460 Analysis of the Rag hu Vans'a. [No. 6. 



a hope of thy return. Night after its separation returns to the 

 moon, its mate to the Chakravaka, but thou wilt never return, thy 

 tender limbs were hurt reclined on a bed of freshly gathered leaves, 

 how will they bear the funeral pyre ? Thy lively voice thou hast left 

 behind with the kokils, thy amorous gait with the swans, thy trembling 

 looks with the stags, thy mirthful gestures on the plants gently 

 agitated by the wind. Thou hadst resolved to unite in wedlock the 

 Sahakar and Priyanga trees,* but thou hast departed without com- 

 pleting the ceremony. The Asoka tree pouring forth its leaves like 

 flowers, remembers the pressure of thy feet. Pleasure has departed, 

 the song has ceased, the seasons are without song, the need of song 

 has ceased and my bed is deserted. O wife of my house, companion, 

 friend and loved pupil in song, what has not been snatched away by 

 death which has taken you away, all my pleasures were seated in 

 thee alone !' 



The king with his lament caused even the trees to shed their resinous 

 tears. His spouse was torn from his embrace and committed to the 

 pyre made of agallochum and sandal. Having performed after ten days 

 the obsequies of her of whom nothing was left except her virtues, he 

 entered the city without her, fading 3s the face of the moon when 

 night departs. The goad of sorrow tore his heart as tears the temple's 

 court the fig tree's branch. Having instructed his son Das'aratha in the 

 duties of empire he determined to deliver himself by starvation from 

 the habitation of his body, afflicted with disease, on the confluence of 

 the Ganges and Sarayu, where he was numbered among the immortals 

 having rejoined his loved spouse fairer than in life. 



On the death of his father, Das'aratha, the conqueror of his senses by 

 meditation, borne in his mighty car, assumed the reins of govern- 

 ment. From his rewarding labour at a suitable time, he received from 

 the wise the title of the destroyer of fatigue. In his land disease 

 fixed not its foot, it afforded richest fruits, bright as the immortals. 

 In his equity, in raining down riches, and restraining the wicked he 



* It is a custom among the Hindus to plant the five trees Asvat, Bat, Jayanti, 

 Asoka, Svami in a circle, and to make offerings to them, as they consider that as 

 long as these trees remain so long the offerer will remain in heaven. There is now 

 a law suit pending in one of our courts in consequence of one of these trees hav- 

 ing been mutilated. 



