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

46 VĀSAVADATTĀ [6] In evil only are the wicked wise; Like as the owl is blind, save in the dark.¹ There is but one eclipse—foul calumny; Only the clouds that hide the moon are black.² [7] And when with sooty and polluting touch The man of evil fain would smirch the good, He doth increase the radiance of the just; E'en as the ashes in the grinder's hand Do but enhance the lustrous mirror's sheen.³ Yet ‹drought doth rule› o'er all, the «cranes sport not», Nor doth the ⋘heron seek the azure vault⋙, For lo, the lake hath left this mortal world; All ‹joy is fled›, and «strange kings now bear rule», Wasting the earth with ⋘fratricidal⋙ strife, For Vikramāditya hath passed away.⁴ [8] The words of goodly bards rejoice thine ears, E'en when thou knowest not their wondrous skill; For in a jasmine wreath thine eyes delight, Though to thy senses come no perfumes sweet.⁵ The noble gain true knowledge of themselves By observation of their fellow men; As on the mirror's polished surface falls The vision of the soul's own magnitude.⁶

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Curiosities of Indian Literature, pp. 8–9, Bankipore, 1895, who says : ‘ Here naku- ladvēṣī is a threefold pun. It means either “hating the ichneumon,” or “not hating his own race,” or “not hating the members of the family of the man he has bitten”).’ My attention was kindly called to this reference by Professor Zachariae (card of May 2, 1907), and Dr. Grierson very courteously loaned me his personal copy of the little book. It should be noted that the modern proverb reads mṛṣā na instead of na mṛṣā. ¹ Böhtlingk, Indische Sprüche, 2 ed., No. 142, St. Petersburg, 1870–1873. ² Böhtlingk, op. cit. No. 6126; Tel. ed. and Srirangam text interchange this stanza with the one following. ³ Böhtlingk, op. cit. No. 7376. ⁴ For the valuelessness of this stanza as a source to determine the date of the Vāsavadattā see Introduction, pp. 8–11. ⁵ Böhtlingk, op. cit. No. 680. ⁶ Böhtlingk, op. cit. No. 2148.