1879,] G. A. Grierson — Some Further Notes on Kalidasa. 47 



II ^ ^11 



^^^^•srjisn «rf^T ^r^f^ ii 



\» 



(1.) " He who has nothing wishes to have a hundred ; and he who 

 owns a hundred, desires a thousand, while the lord of a thousand wishes for 

 ten thousand. The possessor of ten thousand would be a king, while the 

 king desires to be an emperor. 



(2.) " An emperor wishes to rule the gods like Indra, while Indra 

 aspires to the power of Brahman. Brahman himself wishes to obtain the 

 throne of S'iva, and even S'iva, that of Vishnu.* What being has ever 

 reached the limit of desire ? 



(3.) " You have wandered over far and rugged countries, but you 

 obtained no fruit : you abandoned your caste, and all your pride of birth, 

 but your servitude was fruitless. 



(4.) " You laid aside your pride, and ate like a crow, — fearfully, in 

 another's house, — and yet you are not satisfied. To-day even your thirst 

 dwells in vile and wicked actions. 



(5.) " The bee deserts the fragrant jasmine and seeks the amaranth. 

 Perchance he leaves it too, and approaches the champaka, and then the 

 lotus. 



(6.) " Imprisoned therein by fate and night, the foolish creature weeps, 

 A fool may obtain discomfiture, but never contentment. 



(7.) " Saints pass tbeir lives enjoying roots and fruit. Elephants live 

 on dried grass, and are mighty. Snakes quaff the wind, nor are they want- 

 ing in strength. Contentment alone should be the most precious wealth 

 of man." 



Much of the preceding is trivial, and, of course, none of it can lay 

 claim to any historical value. My aim has been a very humble one, and I 

 shall be happy, if I am thought to have only moderately come up to it. 

 Even in a backward country like Tirhut, the old class of pandits is fast 

 dying out, and is being supplanted by men with a smattering of English 

 and Urdu, and only a moderate book-knowledge of Sanskrit. The older 

 pandits acknowledge the change with sorrow, and say that even the women 

 who most conserve the purity of the language, are beginning to use Ydvani 



* Vishnu is appropriately placed last, as being absolutely fspsfx^f " f ree fr° m 

 desire." 



