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

A SANSKRIT ROMANCE 131 oppression of ‹a Brāhman for a cow›¹ and through his oppression of ‹cows¹ and Brāhmans›. Yudhiṣṭhira deserted truth in the forefront of battle.² Śāntanu wept in the forest on account of excessive affection.³ Thus no one is immaculate.⁴ Therefore, I, too, will abandon my body.’ [277] So thinking, he approached the water of a broad, sandy bank, the hiding places of whose fish were pierced by the tips of the sharp talons of the ospreys; with the scales of shoals of śakulas and the excrement of otters⁵; with its margin surrounded by rows of carapaces of horrible crabs that had been abandoned by packs of jackals; with its environs whitened⁶ by multitudes of cranes, motionless and intent on devouring shoals of carp that were agitated and wavering because of the exceedingly⁷ unsteady flow of the water; which was very cool, being united with the motion of the wind that was generated by quantities of drops⁸ of water shaken by the sport of schools of extremely active Gangetic porpoises; [278] with its uneven banks seamed by the tips of very young wild⁹ buffaloes’ horns that dropped off daily; tuneful with the sweet songs of flocks of continually restless dhārtarāṣṭra geese; [279] with the soil along its waters crushed by the repose of mermen and bright with the rays of the sun¹⁰; delightful with the humming of bees¹¹ that had settled on hundreds of mighty¹² elephants, whose sloping cheeks were flecked with exceedingly copious ichor; with its circumference filled with multitudes of gems¹³ that had fallen in the dance of ¹ Tel. ed. omits ‘for a cow’ and ‘of cows’; cf. Mahābhārata, 3. 115–116. ² Tel. ed. omits this sentence. ³ See Mahābhārata, 1. 100–101. ⁴ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, ‘thus, therefore, no one in the world is immaculate.’ ⁵ Tel. ed., ‘filled with broad fish-scales pierced by the tips of the talons of the ospreys; mottled with the accumulated excrement of otters’; similarly the Srirangam text. ⁶ Tel. ed., ‘much whitened.’ ⁷ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text omit ‘exceedingly.’ ⁸ Tel. ed. and Srirangam text, ‘with its tamālas cooled by contact with quantities of drops.’ ⁹ Tel. ed. omits ‘wild.’ ¹⁰ Tel. ed., ‘with the earth on its banks crushed by the repose of mermen, bright with the rays of the sun, and tuneful with the humming of bees and with beautiful flocks of continually restless dhārtarāṣṭra geese’; similarly the Srirangam text. ¹¹ Tel. ed., ‘with swarms of bees’; Srirangam text, ‘humming of swarms of bees.’ ¹² Tel. ed. and Srirangam text omit ‘mighty.’ ¹³ Tel. ed., ‘serpents.’ K 2