Lieul. -Colonel Tod on Sculptures in the Temples ofEllora. 337 



The Chohdn prince of Dehli had carried off the Princess of Canouj. 

 Her father, Jychund, at the head of all his forces, pursues, and the period 

 of time when the hard Chand engages is on the fourth day's fight, wlien they 

 had almost reached the ferry of the Ganges. By this time Prithi-Raja had 

 lost nearly three-fourths of his heroes, and he is about placing his bride, 

 SuNJOGTA (who had hitherto remained on tiie same horse with himself), on 

 a separate steed. Although night, there was no cessation of the fight, 

 during the retreat from Canouj to Dehli. 



" Night came : the beam of moon arose. The lord of men descended 

 from his steed, and placed Sunjogta on another. The blood-stained arrows 

 fly : one pierced the casque of the Chohdn. Then did the bard demand to 

 wield the sword ; but his prince exclaimed, ' Strong are our swords, oh 

 bard, leave thou the fight, that we may live in song.' — ' To sing your 

 renown, oh lord, I leave Julhun, my son : for me, I make oifering of my 

 head to Mahadeo.' • 



" As he spoke he gave his steed the rein : on his countenance shone the 

 light of honour. The Indra of song dashed into the throng of fight, like 

 the moon* athwart the constellations. His steed Keshore, the gift of his 

 lord, fit to be yoked to the chariot of the sun, of the blood of Irak,t like a 

 wave of the sea, his ear the lance's point, his eye soft as that of the fair, 

 his mane like the rippling wave : from the bucklers of the slain his hoof 

 struck fire as he bore the bard to battle. Where'er his sword fell, the Yoginis 

 filled their cups with the blood of the northmen. The gods shouted ap- 

 plause. Covered with wounds was Keshore, but the niountain-boml: pre- 

 served her worshipper. The Apsaras sung his praise, the Palcharas% feasted 

 in the track of his sword. Applause || to the bard ! He rejoined his lord 

 on foot ; his steed lay in the field. 



* Here we lose the force of the original, for Chand (the Bard) compares the rapidity of his 

 own movements to those of Chandra (tlie moon) passing over tlie constellations : one of the 

 max\yjeux de mots in which our poet indulges. 



f A Persian province renewed for its breed of horses. 



j Pahvati, one of the names of the Indian Minerva. 



§ Palchara is from pala ' flesh,' and chania ' to feed on.' The Valkyrie of Scandinavian 

 mythology, is a being between the Apsara and Palchara ; neither so etherial as the first, nor so 

 material as the latter. 



II The warlike bards of /;«/, like the Scalds and poetic heroes of Scandinavia, possessed none 

 of the false shame which prevented their lauding themselves on fit occasion. Chand is a con- 

 spicuous example of this, never omitting an opportunity of eulogizing his own valour. 



Vol. H. 2 X The 



