वासवदत्ता (महाकवि सुबन्धु - श्लेष-प्रधान शास्त्रीय गद्यकाव्य सान्वय सटीक)

A SANSKRIT ROMANCE 117 eye, many hundred leagues ¹ through the enclosure of a cemetery thronged with flocks of fearless herons assembled in desire of a mouthful of flesh ²; [242] horrible with the howls of awful goblins that had kaṭapūtanas ³ quivering with eagerness for the hideous corpses chilling ⁴ in the circle of half-burned funeral pyres; repulsive with patches of ground full of swarms of buzzing flies sprinkled with quantities of blood from the am- putation of ears and noses of thieves placed on the top of stakes ⁵; with the horrible sound of the bursting of human skulls slowly crackling as they were burned by fires of straw ⁶; [243] with its contour concealed by rows of skulls, ashes, ‹jackals, fires, goblins›, and serpents as He who holds the trident in his hand ⁷ has his contour concealed by rows of skulls, ashes, ‹Śivā, the element of fire›, and serpents ⁸; frequented by many ‹dogs› as ¹ For instances of the magic horse in modern Indian folk-tales, cf. Steel and Temple, Wide-Awake Stories, pp. 425-426, Bombay, 1884; Day, Folk-Tales of Bengal, pp. 73, 80, 214-219, 249, London, 1883; Thornhill, Indian Fairy Tales, pp. 108–145, London, n.d.; Dracott, Simla Village Tales, p. 102, London, 1906; Campbell, Santal Folk Tales, p. 86, Pokhuria, 1891; Leitner, ‘Historical Legend of the Origin of Ghilgit’ (a Dard legend), in IA. I. 88. ² Tel. ed., ‘for the purpose of a mouthful of human flesh’; similarly the Srirangam text. ³ Tel. ed., ‘horrible with howls from the awful throats of kaṭapūtanas.’ The kaṭapūtana is the ghost of a renegade Kṣatriya (Manu, 12. 71). ⁴ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, ‘hideous corpses with the raw odour of their fat chilling.’ ⁵ See Jolly, Recht und Sitte, pp. 126–127, 130, Strassburg, 1896. Impalement was accomplished by ‘a stout iron rod with a thin point at the top. The condemned person was made to sit on the top which penetrated into his body slowly and went out by the head’ (Ram Satya Mukharji, Indian Folklore, p. 129, note, Calcutta, 1904). ⁶ Tel. ed., ‘noisy with the dancing of horrible demons at the ends of whose hands were skulls resounding with the drip, drip of the fall of quantities of blood fallen from the amputation of noses of thieves placed on the tops of stakes; repulsive with patches of ground filled with the abundant sport of swarms of bees; awful with the bursting of sharply crackling human skulls, burning in fires of straw; filled with fiery fire fired from goblins’ open mouths; with the noise of the division of corpses made by hosts of monstrous female fiends with pendants of skulls that had entrails for threads; with funeral fires circumambulated to the right by pairs of demons with auspicious marriage cords formed of wet sinews’; similarly the Srirangam text. ⁷ Śiva. ⁸ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, ‘with its contour concealed by rows of skulls, ‹jackals›, many fires, ‹serpents, and the moon› as He who holds the trident in his hand has his contour concealed by rows of skulls, ‹Śivā›, many fires, and ‹lordly serpents›.’