mean 'abandoning all hope.' 
 
 217 25 Hiuen Thsang visits Bhaskaravarinan, king of Kamarupa. 
 
 218 n. 4 MS. A also has ksdlayatu, which is to be preferred. 
 
 219 17-18 Or perhaps 'What any more can torment my noble master, 
 
 thus addressed by your majesty?' 
 
 219 26 After ' daughter ' insert a comma. 
 
 221 16-17 We might here translate 'he worships men's feet even 
 with his words, uncontented with his head alone.'
 
 280 THE HARSA-CARITA, 
 
 222 last line ' A hedgehog ' : or ' polecat.' 
 
 222 n. 5 Or ' an uncounted hell.' 
 
 223 9 We have translated pardgatah by ' died ' (cf. pareta) because 
 
 the ambassador comes from the Kumara. But v. note on 
 
 p. 1 88, 1. 7 supra. We might translate ' the king of Assam 
 
 will arrive in a few days ' or ' has come home only a few 
 
 days ' or ' for a few days.' 
 223 32-3 Read 'dangled as his sole remaining ornament his charrn 
 
 bracelet,' comparing S. P. Pandit's note to Vikramorvact, 
 
 p. 84. 
 223 n. 3 For the instrumental atmand = f on his own part' cf. Kdd. 
 
 p. 25, 1. 16, p. 163, 1. 15, p. 340, 1. 2 etc. 
 
 225 last line 'Zealous' is our translation of yantrita; but the 
 
 Kashmir text has ayantrita, which probably means 'furi- 
 ous,' literally ' unrestrained ' ; cf. B. and R. MS. A reads 
 dvistagopdlakalpita. 
 
 226 20 ' Dust of travellers' stamping feet' : for this use of prasphotita 
 
 (the dust flying out] in almost the same word cf. Kdd. 
 
 p. 223, 1. 15 kdrpatikaprasphotitacaranadhfdidhnsarakisa- 
 
 layaldnchitopakanthaih. 
 22811 Or ' white skeletons.' 
 229 10 We have accidentally omitted the concluding sentence ' There 
 
 the king stayed,' or with MS. A ' There the king passed the 
 
 day.' 
 233 13 According to Dr Bhau Dhaji (J. R. A. S. Bomb. x. p. 40) the 
 
 Maitrayaniya Brahmans are still found at Bhadgaon and in 
 
 neighbouring villages near the Satpuda Mts. 
 233 29-235 5 Part of this passage recurs nearly verbatim, Vdsava- 
 
 dattd (Hall), p. 263, 1. 4-p. 266, 1. 3. 
 236 8 The keqaluncana ascetics appear to be mentioned Si-Tu-Ki 
 
 (Beal) i. p. 76 ; (Julien) i. 69. 
 250 31 The Kashmir text has patitapinda, and MS. A pratipinda, 
 
 which would support the rendering 'taking food with an 
 
 effort shown at every mouthful.' 
 
 255 n. 11 Cf. pancamandall C. I. I. in. p. 31, 1. 6. Pancakula is the 
 
 title of an office, Epigr. Ind. I. pp. 160, 170; cf. Ind. Ant. 
 xi. p. 221, 1. 21, p. 242, 1. 9. 
 
 256 30 ' In the night ' : but MS. A has a better reading gdtrisu ' in 
 
 those who have bodies,' to be taken with maMbhutagrdma- 
 gosthyah.
 
 INDEX OF PROPER NAMES, ETC. 
 
 I. 
 
 Acyuta, a relative of Bana, 31 
 Adhipati, cousin of Bana, 73 
 Adhyaraja, a poet?, 3 9!. 18 and n. 3 
 Agnimitra, a king, 192 
 Ahidatta, uncle of Bana, 32 
 Arthapati, grandfather of Bana, 31 
 Avalokita, 58, 237 
 Avanti, 187 
 Avantivarman, 122 
 
 Bana, 32 79 passim 
 Bhadrasena, a king, 193 
 Bhairavacfirya, an ascetic, c. in. 
 
 85 , 263 
 Bhandi, cousin and friend of Harsa, 
 
 llli, 135, 142, 175, 2234 
 Bhasa, a poet, 2 <,! 15 
 Bhaskaradyuti, Kuinfira of Assam, 
 
 217^ 
 
 Bhaskaravarman = foreg. , 217 
 Bhrigu, uncle of Bana, 32 
 Bhukampa, a abara king, 232 
 Bhutivarmau, a king of Assam, 217 
 Brihadratha, (1) a king, 192 ; (2) a 
 
 king, 193 
 Buddha, 58, 66, 245, 258 
 
 Candragupta, the famous, 194 
 Candraketu, a king, 193 
 Candramukhavarman, a king 
 
 Assam, 217 
 Caura, a poet ?, 1 cl. 6 
 Citrabhanu, Bana's father, 32 
 
 of 
 
 Dadhra, a king, 193 
 
 Dadhna, var. lect. for preceding, 193 
 
 Devabhuti, a king, 193 
 
 Devaki, a queen, 194 
 
 Devasena, a king, 194 
 
 Dharma, uncle of Bana, 32 
 
 Divakaramitra, a recluse, 233 sqq. 
 
 Gambhlra, a Brahman, 128 
 Ganapati, (1) cousin of Bana, 73, 78 ; 
 
 (2) a king, 193 
 Grahavarman, brother-in-law of 
 
 Harsa, 122, 123, 128, 173, 233, 238 
 Gunadhya, author of the Vrihat- 
 
 katha, 3 n. 3 
 Gupta, a noble, 224, 251 
 
 Hala, author of the Saptagntaka. ~1 
 
 11. 10 
 
 Hamsa, uncle of Bana, 32 
 Hamsavati, a queen, 194 
 Hamsavega, envoy from Assam, 211. 
 
 223 
 
 Hara, relative of Bana, 31 
 Haricandra, an author, 2 cl. 12 
 Harsa, cc. 2, 4 Qpasniin 
 Harsa's son, 76 n. 5 
 
 Iciina, relative of Bana, 31 
 
 Jagatpati, friend of Bana, 46 
 Jarutha, a king? (v. note in appen- 
 dix), 194 
 
 19
 
 282 
 
 THE HARA-CARITA. 
 
 Jatavedas, uncle of Bana, 32 
 
 Kakavarna, a king, 193 
 
 Kalidasa, 3 (,-1. 16 
 
 Kapila, 161, 236 
 
 Karnatala, an ascetic, c. in. 90 
 
 Kavi, uncle of Bana, 32 
 
 Krisna, brother of Harsa, 40, 44 
 
 Ksatravarinan, a king, 194 
 
 Kumaragupta, a Malav^, noble or 
 
 prince, 76 n. 3, 119, 120 
 Kumarasena, a king, 193 
 Kuntala, officer of Rajyavardhana, 
 
 177 
 
 Kurangaka, a courier, 133 4 
 Kuvera, ancestor of Bana, 31 
 
 Madhavagupta, a Malava noble or 
 
 prince, 119, 121, 235 
 Mahasena, (1) a king, 192; (2) a 
 
 king, 194 
 
 Mahldatta, uncle of Bana, 32 
 Malatl, aunt of Bana, 45 
 Malava king's sons, 66 (but cf. n. 
 
 app.) 119 ; king, 119 
 Mekhalaka, messenger from Krisna, 
 
 4150 
 
 Mitradeva, a king, 192 
 Mriganka, liruda for Susthiravar- 
 
 man, 217 
 
 Nagasena, a king, 192 
 Narendra-Gupta, Appendix n. on 
 
 168, 26 
 Nirghata, sister's son of Bhukampa, 
 
 232, 258 
 
 Pariyatra, Harsa's chief door-keeper, 
 
 50 
 
 Pa^upata, ancestor of Bana, 31 
 Patalasvamin, c. in. 89 
 Patralata, servant of Rajyacri, 254 
 Pauravi, 194 
 Prabhakaravardhana, Harsa's father, 
 
 cc. iv. v. 101 
 Pradyota, a king, 193 
 Pratapacila = Prabhakaravardhana, 
 
 101, 246 
 
 Pravarasena, an author?, 2 el. 14 
 Purarati, Bana's guru, 44 
 Puskara, a king, 194 
 Puspabhuti, ancestor of Harsa, c. 
 
 ui.2)assim, 128, 192, 246 
 Puspamitra, a king, 193 
 Pusyabhuti = Puspabhuti, 83 (n.app.) 
 
 RajadevI, Bana's mother, 32 
 Eajyacrl, Harsa's sister, 116, 121, 
 
 128, 158 n. 4, 173, 224, c. vm. 
 
 j)assim 
 Bajyavardhana, brother of Harsa, 
 
 cc. rv. v. vi. passim, 223 225, 246, 
 
 251 
 
 Bantideva, a king, 194 
 Rasayana, a young doctor, 144 5 
 Ratnavati, a queen, 194 
 
 Qalivahana, an author, 2 n. 10 
 
 Qarabba, a king, 192 
 
 Qarabhaketu, a forest chief, 230 
 
 Qacanka, the Gauda king, 168 and 
 note in appendix 
 
 Qigunaga, a king, 193 
 
 Qrikumara, a Malava prince, 76 n. 3 
 
 Qrutavarman, a king, 192 
 
 uci, uncle of Bana, 32 
 
 ^udraka, a king, 193 
 
 Qunga, a king, 193 
 
 QyarnadevI, a queen of Assam, 217 
 
 Qyamala, cousin of Bana, 73, 74 
 
 Samudra,writer on physiognomy, 103 
 
 Satavahana, an author, 2 cl. 13 
 
 Simhanada, senapati under Harsa, 
 180 
 
 Skandagupta, commandant of ele- 
 phants under Harsa, 189 191 
 
 Somaka, a king, 194 
 
 Sthitivarman, a king of Assam, 217 
 
 Subandhu, author of the Vasava- 
 datta, 2 n. 5 
 
 Sucivana, singer, 33, 73 
 
 Sudristi, reader, 33, 73 
 
 Sugata = Buddha, 246 
 
 Sumitra, a king, 192 
 
 Supatra, var. lect. for Suyatra 
 
 Suprabha, a queen, 194
 
 INDEX OF PROPER NAMES, ETC. 
 
 283 
 
 Susena, a physician, 13(i 
 Susthiravarman,a king of Assam, 217 
 Suvarnacuda, a king, 192 
 Suyatra, attendant upon Yacovati, 
 109 
 
 Tfiraka, an astrologer, 109 
 Tarapati, cousin of Bana, 73 
 Tltibha, an ascetic, c. in. 90 
 Tryaksa, uncle of Bana, 32 
 
 Vasudeva, a minister, 193 
 Vatsapati, a king, 192 
 
 Vela, attendant of Ya9ovati, 149 
 Vidiiratha, (1) a king, 192 ; (2) a 
 
 king, 194 ? 
 Vindumati, a queen, 194 
 Vlrasena, (1) a king, 193 ; (2) a king, 
 
 194 
 
 Vicala, a Bodhisattva, 84 
 Vicvariipa, uncle of Bana, 32 
 Vyaghraketu, a forest chief, 230 
 
 J 
 Yacomati, Harsa's mother, cc. iv., 
 
 v., 246 
 Ya<?ovati = foreg. 
 
 II. 
 
 Aicvarakaranika ascetics, 236 
 
 AjiravatI, river, 46 
 
 Andhras, 135 
 
 Aratta horses, 50 
 
 Arhatas, 49 
 
 Acmakas, 192 
 
 Assam (Pragjyotisa), 211, 223 
 
 Aupanisada ascetics, 236 
 
 Ayodhya, 194 
 
 Bhagavata ascetics, 236 
 Bharadvaja horses, 50 
 Bhojakas, 110 
 Bhrigu fjotru, 20, 76 
 Bodhisattvas, 84, 236 
 Buddhists, 236, 242, 244 
 
 Cakoras, 193 
 Canipa, 194 
 Camundi, 194 
 Canclika, grove of, 45 
 Ceylon, 187 
 ' Cock ' rules, 30 
 
 Dandaka forest, 15 
 Dardura rock, 211 
 Darpa9ata, Harsa's elephant, 51, 52, 
 76 n. 4 
 
 Deckhan, 201, 211 
 Dhruva hymn, 15 
 Dravidas, 135 
 
 Gandhamadana, 187, 210 
 
 Gandharas, 101 
 
 Gaudas, 2, 178180, 1857, 209, 
 
 216, 224, 250 
 
 Godhana or Govardhana Mt., 193 
 Gujarat, 101 
 
 Hunas, 101, 132, 165 
 
 Jainas, 49, 134, 236, 244 
 JFiriithl, 194, v. note in appendix 
 
 Kalingas, 193 
 
 Kamboja horses, 50, 112, 203 
 Kanada ascetics, 236 
 Kanyakubja, 173, 224, 250 
 Kapila ascetics, 161, 236 
 Kardaranga leather, 203, 214 
 Karusas, 193 
 ' 
 
 Kashmir horses, 113 
 Kecaluiicana ascetics, 236 
 Krisna, followers of, 236 
 Kuruksetra, 77
 
 284 
 
 THE HARSA-CARITA. 
 
 Lanka, 187 
 Latas, 101 
 Lokayatika ascetics, 336 
 
 Magas, 110 
 
 Magadhas, 193 
 
 Mahendra Mt., 211 
 
 Mahecvaras, 122 (v. note in appen- 
 dix), 265 
 
 Maitrayamyas, 233 f. 
 
 Malavas, 77, 101, 119, 175, 178, 223, 
 225 
 
 Malaya Mt., 211 
 
 Mallakutar, village, 45 
 
 Manitara, town, 46 
 
 Mathuras, 192 
 
 Maukharis = Mukharas, 194 
 
 Mauryas, 193 
 
 Mekala, 193 
 
 Mrittikavati, 192 
 
 Mukharas, 122, 128, 246 
 
 Nagas, 192 
 
 Nepal, 76 (v. note in app.) 
 
 Padmavati, 192 
 Pancabrahina prayer, 15 
 Paiicaratra ascetics, 236 
 Pandurin ascetics, 236 1. 7 
 ParaQarins, 33, 49, 162 n. 2, 171 1. 35 
 Pariyatra country, 210 
 Pacupata ascetics, 49 
 Paunakis, 193 : 
 Paunarvasavas, 144 
 Paurauika ascetics, 236 
 Pauravas, 194 
 Persia, 50, 210 
 
 Prayfxga, 61 
 
 Prltikuta, Sana's home, 30, 45 
 
 Pundra, 72, 79 
 
 s, 232 
 (^'aivas, 91, 137 
 akas, 194, 210 
 ^'oria river, 15, 23, 24, 28 
 ^ravastl, 192 
 gnkantha, 73, 79, 81, 94 
 Qriparvata, 3 n. 6 
 (^vetambara Jains, 236 
 Saptatantava ascetics, 236 
 Sarasvati river, 158, 160, 198 
 Sauhmyas, 194 
 Saimras, 194 
 Sindh, 50, 76, 101 
 Sthanvicvara, 81 
 Suvela, 187 
 
 Taiigana horses, 201 
 Trikuta, 187 
 Turuskas, 210 
 
 Vaisnavas, 219 
 Vanayu horses, 50 
 Vatsyayanas, 30, 34, 66 
 Vayu Purnna, 72 
 Videha, 193 
 
 Vindhya, 161, 224, 225, 240 
 Yiranti, 194 
 
 Vrihatkatha, the, 3 (,!. 17 
 Vrisnis, 194 
 
 Yastigrihaka or Yastigrahaka, vil- 
 
 lage, 46 
 Yavanas, 1923 
 
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