Indian Antiquary Vol 04

SR No.: 032496
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Jas Burgess
Publisher: Swati Publications
Publication Year: 1984
Total Pages: 410
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 18 MB

Page 276

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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[SEPTEMBER, 1875.
place, and Basanta's wife told her husband to begin. So he told the whole story which has been narrated here, and when he had finished, the princess seized his feet and began to weep; and the king recognized his younger brother and embraced him, and banished the merchant
to another country, and severely punished the doorkeepers who had beaten Basanta ; and he took him to the palace and appointed him commander-in-chief, and the two brothris continued to live together in great happiness, while the princess proved to be a most devoted wife.
METRICAL TRANSLATION OF BHARTRIHARI'S NITI SATAKAM.
BY PROF. C. H. TAWNEY, M.A., CALCUTTA.
(Continued from p. 71.) The praise of Destiny.
The praise of Works. Under Vpihaspati's own eyes
Why honour gods, who inust submit to Fate, Entrenched on heaven's height,
Or Fate, who gives but what our deeds have Wielding th' artillery of the skies,
won ? Followed by gods in fight,
Upon our deeds alone depends our state, Indra, in spite of all his skill,
By these exalted, as by these undone. Has seen his host give way;
Mighty are works, which Brahmâ's self confined Strength nought avails.-To whom she will
within the egg,* Fortune assigns the day.
Which forced e'en Siva, skull in hand, from Our fates, our minds, depend on deeds
house to house to beg, Done in the soul's career,
Made Vishnu through ten tidious births his But each can gain the wit he needs
deity disguise,
Which daily bind th' unwilling sun to wander By careful conduct here.
through the skies ! A bald man felt the sun's fierce rays
Our merits in a frrmer life Scorch his defenceless head,
Preserve us in the midst of foes, In haste to shun the noontide blaze
In woods, flood, fire, in peace and strife, Beneath a palm le fled :
On Ocean waves, and mountain snows. Prone as he lay, a heavy fruit Crashed through his drowsy brain :
Kindness can turn the bad man's heart, and fools Whom fate has sworn to persecute
convert to wise, Fiuds every refuge vain.
Make poison into nectar-juice, and friends of
enemies, When sun and moon eclipsed I see,
Bring distant objects near: then strive that And elephants in bonds,
talisman to gain, And wise men vexed with poverty;
Nor set thy heart on glorious gifts acquired I own, my soul desponds.
with endless pain. No wonder sages figure Fortune blind;
Before he act, the man o ser.se She first creates a hero to her mind,
Looks forward to the consequence, Whom all men own the glory of the age,
For heedless acts infix a dart, Then breaks her model in her childish rage.
That rankles in the tortured heart. If thorns and briars bear no leaves we do not In emerald vessels tallow boil, blame the Spring,
And light the fire with spice, Nor yet the Sun, if blinking owls fly not till With golden ploughs turn up the soil evening,
And then sow worthless rice, That chátaks gape in vain for showers is not Thus wiser far than if thou spend the cloud's disgrace;
An easy life on earth; Fate's sentence written on the brow no hand Since all things must on works depend, can e'er efface.
Why throw away thy birth? • The two halves of which subsequently became Heaven and Earth. (Conf. Aristophanis Aves, 695.)