118 
Indian Idylls, No. 1. 
[No. 2, 
He saw the cause with more than human ken, 
And thus the sage addressed the King of men: 
“ Dost thou remember when, supremely blest, 
Indra in Heaven received thee as his guest ? 
Thence as thou earnest on thy homeward way 
The holy Cow beneath the shadow lay 
Of the Celestial Tree : thy thoughts were far 
Far absent, as the thoughts of lovers are, 
When absent from their loves ; thy heedless eye 
Saw not, or marked not, as thou earnest by. 
Then thus she cursed thee — ‘ As thine impious pride 
The reverence Kings should pay me has denied ; 
Now shall no offspring bless thy royal line, 
Till thou hast paid all honours due to mine.’ 
The curse she uttered failed to reach thine ear. 
So loud the voice of Gauga foaming near, 
Celestial GangA, boiling o’er with spray, 
Dashed up by heavenly elephants at play. 
For this dishonour to the holy Cow, 
Unhonoured, childless, thou art suffering now. 
Woe and misfortune ever are their fate 
Who pay not reverence to the good and great. 
Now in the under- world she dwells to aid 
The dreary vow that old Prachetas* made ; 
Then, in her stead, this Cow, her offspring, take, 
And pay her honour for her mother’s sake. 
Win, with all care, her love, for she can pour 
All blessings on thee from her boundless store.” 
The hermit ceased. Quick from the grove she came, 
Young Nandini, the Cow that blessed the llame 
Of sacrificial worship. Dusky red 
Was her fair body ; on her sacred head 
A crescent lock of curling silvery hair 
Shone like the young moon in the evening air. 
As, with maternal love, her calf she viewed, 
Full streams of holy milk the ground bedewed, 
While the dust, raised beneath her sacred feet, 
Fell on the monarch’s head with influence sweet. 
* [For this sacrifice of Prachetas or Varuna, see Mahabli. vol. i p 32 — Eds.] 
