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 THE LIBRARY 
 
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 LOS ANGELES
 
 TWO CENTURIES OF BHARTRIHARI.
 
 TWO CENTURIES OF BHARTRIHARL 
 
 TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH VERSE 
 
 BY 
 
 C. H. TAWNEY, M.A, 
 
 [^Reprinted hy permission from the Indian AfUiquart/.^ 
 
 CALCUTTA: 
 
 THACKER, SPINK, AND CO. 
 
 ISublisfjcrs to tf)E ^Inibcrsitg* 
 
 1877.
 
 PRINTED BY THACKEK, SPINK, AND CO.
 
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 -lA^v 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 The first duty of a translator seems to be to 
 give some account of the author whose work he 
 attempts to translate. In the case of most Sanskrit 
 writers we have to be content with brief legen- 
 dary notices of doubtful authenticity. Bhartrihari 
 is no exception to this rule. Few Orientalists 
 admit the truth of the legend attached to his name, 
 thouo-h it must be confessed that it harmonizes in 
 a wonderful way with the character of some of the 
 stanzas attributed to him. He is said to have been 
 the brother of the celebrated Vikramaditya, who, 
 reigned at Ujjayini, the capital of Avanti, or Malava, 
 about the year 56 before Christ. On discovering 
 the faithlessness of his wife, Anangasena, he be- 
 came disgusted with the world, abdicated in favour 
 
 of his younger brother Vikramaditya, and retired 
 
 a2 
 
 1 ?)(>8<.f >5
 
 \i PREFACE. 
 
 to the forest. Kashinath Trimbak Telang, the 
 latest editor of the Satakas^ of Bhartrihari, tells 
 us that "a cave is still pointed out at Ujjayini as 
 " Bhartrihari's, and is popularly called Bhartrihari's 
 " Gumpha. Within this cave is shown a recess at 
 " which he used to make his offerings. And it is 
 " supposed that there is from this cave a subterra- 
 " nean passage to Benares, which is, however, said 
 " to be now blocked up. A beam-like block of 
 " stone broken in twain appears in the roof of the 
 " cave about to fall down, and its visible side has 
 " some hollows and unevennesses which are inter- 
 " preted to be the marks left by Bhartrihari's hand 
 " held up to support the beam from falling." M. 
 Regnaud, in the preface to his prose translation, con- 
 tends that this legend cannot be accepted, as some 
 of the stanzas attributed to Bhartrihari must be 
 subsequent to the period of Sankara Acharya, the 
 
 ' i. e., Centuries, or collections of one hundred stanzas. 
 It must he remarked that most editions contain many more than 
 one hundred.
 
 PREFACE. Vll 
 
 great organiser of Vedaiitism, since they are deeply 
 coloured with the doctrines of that sect. But it is 
 argued, on the other hand, that a school holding 
 doctrines coinciding with his existed before his 
 time. " Sankara, " says the Bombay editor, " may 
 " be deservedly regarded as the best expositor of 
 " Vedantic doctrines, but he must not be regard- 
 "ed as their first expositor." Accordingly he 
 fixes the date of the writer of these poems about 
 the close of the first or the beginning of the 
 second century of the Christian era, and states it 
 as his opinion that we " had better adhere to the 
 "received tradition of King Bhartrihari's author- 
 " ship until we are in possession of more positive 
 " and cogent reasons for deserting it, than are at 
 " present available." At the same time he gives up 
 that part of the legend which connects Bhartrihari 
 with the great Vikraraaditya, the conqueror of the 
 Sakas, and founder of the Sam vat era. 
 
 The theory that these Satakas are merelv a 
 collection of Subhashitas or yyu/fxai, current in
 
 Vlll PREFACE. 
 
 India, and published under the name of Bhartrihari, 
 is worthy of some attention. Many of the stanzas 
 occurring in them are found in other works still 
 extant, as the Bombay editor observes. But they 
 seem to be characterized by a certain similarity of 
 tone and style which may perhaps justify us in 
 looking upon them as the offspring of one mind. 
 On the other hand, if the genuine productions 
 of Bhartrihari's muse have not been interpolated^ 
 they have enjoyed an immunity exceptional in 
 Sanskrit literature. 
 
 The late Professor Lassen places the date of 
 our author at the end of the third century after 
 Christ. He does not accept the tradition that he 
 was Bhartrihari. In his opinion, " it probably 
 " arose from the circumstance that, according to one 
 " story, he is said to have retired to Benares after 
 " he resigned the crown ; for the last hundred 
 " stanzas in the collection of poems attributed to 
 "him contain the praises of a contemplative life, 
 "and the city of Benares is mentioned as one in
 
 PREFACE. IX 
 
 " which such a life can be profitably spent. On the 
 " other hand, as soon as Bhartrihari's authorship 
 "became generally believed, a strophe, in which 
 " the faithlessness of women is dwelt upon, and 
 " a curse invoked on them and the God of Love, 
 " may well have given rise to the notion, that he 
 " became disgusted with life on discovering the 
 " faithlessness of his wife Anangasena, and there- 
 " upon retired to the forest." 
 
 Considering the great uncertainty which attaches 
 to Hindu literary history, we may, perhaps, con- 
 sider ourselves fortunate that there is something 
 like a consensus as to the date of these poems. A 
 century more or less is after all of trifling moment 
 in Indian chronology. The question of their author- 
 ship we must be content to leave in the mist in 
 which it has been involved by the traditions of 
 Indian sages and the conjectures of Western 
 critics. So much at any rate is certain that 
 our author, if not himself a king, was thoroughly 
 at home in the details of Indian court-life.
 
 S: PREFACE. 
 
 It is interesting to find that the stanzas of Bhar- 
 trihari have been known to the European world for 
 more than two centuries. M. Regnaud tells us 
 that " a protestant pastor, by name Abraham Roger, 
 "who travelled to India in 1640, brought back tlie 
 "materials of a work which he published in 1651, 
 
 " under the title of ' A history of the religion of the 
 " Brahmans,' in which were contained two hundred 
 "proverbs of the sage Bhartrihari, translated 
 "into Dutch from the version of the BrMiman Pad- 
 " manaba. These were the stanzas on Niti which 
 " Roger translated by ' the reasonable conduct 
 "of men,' and those on Vairagya, which he ren- 
 " dered by ' the road which leads to heaven.' 
 " The Brahman Padmanaba was prevented by 
 " motives of delicacy from explaining the Sringara 
 " Satakam to Roger. The pastor's work was subse- 
 " quently translated into French under the title 
 " of ' Theatre de I'ldolatrie ou la porte ouverte pour 
 " parvenir a la connaissance du paganisme cache 
 " Amsterdam^ 1670. More than two centuries
 
 PEEFACE. XI 
 
 "elapsed before our poet was introduced to the. 
 " world in his native Sanskrit dress. Von Bohlen 
 "published in 1833 at Berlin the first European 
 " edition," The Centuries of Bhartrihari are also 
 contained in the Sanskrit anthology of Haeberlin. 
 M. Galanos translated the second and third Centu- 
 ries into Greek under the title of IvdiKojv ixeracppaanDv 
 UpolpofxoQ. They were included by professor 
 Bohtlingk in his Indische Spriiche St. Petersburg, 
 1863-65. They were translated into French by 
 M. Hippolyte Fauche in 1852, and M. Regnaud 
 in 1875. An edition of the second and third Cen- 
 turies was published in Bombay in 1874, forming 
 No. XI of the admirable Bombay Sanskrit series 
 edited under tbe superintendence of Drs. Biihler 
 and Kielhorn. I have followed in my translation 
 the arrangement of this edition, my obligations to 
 which I take this opportunity of acknowledging.^ 
 It varies considerably from that of M. Regnaud. 
 
 ' The commentary is copious and instructive.
 
 Xll PREFACE. 
 
 Though the word 'Niti' is usually translated 
 policy, most of the stanzas arranged under this 
 head are rather of an ethical and social character. 
 They inculcate maxims of worldly prudence, and 
 seem designed to teach knowledge of men as indi- 
 viduals, rather than as members of political com- 
 munities. The truth seems to be that, under the 
 personal governments of the East, Achitophel and 
 Chanakya have always been the types of a success* 
 ful politician. The art of the model Indian states- 
 man, if we may trust the testimony of the Niti 
 S'astras, consists in the power of managing the 
 king's wives and astrologers, of conciliating the 
 feudal chiefs, and above all of humouring the caprices 
 of the sovereign himself, and using them for the 
 advantage of his subjects and the prosperity of 
 his rule. 
 
 The word ' Vairagya ' means literally disgust with 
 the world. The particular cause assigned in the 
 legend for Bhartrihari's disgust with the world was 
 the faithlessness of his wife. There is nothing to
 
 PREFACE. XlU 
 
 our eyes very meritorious in a king who has felt 
 the " sad satiety " of pleasure, and is as weary of the 
 joys as of the cares of empire, exchanging them 
 for grass and the fruits of the jungle. But such 
 retirements seem frequently to have taken place 
 in India. Some princes appear, even in early 
 youth, to have become penetrated with a deep sense 
 of the uncertainty of all worldly pleasures and the 
 misery of human life, and to have sought refuge in 
 the solitudes of the forest.^ 
 
 No European philosopher has expressed the 
 spirit of Hindu asceticism better than Arthur 
 Schopenhauer. The pessimism of the following 
 passage^ is entirely in accordance with the 
 Vairagya of Bhartrihari : 
 
 " If the awful pains and miseries to which our 
 " life is perpetually exposed were displayed before 
 " the eyes of any individual, he would be seized 
 " with horror, and if we were to take the most 
 
 ' Cf . the Story of Buddha. 
 
 ' Lichtetrahlen aus Schopenhauer's Werken, p. 190 and ff. 
 
 B
 
 xiv PREFACE. 
 
 "hardened optimist through the hospitals, lazar 
 "houses, and operation rooms; through the prisons,' 
 " torture-chambers, and slave dungeons ; over the 
 " battle-fields and Calvaries of the world, and then 
 " were to lay open to him the dingy dens of misery 
 " into which it creeps to avoid the gaze of cold curi- 
 " osity, and at last were to reveal to him the 
 " hunger-tower of Ugolino, even he would at last 
 "perceive the real character of this best of all 
 "possible worlds. * * * There is one and only 
 " one error innate in every man — that we are born 
 " to be happy. Whoever is emancipated from this 
 " will find the world in accordance with his under- 
 " standing, if not with his wishes. Misfortunes of 
 "every kind and degree, though they may still 
 " afflict, will no longer perplex him, for he will see 
 " that all pain and misery tend towards the real 
 "object of life, the estrangement of the will from it. 
 " This will produce in him a wonderful feeling of 
 " eqiftinimity under all that may befall, resembling 
 "the satisfaction with which a patient who is
 
 PREFACE. XV 
 
 " undergoing some long and painful surgical treat- 
 " ment looks upon his sufferings as a token of its 
 " efficacy." Schopenhauer declares the great object 
 of life to be the elimination of Maya/ or the 'prin- 
 cipium individuationis, with the result of identi- 
 fying oneself with the universe, and so attaining 
 resignation, equanimity, and utter freedom from 
 will. This principle seems to him to lie at the root 
 of all religion. " Quietism, that is to say, the aban- 
 " donment of all volition, and Askesis, i. e., the deli- 
 " berate mortification of self-will, and mysticism, 
 " i. e., the consciousness of the identity of one's 
 " own essence with that of all things, are most 
 " intimately connected, so that whoever adopts one 
 " principle will find himself insensibly led on to 
 " adopt the others, even though contrary to his 
 " preconceived purpose. Nothing is more surpris- 
 " ing than the absolute harmony that prevails 
 " among the writers who set forth these views, in 
 
 * Here he is using the terminology of Indian philosophy.
 
 XVI PREFACE. 
 
 "spite of the greatest difference of epoch, nation- 
 " ality, and religion, as well as the unshaken assur- 
 "ance and heartfelt confidence with which they 
 " proclaim the facts of their spiritual experience." 
 
 Schopenhauer exults in the thought that even 
 Goethe, Greek as he was, felt the charm of this 
 " best side of human nature " which he has des- 
 cribed in his Bekenntnisse einer schonen Seele. 
 But after all, the quietism of the modern European 
 differs in its outward details from that of the 
 Hindu. The latter resembles more nearly the 
 asceticism of those mediaeval hermits, who are popu- 
 larly supposed to have abandoned all care of their 
 vile bodies. Indeed, though Schopenhauer opposes 
 the Greek ideal to the Hindu, the Hindu saintly 
 mendicant has much in common with the Greek 
 cynic. Many expressions in Bhartrihari's stanzas 
 on Asceticisn will remind the classical scholar 
 of the habits of Diogenes thus described by 
 M. Lewis : 
 
 " Diogenes ate little, and what he ate was of the
 
 PREFACE. XVll 
 
 " coarsest. He tried to live upon raw meat and 
 "unboiled vegetables, but failed. His dress con- 
 " sisted solely of a cloak. When he asked Antis- 
 " thenes for a shirt, he was told to fold his cloak in 
 " two ; he did so. A wallet and a large stick com- 
 " pleted his accoutrements. Seeing a little boy 
 " drinking water out of his hand, he threw away 
 "his cup, declaring it superfluous.^ He slept 
 "under the marble porticos or in his celebrated 
 " tub. Decency of every kind he studiously out- 
 " raged." This fierce disgust with life has been 
 described by Goethe in the famous passage begin- 
 ning— 
 
 Wenn aus dem schrecklichen Gewiihle, <fcc., and 
 students of Timon and King Lear are well aware 
 that this phase of feeling has not escaped the 
 attention of Shakspeare. 
 
 ' This idea occurs more than, once in Bhartrihari's stanzas 
 on Vairagya. 
 
 b2
 
 xviii PREFACE. 
 
 We are, therefore, justified in claiming for our 
 poet some affinity witli western thought. More- 
 over, the terse and epigramatic character of these 
 stanzas distinguishes them from tlie mass of Indian 
 literature, and brings them more into accordance 
 with European canons of taste. Professor Lassen, 
 in his Indische Alterthumskunde (Vol. II, p. 1174) 
 expresses his opinion that this character " renders 
 " them conspicuous among the productions of the 
 " Indian muse. They place before us in terse and 
 " pithy language the Indian views about the chief 
 "aspirations of youth, manhood, and old age ; about 
 " love, about concern with the things of this world, 
 " and about retirement from them into lonely con- 
 " templation. On account of the perfect art with 
 " which they are composed, these short poems are 
 " worthy of being ranked among the masterpieces 
 " of Indian Genius. Some of them are connected 
 " in sense as the description of the seasons, others 
 "form a whole by themselves, and may most fitly be 
 " compared to miniature paintings as presenting to
 
 PREFACE. XIX 
 
 " US a complete picture in the narrow frame of one 
 " strophe." 
 
 Professor Lassen has here hit on the characteris- 
 tic which these poems share with so many epigrams 
 in the Greek Anthology. I cannot help thinking 
 that if Sanskrit were as well known as Greek, they 
 would be favourites with scholars. This is all that 
 can be said of most classical writers, who are 
 seldom read even in translations by any but school- 
 boys and enthusiasts. Indeed, translations are 
 seldom popular either in prose or verse, unless they 
 depart widely from the spirit of the original. I 
 am sensible that, in the present attempt, I have 
 retained too much local colouring. For instance, 
 the idea of worshipping the feet of a god or great 
 man, though it frequently occurs in Indian litera- 
 ture, will, undoubtedly, move the laughter of Eng- 
 lishmen unacquainted with Sanskrit, especially if 
 they happen to belong to that class of readers who 
 rivet their attention on the accidental, and remain 
 blind to the essential. But a certain measure of
 
 XX PREFACE. 
 
 fidelity to the original, even at the risk of making 
 oneself ridiculous, is better than the studied dis- 
 honesty which characterizes so many translations 
 of oriental poets.
 
 (^^nttnt^. 
 
 ^ait E. 
 
 On Fools ...... 
 
 , 1 
 
 The Praise of the Wise Man 
 
 . . 7 
 
 The Praise of Self-respect and Valour 
 
 . 12 
 
 On Wealth . . 
 
 . . 16 
 
 The Description of the Wicked Man . 
 
 . 21 
 
 The Praise of the Good Man 
 
 . . 25 
 
 The Path of Altruism .... 
 
 , 29 
 
 The Praise of Firmness. 
 
 . . 33 
 
 The Praise of Destiny .... 
 
 . 35 
 
 The Praise of Works .... 
 
 , . 37 
 
 Some Verses of an opposite tendency 
 
 . 41 
 
 Some Miscellaneous Stanzas 
 
 . . 43 
 
 lart U, 
 
 THE VAIRAGYASATAKAM. 
 
 Against the Desire of Worldly Things 
 
 Of Worldly Enjoyments . . . 
 
 Against the Love of Beauty. 
 
 Of Evil Men and Oppressors 
 
 Of Vain-glory . .... 
 
 Of Indifference to Worldly Things 
 
 The Misery of a Courtier's Life 
 
 Of the Proud Man .... 
 
 Of Self-renunciation .... 
 
 Of the Terrors that beset the path of Pleasure . 
 
 Of Time the Destroyer .... 
 
 Miscellaneous Stanzas .... 
 
 53 
 60 
 61 
 61 
 62 
 62 
 64 
 65 
 66 
 67 
 68 
 98
 
 THE NITISATAKA
 
 THE NITISATAKAM; 
 
 OR, 
 
 HUNDRED STANZAS ON ETHICS 
 AND POLITICS. 
 
 Eternal, Holy Spirit, free from bonds of space and 
 
 time. 
 Whose essence is self-knowledge, Thee I call to bless 
 
 mv rhvme. 
 
 (Dtt |U0I$. 
 
 She whom I worship night and day^ she loathes 
 
 my very sight, 
 And on my neighbour dotes, who in another takes 
 
 delight ;
 
 2 NITISATA5AM. 
 
 A third she in my humble self nothing but good 
 
 can see : 
 Now out upon the god of love, and him, and them, 
 
 and me ! * 
 
 Easy is a fool to manage, easier still a man of 
 
 sense, 
 Brahma's self is foiled by one of little brains and 
 
 .great pretence. 
 
 Snatch a jewel, if it please you, from the tiger's 
 
 . ravening throat ; 
 
 Cross the ocean, though its billows toss in foam- 
 wreaths round your boat ; 
 
 Fearless twine an angry cobra like a garland round 
 your head ; 
 
 But with fools forbear to argue, — better strive to 
 wake the dead. 
 
 ' It is supposed that the po'et here refers to circumstances in 
 his personal history. See Kashinath Trimbak Telang's note.
 
 ON FOOLS. 3 
 
 If you squeeze with might" and main, 
 Oil from sand you may obtain ; 
 If with parching thirst you burn, 
 Some mirage may serve your turn ; 
 If you wander far and wide, 
 Rabbits' horns^ may grace your side ; 
 But you '11 never — trust my rule — 
 Please a headstrong, bumptious fool. 
 
 As well attempt to pierce with flowers the diamond 
 
 of the mine, 
 As well attempt with honey-drops to sweeten 
 
 ocean's brine, 
 As well go bind with lotus-bands the lord of forest 
 
 herds, ^ 
 As strive to lead in wisdom's ways the bad with 
 
 sugared words. 
 
 ' A proverbial expression for anything impossible or extra- 
 ordinary. 
 ^ i. c, the elephant.
 
 4 NITISATAKAM. 
 
 When the Creator made the dolt/ 
 
 He left him not without his bolt ; 
 
 That fool shows best the wise amonof 
 
 Who strokes his beard and holds his tongue. 
 
 When but a littb I had learned, in my own partial 
 
 eyes 
 I seemed a perfect Solon and immeasurably wise ; 
 But when a little higher I had climbed in wisdom's 
 
 school. 
 The fever-fit was over and I knew myself a fool. 
 
 See that pariah making off there with a filthy 
 greasy bone, 
 
 How he '11 mumble and enjoy it when he finds him- 
 self alone ! 
 
 ' Compare the epigram of Palladas : 
 
 lids Tts aTratSein'os (f)povifxu)TaTos ecrrt trtwTruJv 
 Tov Xoyov iyKpvTTTWv ws TrdOos dicrxpoTarov.
 
 ON FOOLS. I 
 
 Not, if Inclra's self reproved him, would he blush 
 
 and leave his treat, 
 For the mean abhor no meanness if it only yield 
 
 them meat. 
 
 t 
 
 From Heaven to Siva's head, and thence to Hima- 
 laya's^ snows, 
 
 To India's plain, thence to the main, the sacred 
 Ganges flows — 
 
 A sad descent ! but rivers go astray, like foolish 
 men, 
 
 From heaven's crown they tumble down and never 
 rise again.- 
 
 ' The reader is requested to pronounce this word as it is usually 
 pronounced in England. 
 
 * Bhagiratha, the son of Dilipa, and great grandson of 
 Sagara, king of Ayodhya, brought the sacred Ganga from heaven 
 to earth by the aid of Siva, who is fabled to have received the 
 stream on his head : he then conducted this river to the ocean in 
 order to purify the ashes of his ancestors, the 60,000 sons of 
 Sagara, who were reduced to ashes by Vishnu in the form of 
 Kapila, when they dug through the earth in order to recover 
 the sacrificial horse which had been stolen from their father.
 
 6 NITISATAKAil. 
 
 Water will serve to put out fire, umbrellas 'gainst 
 
 the heat, 
 A sharp hook guides the elephant, the . ox and ass 
 
 we beat. 
 Disease we cure with doctor's stuff, the serpent's bite 
 
 with charms, — 
 Against the fool, the worst of ills, Nature provides 
 
 no arms. 
 
 Deem him who verse and music scorns 
 A beast without the tail and horns ; 
 What though he never feed on grass, 
 I hold him none the less an ass. 
 
 Those slaves who neither fast nor give, 
 Unjust, unthinking, idle live, 
 Are beasts, though men by right of birth. 
 Unwieldy burdens, cumbering earth, i 
 
 ' erwcriov a^^^os apovprj'i. 
 
 Iliad, 18, 104. 
 The parallel is striking.
 
 PRAISE OP THE WISE MAN. 7 
 
 I'd sooner live in mountain caves with lions, bears, 
 
 and apes, 
 Than dwell in Indra's heavenjy halls with brainless 
 
 human shapes. 
 
 mu ir«i^<j at m WxH w^^t 
 
 Kings in whose country tuneful bards are found 
 Naked and starving, though for lore renowned, 
 Are voted dullards by all men of sense ; 
 Poets are ever lords, though short of pence. 
 And he who spurns the diamond's flawless ray 
 Himself degrades, not that he flings away. 
 
 Those who possess that treafjure which no thief can 
 
 take away. 
 Which, though on suppliants freel}'- spent, in- 
 
 creaseth day by day,
 
 8 NITISATAKAM. 
 
 A source of inward happiness which shall outlast 
 
 the earth — ^ 
 
 To them e'en kings should yield the palm, and 
 ' own their higher worth. 
 
 Scorn not those sages who have scaled the topmost 
 heights of truth ; 
 Who snap the cords of wealth like bonds of 
 
 straw. 
 For lotus-strings will never hold in awe 
 Th' infuriate sovereign of the herd, drunk with 
 the pride of youth. 
 
 Neither rings, bright chains, nor bracelets, perfumes, 
 
 flowers, nor well-trimmed hair, 
 Orace a man like polished language, th' only jewel 
 
 he should wear. 
 
 Knowledge is man's highest beauty, knowledge is 
 his hidden treasure. 
 
 Chief of earthly blessings, bringing calm content- 
 ment, fame, and pleasure ;
 
 PRAISE OF THE WISE MAN. 9 
 
 Friends in foreign lands procuring, love of mighty 
 
 princes earning ; 
 Man is but a beast without it : such a glorious 
 
 god is Learning. 
 
 Better silence far than speaking, 
 
 Worse are kinsmen oft than fire, 
 There's no balm like friendly counsel, 
 
 There's no enemy like ire, 
 Eogues have keener teeth than vipers, 
 
 Brains outweigh the miser's hoard. 
 Better modesty than jewels, 
 
 Tuneful lyre than kingly sword. 
 
 Ever liberal to kinsmen, to the stranger ever kind. 
 Ever stern to evil-doers, ever frank to men of mind. 
 Ever loving to the virtuous, ever loyal to the crown, 
 Ever brave against his foemen, ever honouring the 
 gown,
 
 10 NITISATAKAM. 
 
 Womankind distrusting ever — such the hero I would 
 
 see, — 
 Such uphold the world in order; without them 
 
 't would cease to be. 
 
 What blessings flow from converse with the wise ! 
 All dulness leaves us, truth we learn to prize ; 
 Our hearts expand with consciousness of worth, 
 Our minds enlarge, our glory fills the earth. 
 
 Those bards of passion who unfold 
 
 The secrets of the heart, 
 Their glory never groweth old, 
 
 Nor feels Death's fatal dart. 
 
 A duteous son, a virtuous wife, a lord to kindness 
 
 prone, 
 A loving friend, a kinsman true, a mind of cheerful 
 
 tone.
 
 PRAISE OF THE WISE MAN. 11 
 
 A handsome shape, a well-filled purse, a soul- 
 illumined face, 
 
 Are theirs on whom great Hari^ smiles, and sheds 
 peculiar grace. 
 
 Abstinence from sin of bloodshed, and from speech 
 
 of others' wives. 
 Truth and open-handed largess, love for men of 
 
 holy lives. 
 Freedom from desire and avarice, — such the path 
 
 that leads to bliss, 
 Path which every sect may travel, and the simple 
 
 cannot miss. 
 
 Cowards shrink from toil and peril, 
 Vulgar souls attempt and fail ; 
 
 Men of mettle, nothing daunted. 
 Persevere till they prevail. 
 
 ' i. e., Vishnu,
 
 12 NITISA.TAKAM. 
 
 Not to swerve from truth or mercy, not for life to 
 
 stoop to shame ; 
 From the poor no gifts accepting, nor from men 
 
 of evil fame ; 
 Lofty faith and proud submission, — who on 
 
 Fortune's giddy ledge 
 Firm can tread this path of duty, narrow as the 
 
 sabre's edge ? 
 
 l^Ut ^gnxlH 0t Mt-xt^mt ixU Valour. 
 
 Worn with hunger, faint and feeble, shorn of glory 
 
 and of power. 
 Still the king of beasts is kingly, even to his dying 
 
 hour ; 
 Will he graze on hay like oxen ? No, he longs to 
 
 meet once more 
 Tusk-armed elephants in battle, and to drink their 
 
 spouting gore.
 
 PRAISE OF SELF-RESPECT AND VALOUR. 13 
 
 Fling a dry and gristly cow's-bone ^ to a low-bred 
 cur to gnaw, 
 
 Straight he wags his tail delighted, though it can- 
 not fill his maw. 
 
 Lions spare the prostrate jackal, but the forest- 
 monarchs smite, 
 
 E'en by fortune pressed the valiant scorns to waive 
 his proper right. 
 
 Dogs fawn on those who bring them meat, 
 
 And grovel whimpering at their feet 
 With upturned throat, and wag their tails in game- 
 some mood ; 
 
 But the huge elephant erect 
 
 Bates not one jot of self-respect, 
 And after thousand coaxings deigns to taste his food. 
 
 ' The poet's meaning' certainly is that a special impurity 
 attaches to eating the iiesh of the cow. But Babu Rajendra Lala 
 Mitra has shown that this notion is of very recent origin. It 
 does not appear to have been prevalent in the time of Bhavabhiiti, 
 who is generally placed in the eighth century. So that this 
 stanza seems to have been written at a far later date than that 
 assigned by Professor Lassen to the majority of Bhartrihari's 
 poems. 
 
 D
 
 14 NITISATAKAM. 
 
 In this revolving world the dead 
 Are ever born again, 
 
 But he is truly born whose race 
 By him doth praise attain. 
 
 Two paths are open to the proud, 
 As to the woodland flowers, 
 
 Which flourish high above the crowd, 
 Or wither in the bowers. 
 
 Rahu spares the lesser planets 
 
 As unworthy of his might, 
 But he wreaks his lawful vengeance 
 
 On the lords of day and night. 
 
 On his hood the serpent Sesha doth this triple 
 
 world uphold. 
 On the broad back of the tortoise he lies stretched 
 
 in many a fold,
 
 PRAISE OF SELF-RESPECT AND VALOUR. 15 
 
 On the ocean's breast the tortoise like a speck 
 
 ekides the sight : 
 Who in thought can limit greatness, or set bounds 
 
 to Nature's might ? 
 
 Better had the mount Mainaka borne the brunt of 
 Indra's ire, 
 
 Than thus plunged beneath the ocean severed from 
 his sorrowing sire : 
 
 Though he saved unharmed his pinions from the 
 blazing thunder-stone, 
 
 Yet he mourns amid the waters for his self-aban- 
 doned throne/ 
 
 The sun-gem^ touched by Heaven's rays, 
 Though void of sense, is all ablaze ; 
 
 ' Name of a mountain (son of Himavat by Mena or Menaka), 
 who is said to have alone retained his wings when Indra clipped 
 those of the other mountains. 
 
 ^ A kind of crystal cool to the touch, and supposed to possess 
 fabulous properties, because like a glass lens it gave out heat 
 when exposed to the rays of the sun. (Monier Williams, s. v.) 
 The word here translated " rays " means also " feet," so that 
 there is a double meaning in the passage.
 
 16 ' NITISATAKAM. 
 
 How then can men of spirit brook 
 A fellow-mortal's scornful look ? 
 
 A lion's whelp will boldly face th' earth-shaking 
 
 monarch's rage, 
 jFor valour dwells in valourous kind, without regard 
 
 of age. 
 
 m maint 
 
 Down to the lowest pit with rank, and gifts that 
 
 all admire ; » 
 
 Hurl virtue headlong from the steep, burn pedigrees 
 
 with fire ; 
 On valour let the bolt descend : for wealth alone 
 
 we pray, 
 Without which noble qualities are vile as mouldy 
 
 hay.
 
 ON WEALTH.. 17. 
 
 With mind and senses unimpaired, 
 
 In act and voice the same, 
 He moves among us like a ghost, 
 
 Wealth's warmth^ has left his frame. 
 
 The man of means is eloquent, 
 
 Brave, handsome, noble, wise ; 
 All qualities with gold are sent, 
 
 And vanish when it flies. 
 
 The king by evil counsel falls, 
 
 By worldliness the saint, 
 Brahmans by want of sacred lore, 
 
 Bad friends good manners taii)t ; 
 Indulgence spoils a son, and he 
 
 Upon his race brings shame, 
 Continual absence poisons love, 
 
 Neglect cools friendship's flame ; 
 
 ' This translation is quite literal. Compare our expression 
 a warm man." 
 
 d2
 
 18 NITISATAKAM. 
 
 Carelessness ruins husbandry. 
 Wrong saps a nation's health. 
 
 Wine chases modesty, unthrifb 
 And largess squander wealth. 
 
 Three courses open lie to wealth, to give, enjoy, 
 
 or lose, 
 Who shrinketh from the former two, perforce 
 
 the third doth choose. 
 
 Less in size the polished jewel, but its rays far 
 
 brighter gleam, 
 Who regrets the dwindling sandbanks when 
 
 boon autumn swells the stream ? 
 Glorious we hold the victor, though his life-blood 
 
 gild the plain, 
 Such the generous soul's undoiDg, that which 
 
 Beemeth loss is gain.
 
 ON WEALTH. 19 
 
 Lo ! the same man who longs for a handful of 
 meal 
 
 As a treasure of infinite worth, 
 When his hunger is sated, esteems not a straw 
 
 All the riches and glories of earth ; 
 Hence this moral we draw — in this transient world 
 
 Nothing 's trifling or great in itself, 
 'Tis the mind that projects its own hues on the 
 mass, 
 
 Now 'tis gold, now 'tis counted but pelf. 
 
 King, if thou wish the earth to yield to thee the 
 milk of wealth. 
 
 Cherish its offspring,^ let thy care be for thy 
 people's health ; 
 
 For if thou watch to do them good with seldom- 
 sleeping eyes. 
 
 Thy realms with golden fruits shall bloom like 
 trees of Paradise. 
 
 ' The original has " like a calf."
 
 20 NITISATAKAM. 
 
 Grasping and bountiful, cruel and kind, 
 Savage and merciful, watchful and blind, 
 Truthful and treacherous, policy's art 
 Changeth its shape as an actress her part. 
 
 Fame, might, the power to give and spend. 
 To nourish Brahmans, help a friend. 
 These blessings are a courtier's lot ; 
 What boots his toil who gains them not ? 
 
 Fate writes upon thy brow at birth the limits 
 
 of thy store, 
 In barren wilds, on Meru's peak,' 'tis neither 
 
 less nor more ; 
 Then cringe thou not to wealthy men, but let 
 
 thy looks be free, 
 A pitcher from a pool is filled, as well as from 
 
 the sea. 
 
 * This mountain consists of gold and gems.
 
 DESCRIPTION OF THE WICKED MAN. 21 
 
 Well spake the clidtah to the cloud, 
 
 " By thee alone we live, 
 This all men know, then why require 
 
 Our prayers before thou give ? " 
 
 O chdtak, listen but a while, and to my speech 
 
 give ear — 
 Not all alike the clouds that on the face of 
 
 heaven appear, 
 Some fertilize the earth with showers, some 
 
 fruitless thunders hurl : 
 This lesson learn — a suppliant speech is wasted 
 
 on the churl. 
 
 <^lte tU^rriiJtiou of ilu mUM Pan, 
 
 A cruel mind intent on strife, 
 Envying his neighbour's gold and wife, 
 Hating the virtuous and his kin, 
 Denotes and brands the man of sin. 
 
 * A bird that lives on rain drops.
 
 22 NITISATAKAM. 
 
 What though the scoundrel learned be, avoid him, 
 
 cut him dead : 
 Men shudder at the snake that wea?s a jewel in 
 
 his head. 
 
 The modest man 's accounted dull, the pure a 
 
 prudish knave, 
 Th' austere a sour-faced hypocrite, the meek a 
 
 heartless slave, 
 The orator is tedious, the ascetic but a fool, 
 The dignified is haughty, stolid and obtuse the cool, 
 The hero savage ; thus the bad do all things good 
 
 despise. 
 Each virtue with its kindred vice is tainted in 
 
 their eyes. 
 
 Treachtf^y is of crimes the blackest, 
 
 Avarice is a world of vice, 
 Truth is nobler far than penance. 
 
 Purity than sacrifice.
 
 DESCRIPTION OF THE WICKED MAN. 23 
 
 Charity 's the first of virtues, 
 
 Dignity doth most adorn, 
 Knowledge triumphs unassisted. 
 
 Better death than public scorn. 
 
 The moon when dimmed by daylight, and a maid 
 whose charm.s have fled, 
 
 A lake with faded lotuses, a good man ill bested, 
 
 A speechless mouth, a grasping king, a scoundrel 
 in his train. 
 
 Are seven thorns that fret my soul with never- 
 ending pain. 
 
 I would not be the kinsman of a monarch prone 
 
 to ire. 
 Not e'en the sacrificing priest unharmed can touch 
 
 the fire. 
 
 Not e'en a wonder-working saint 
 
 Can hope to please the great, 
 The silent man is said to sulk, 
 
 The eloquent to prate,
 
 24 NITISATAKAM. 
 
 Patience is held but cowardice, 
 
 Impatience disrespect, 
 OfEciousness is impudence. 
 
 And modesty neglect. 
 
 Those do not lead an easy life who fall into the power 
 Of one in whom the seed of vice matures in perfect 
 
 flower. 
 Who with a herd of fawnincr rocjues delisfhts 
 
 t' engird his throne, 
 Whose lawless will no bonds of faith nor ties of 
 
 blood doth own. 
 
 The kindness of the bad at first 
 
 Is great, and then doth wane ; 
 The good man's love, at th' outset small, 
 
 Slowly doth bulk attain ; 
 Such difference between these two 
 
 In nature doth abide, 
 As 'twixt the shadow of the morn 
 
 And that of eventide.
 
 PRAISE OF THE GOOD MAN. 25 
 
 Hunters entrap the harmless deer, 
 
 Fishers the finny brood, 
 So bad men causeless interfere 
 
 To persecute the good. 
 
 iJt^ Wm^i of i\xt (^mtJi P^«. 
 
 All-hail to those who love the good, 
 
 And sinful men eschew, 
 Who honour their religious head. 
 
 And sacred lore pursue. 
 Who undisturbed their neighbours' wives 
 
 And neighbours' merits view, 
 Who firm on Siva fix their faith, 
 
 And vain desires subdue ! 
 
 Firmness when fall'n on evil days, restraint when 
 fortune smiles, 
 
 Courage to look with steady eye on war's embat- 
 tled files,
 
 26 NITISATAKAM. 
 
 Persuasive speech in council, and a burning thirst 
 
 for fame, 
 Joined with a love of holy writ, th' heroic soul 
 
 proclaim. 
 
 Alms to bestow in secret, and the houseless wan- 
 derer feed, 
 To hide one's own and loud proclaim another's 
 
 kindly deed. 
 Humbly to bear prosperity, and mourn with those 
 
 who weep — 
 Behold a vow which all the saints as yet have 
 
 failed to keep i 
 
 Charity best adorns the hand^ 
 And reverence the head, 
 
 Truth is the virtue of the mouth 
 In th' ears is scripture read.
 
 PRAISE OF THE GOOD MAN. 27 
 
 Valour lends glory to the arms, 
 
 Contentment calms the heart, 
 Thus lofty souls, though poor, are decked 
 
 With grace in every part. 
 
 In times of joy the hero's soul 
 
 Is soft as lotus-flower, 
 But when misfortune's billows roll 
 
 Stands stiff as granite tower. 
 
 Raindrops on heated iron flung dissolve in airy 
 steam, 
 
 The same on lotus-leaflets hung like rows of dia- 
 monds gleam. 
 
 In sea-shells, if Arcturus shine, they harden into 
 pearl,^ — 
 
 E'en so doth intercourse refine and elevate the 
 churl. 
 
 ' The notion that drops of water fallen into sea-shells under 
 
 the influence of the star Arcturusf is, as Kashinath Trimbak Mvx/n- 
 
 Telang informs us. found in the Malavikagnimitra. Seepages i^^^iX 
 of my translation, ,
 
 28 NITISATAKAM. 
 
 He only can be called a son who gratifies his sire, 
 
 She only is a wife who doth to please her lord 
 aspire, 
 
 He only is a friend who bides the same in weal and 
 woe, — 
 
 These blessings three the righteous gods on vir- 
 tuous men bestow. 
 
 The world conspires to honour those 
 
 Who rise by gentle arts. 
 Who show their own heroic strain 
 
 By praising others' parts, 
 Who patiently reproaches bear. 
 
 Nor scorned revile again, 
 Who still to selfish ends prefer 
 
 The good of other men.
 
 PATH OF ALTRUISM. 29 
 
 Trees are bowed down with weight of fruit, 
 
 Clouds big with rain hang low, 
 So good men humbly bear success, 
 
 Nor overweening grow. 
 
 No earrings deck the good man's ears, which still 
 
 on scripture feed ; 
 His hands, still open to the poor, no golden 
 
 bracelets need ; 
 The perfume of his kindly acts, like flowers in 
 
 leaves concealed, 
 Exceeds the fragrant scent which nard and sandal 
 
 unguents yield. 
 
 He brings thee joy, thy foes dismays, 
 Thy secrets hides, proclaims thy praise, 
 With timely gifts relieves thy need, 
 Thus may'st thou know the " friend indeed." 
 
 ' In the origindl j)aroj}akarapaddhati. 
 
 E 2
 
 so NITISATAKAM. 
 
 The sun awakes the lotus-bower, ^ 
 The moon cheers up her favourite flower. 
 The cloud unasked its rain bestows. 
 Self-moved the good man's bounty flows. 
 
 Some generous souls forbear their own, and seek 
 another's gain ; 
 
 Most men, neglecting not their own, their neigh- 
 bour's cause maintain ; 
 
 Those are mere demons who would build their 
 wealth on other's loss, 
 
 But what are those who profitless their neigh- 
 bour's interest cross ? 
 
 Milk to the water with it mixed its native vir- 
 tues gave, 
 
 Which, pitying sore its tortured friend, rushed 
 on a flaming grave ;
 
 PATH OF ALTRUISM. 31 
 
 The milk, unwilling to be left, must share its 
 
 fellow's fate, — 
 True friendship envy cannot reach, nor fiery pains 
 
 abate ! * 
 
 Here Vishnu sleeps, and there his foes,^ 
 Yonder the suppliant hills repose,^ 
 Here lurk the quenchless fires of doom,* — •. 
 Ocean's broad breast for all hath room. 
 
 Subdue desire, and vanquish pride. 
 Bear scorn, in wrong take no delight, 
 
 Speak truth, for sages' wants provide, 
 And follow still the path of right, 
 
 ' This stanza, says K. T. Telang, gives a moral aspect to an 
 actual physical phenomenon, 
 
 ' i. e., the demons. 
 
 ^ K. T. Telang says he is not aware that any mountain ex- 
 cept Mainaka sought shelter in the ocean . 
 
 * According to Hindu notions the fires that are to roll 
 everything together and destroy the world at the period of 
 universal dissolution, are concealed beneath the sea.
 
 32 NITISATAKAM. 
 
 Honour the worthy, love thy foes, 
 
 Hide thy own virtues, cheer the faint, 
 
 Pursue renown till life doth close, 
 
 Such conduct marks the perfect saint. 
 
 How few there are in mind and speech and body 
 
 free from stain, 
 Who fill with linked benefits earth, heaven, and 
 
 Pluto's reign, 
 Who, telling others' virtuous acts, small grains to 
 
 hills increase, 
 In whose unrufiied soul expands the flower of sin- 
 less peace ! 
 
 Nor Mem nor Himadri's heights adore. 
 Where trees are simply trees and nothing more. 
 For Malaya's nobler mount thy praises keep. 
 Whose woods sweet gums and odorous balsams weep.
 
 PRAISE OF FIRMNESS. 33 
 
 The gods with priceless j ewels were not bought, 
 Nor with the poison-chalice made aghast, 
 
 Nor ceased until they held the nectar fast, 
 The firm forsake not what they once have sought. 
 
 Sleeping sometimes upon the ground, sometimes on 
 gorgeous bed, 
 
 Sometimes with simple herbs content, sometimes 
 on dainties fed, 
 
 One moment clothed in rags, anon ruffling in gal- 
 lant show, 
 
 The hero, following still his end, recks not of joy 
 or woe. 
 
 Mercy 's the ornament of power, of courage courte- 
 ous rede. 
 
 Of learning modesty, of wealth bounty to those 
 that need.
 
 34 NITISATAKAM. 
 
 Of hermits gentleness and truth, longsuffering of 
 
 a king, 
 Of all men virtuous character, whence all these 
 
 glories spring. 
 
 Let cunning statesmen praise or blame, 
 
 Let Fortune turn or go her way, 
 Come instant death, or lingering shame. 
 
 Firm souls from virtue will not stray. 
 
 A snake lay helpless in the box pining for lack of 
 meat, 
 
 A rat by night gnaws through the side, and yie Ids 
 his foe a treat, 
 
 With strength recruited then the snake by that 
 same hole escapes, — 
 
 Behold how vain our efforts are ! Fate all our for- 
 tune shapes. 
 
 Flung down with force, the higher springs the ball. 
 So good men rise victorious from their fall.
 
 PRAISE OF DESTINY. 
 
 Sloth is the foe that makes our souls his lair, 
 Vigour the friend that saves us from despair. 
 
 The moon her wasted orb renews, 
 
 The tree when pruned puts forth fresh leaf, 
 Th' afflicted sage this course pursues, 
 
 Nor j^ields to unavailing grief. 
 
 mu ^mn of gcstiny. 
 
 Under Vrihaspati's^ own eyes 
 
 Entrenched on heaven's height 
 Wielding th' artillery of the skies, 
 
 Followed by gods in fight, 
 Indra, in spite of all his skill, 
 
 Has seen his host give way ; 
 Strength nought avails. — To whom she will 
 
 Fortune assigns the day. 
 
 ' He ia the regent of the planet Jupiter, and preceptor of the 
 gods.
 
 36 NITISATAKAM. 
 
 Our fates, our minds, depend on deeds 
 Done in the soul's career. 
 
 But each can gain the wit he needs 
 By careful conduct here. 
 
 A bald man felt the sun's fierce rays 
 
 Scorch his defenceless head, 
 In haste to shun the noontide blaze 
 
 Beneath a palm he fled : 
 Prone as he lay, a heavy fruit 
 
 Crashed through his drowsy brain : 
 Whom fate has sworn to persecute 
 
 Finds every refuge vain. 
 
 When sun and moon eclipsed I see, 
 And elephants in bonds, 
 
 And wise men vexed with poverty ; 
 I own, my soul desponds.
 
 THE PRAISE OF WORKS. 37 
 
 No wonder sages figure Fortune blind ; 
 She first creates a hero to her mind, 
 Whom all men own the glory of the age, 
 Then breaks her model in her childish rage. 
 
 If thorns and briars bear no leaves we do not 
 blame the Spring, 
 
 Nor yet the sun, if blinking owls fly not till even- 
 ing. 
 
 That chdtaks gape in vain for showers is not the 
 cloud's disgrace; 
 
 Fate's sentence written on the brow no hand can 
 e'er efface. 
 
 mu mi^^ of mnt$. 
 
 Why honour gods, who must submit to Fate, 
 Or Fate, who gives but what our deeds have won? 
 
 Upon our deeds alone depends our state 
 By these exalted, as by these undone.
 
 38 NITISATAKAM. 
 
 Might}^ are works, which Brahma's self confined 
 
 within the egg/ 
 Which forced e'en Siva, skull in hand, from house 
 
 to house to beg, 
 Made Vishnu through ten tedious births his deity 
 
 disguise. 
 Which daily bind th' unwilling sun to wander 
 
 through the skies ! 
 
 Our merits in a former life 
 
 Preserve us in the midst of foes, 
 lu woods, flood, fire, in peace and strife, 
 
 On ocean waves, and mountain snows. 
 
 Kindness can turn the bad man's heart, and fools 
 
 convert to wise. 
 Make poison into nectar-juice, and friends of 
 
 enemies, 
 
 ^ The two halves of which subsequently became Heaven and 
 Earth. (Cf. Aristophanis Aves, 695.)
 
 THE PRAISE OF WORKS. 39 
 
 Bring distant objects near: tlien strive that talis- 
 man to gain, 
 
 Nor set thy heart on glorious gifts acquired with 
 endless pain. 
 
 Before he act, the man of sense 
 Looks forward to the consequence, 
 For heedless acts injfix a dart, 
 That rankles in the tortured heart. 
 
 In emerald vessels tallow boil. 
 
 And light the fire with spice, 
 With golden ploughs turn up the soil 
 
 And then sow worthless rice, 
 Thus wiser far than if thou spend 
 
 An easy life on earth ; 
 Since all things must on works depend, 
 
 Why throw away thy birth ?
 
 40 NITISATAKAM. 
 
 What though we climb to Meru's peak, soar bird- 
 like through the sky, 
 
 Grow rich by trade, or till the ground, or art and 
 science ply, 
 
 Or vanquish all our earthly foes, we yield to Fate's 
 decree, 
 
 Whate'er she nills can ne'er take place, whate'er she 
 wills must be. 
 
 Whoe'er of merit hath a plenteous store, 
 Will savage woods a glorious city find, 
 
 With gold and gems abounding every shore. 
 All regions blissful and all people kind.
 
 SOME VERSES OF AN OPPOSITE TENDENCY. 41 
 
 c^am^ ^'mc^ fft m opirasiite t^wd^jury.' 
 
 What is the use of living with the wise ? 
 
 As well be friends with those that truth despise. 
 
 Who loses time suffers no loss at all, 
 
 Who justly deals shall find his profit small, 
 
 Count him no hero who his sense subdues, 
 
 A virtuous wife's no blessing one should choose, 
 
 Knowledge is not a jewel men retain, 
 
 And sovereign sway's a burden on the brain. 
 
 Once in a way the earth is blessed 
 With one who breaks no bitter jest, 
 But kindly speaks and all commends. 
 Faithful to kinsmen, wife, and friends. 
 
 ' I have taken these headings from the Bombay edition. They 
 are not always very apposite ; for instance, this heading is only 
 applicable to the first stanza included under it. 
 
 f2
 
 42 NITISATAKAM. 
 
 Though scorned the man of constant soul 
 Preserves unchanged his self-control, 
 In vain men trample on the fire, 
 For upward still its flames aspire. 
 
 That hero whose obdurate breast is steeled 
 'Gainst sidelong shafts of love and anger's fire. 
 Nor devious drawn with cords of vain desire. 
 
 Might stand against three worlds in open field. 
 
 Whoe'er with gentle nature charms 
 The world, all hurtful things disarms, 
 Finds flames as mountain streamlets cool. 
 And ocean calm as summer pool, 
 The lion as the roe-deer meek, 
 Mount Meru but a tiny peak, 
 A cobra but a wreath of flowers. 
 And poison-draughts like nectar-showers.
 
 MISCELLANEOUS STANZAS. 43 
 
 Great-hearted men would sooner part with life 
 Than honour, as their mother ever dear, 
 To which in evil days they still adhere, 
 
 Nor wage with self-respect unholy strife. 
 
 Mmt ^^\m\\Mm\$ Mm^^^. 
 
 A woman's heart is like a glass, reflecting every face, 
 Her secret thoughts, like mountain paths, are 
 
 difficult to trace. 
 Her fancy wavers, like the dew which lotusJeaves 
 
 enclose, 
 Her faults, like deadly Upas-buds, develop as 
 
 she grows. 
 
 Who falls in sight of either host 
 
 Upon th' ensanguined plain. 
 Though victory and heaven be lost, 
 
 From both sides praise doth gain.
 
 44 NITISATAKAM. 
 
 The Boar's and Rahu's^ mighty deeds our rever- 
 ence command ; 
 
 The one upheld with gleaming tusks the sea- 
 o'erwhelmed land ; 
 
 The other, sorely maimed in fight, -while head 
 and throat remain, 
 
 Makes shift to swallow still the foes he must 
 release again. 
 
 The land is limited by sea, the sea its bounds 
 
 must keep, 
 The ever- wandering orb of day measures heaven's 
 
 trackless deep ; 
 
 ' The Boar is a reference to the third incarnation of Vishnu, 
 in which the god, in the form of a boar, raised up, on one of his 
 tusks, the earth which lay buried beneath the waters when the 
 earth had become one ocean. Rahu was a Daitya, or demon, 
 who drank part of the nectar obtained by the churning of the 
 ocean. The Sun and Moon revealed the fact, whereupon Vishnu 
 severed his head and throat from the rest of his body. He 
 wreaks his vengeance on them by occasionally swallowing them.
 
 MISCELLANEOUS STANZAS. 45 
 
 All tilings are fettered and restrained, except 
 
 the sage's mind, 
 Which springs beyond the bourn of death, and 
 
 ranges un confined. 
 
 Between Vishnu and Siva there's nothing to choose, 
 Be thy home but a cave, it will serve thee as well, 
 
 Man in woods and in deserts the same course pursues, 
 And a friend's but a friend in a court or a cell. 
 
 By tortoise, hills, and king of snakes 
 Upheld and poised, earth's centre shakes ; 
 Men of firm faith and constant soul 
 Swerve not, while endless ages roll. 
 
 Does not the tortoise feel the load he bears 
 
 without complaint ? 
 Is not the flaming lord of day with ceaseless 
 
 wandering faint ?
 
 46 NITISATAKAM. 
 
 Are not ffood men thousfh sore distressed ashamed 
 
 o o 
 
 tlieir troth to break ? 
 Great spirits love to carry through whate'er 
 they undertake. 
 
 Cymbals to harmonize their tone, 
 Must first with flour be fed ; ^ 
 So he can call all bards his own 
 . Who fills their mouths with bread. 
 
 The mean pursue a thousand ways to satisfy 
 
 their greed, 
 But he will ne'er be chief of saints whose gain 's 
 
 his highest meed, 
 The Aurva-fire - drinks up the sea to still its 
 
 craving maw. 
 The cloud, to cheer a thirsty world, the waves 
 
 doth upward draw. 
 
 * Flour is applied to a Mridanga before it is played upon. 
 ^ The submarine fire, fabled to be at the South Pole, and not 
 extinguishable by water.
 
 MISCELLANEOUS STANZAS. 47 
 
 Hard fate to minister and bard assigned, 
 One must new turns and one new taxes find ; 
 By honeyed language both aspire to climb, 
 This slowly builds his power, and that his rhyme ; 
 A captious public both must toil to please, 
 And part unthanked with liberty and ease. 
 
 Though fortune shower her blessings every where^ 
 But few will reach the poor man's lowly head j 
 Though rain-clouds all day long their treasures 
 shed, 
 
 Three drops at most reward the cMtak's prayer. 
 
 A man should reverence the sage, 
 Not only when he gives advice, — 
 
 The random words of prudent age. 
 If rightly weighed, are pearls of price. 
 
 The good man, like a bounding ball, 
 Springs ever upward from his fall ;
 
 48 NITISATAKAM. 
 
 The wicked falls like lump of clay^ 
 And crumbles into dust away. 
 
 What though by some untoward fate no lotus 
 
 on the lake be born, 
 The swan will ne'er, like barndoor fowl, rake in 
 
 the dust for grains of corn. 
 
 The heart of the contented man enjoys perpetual 
 
 peace, 
 The covetous pine with lust of wealth ; their 
 
 cravings never cease ; 
 Not Meru's peak, of gold entire, can captivate 
 
 my soul. 
 Let him, who likes it, clamber up and carry off 
 
 the whole. 
 
 From nature comes the lotus' rosy hue, 
 By nature good men others' good pursue, 
 And cruel men have cruel ends in view.
 
 MISCELLANEOUS STANZAS. 49 
 
 Truth is the ornament of all mankind, 
 Slim elephants delight the keeper's mind,i 
 Learning and patience are a Brahman's boast. 
 Each creature's highest good becomes it most. 
 
 Better to fall from mountain height, 
 And dash thy life out on the plain. 
 
 Better th' envenomed serpent's bite. 
 Better the death in fiery pain, 
 
 Than once to swerve from virtue's path. 
 Which they who lose ne'er find again. 
 
 Abandon, fool, thy hope to see 
 The brave man dread calamity ; 
 When the great doom shall earth o'ertake 
 Nor seas, nor mighty hills will quake. 
 
 ' More literally ' slimness ' is considered a beauty in a female 
 elephant. 
 
 G
 
 50 NITISATAKAM. 
 
 The moon the lord of healing herbs. 
 Whose gleaming horn is Siva's crest. 
 
 Is doomed with dim eclipse to pine ; 
 Kone can avoid grim Fate's behest. 
 
 A splendid palace, lovely brides, the symbols all 
 
 of kingly sway, 
 Are jewels strung on merit's thread stretching 
 
 through many a toilsome day ; 
 As pearls are from a necklace shed, when breaks 
 
 the bond that held them fast. 
 Light they disperse, when merit fails, whirled 
 
 from us by misfortune's blast.
 
 THE VAIRAGYASATAKAM.
 
 THE VAIRAGYASATAKAM, 
 
 OE, 
 
 HUNDRED STANZAS ON ASCETICISM. 
 
 Eternal, Holy Spirit, free from bonds of space and 
 
 time, 
 Whose essence is self-knowledge. Thee I call to 
 
 bless my rhyme. 
 
 J^piu^t the §t$m a^t ^r^vJaiy mnwp^ 
 
 Envy possesses those that know, 
 
 Great men are drunk with pride, 
 
 The vulgar no discernment show ; 
 
 Who shall for bards provide ? 
 
 g2
 
 54 VAIRAGYASATAKAM. 
 
 I tremble at my merit gained in this revolving 
 world, 
 
 Bitter shall be its after-taste, when back to life I'm 
 hurled, 
 
 Those carnal pleasures won by long-continued acts 
 of right, 
 
 Lay heavy burdens on the soul and check its up- 
 ward flight/ 
 
 I've boldly crossed the stormy brine, I've striven 
 
 kings to please, 
 In grave-yards plied my midnight spells, nor cured 
 
 that fell disease, 
 Earth's bowels have I searched for wealth, and 
 
 melted stones with fire, 
 Thou see'st, no doit rewards my pains, then leave 
 
 me now, Desire ! 
 
 ' It must be remembered that, according to the Vedantic 
 system, the acquisition of Heaven or Svarga itself is nothing 
 compared to Moksha, or the liberation of the soul from the 
 necessity of future transmigration. — K, T. Telang.
 
 AGAINST DESIRE OF WORLDLY THINGS. 55 
 
 I've wandered over niany lands, and reaped withal 
 
 no fruit, 
 I've laid my pride of rank aside, and pressed my 
 
 baffled suit. 
 At stranger boards, like shameless^ crow, I've 
 
 eaten bitter bread,^ [be fed. 
 
 But fierce Desire, that raging fire, still clamours to 
 
 Much have I borne rich hosts to please 
 
 Who love to taunt their guests, 
 I've laughed with spirit ill at ease, 
 
 And praised their vapid jests ; 
 I've mastered wrath with strons: control, 
 
 And bent the supple knee ; 
 Then, hopeless hope, why rack the soul. 
 
 Proof against all but thee ? 
 
 ' Cf. Homer Odyssey, VII, 216— 
 
 6v yap Tt (TTvyep-^ ctti ydcTTepi KvvTepov aWo 
 ^ Cf , Dante, Paradiso, canto XVII. 
 
 Tu proverai si come sa di sale 
 
 Lo pane altrui, e com'e dure calle 
 
 Lo scendere e'l salir per I'altrui scale.
 
 56 VAIRAGYASATAKAM. 
 
 Morn after morn dispels the dark, 
 
 Bearing our lives away ; 
 Absorbed in cares we fail to mark 
 
 How swift our years decay ; 
 Some maddening draught hath drugged our souls, 
 
 In love with vital breath, 
 Which still the same sad chart unrolls, 
 
 Birth, eld, disease, and death. ^ 
 
 What man of sense e'er craves the means of life, 
 To feed himself alone ? His ragged wife, 
 With starving children clinging to her side. 
 And wistful looks, o'ercomes his selfish pride ; 
 Sooner than see his babes with hunger pine, 
 He rushes forth prepared to fawn and whine. 
 
 Cf. Palladas in the Palatine Anthology, X. 81 — 
 
 lxo)(j9ovvTL<; r] rpvcf)S)v res' 6 Se ;^povos Tpi\<^i 
 Tpe^et KaB rjfxwv twv raXaLirwpwv (SpoTwv 
 cfi^pwv eKacTTOv tov (iiov KaTaaTpo(j>i]v.
 
 AGAINST DESIRE OF WORLDLY THINGS. 57 
 
 The joys of life have ceased to please, 
 
 Honour and fame are fled, 
 The dear-loved friends of early youth 
 
 Are numbered with the dead, 
 Propped on a stafl I limp along. 
 
 Dim mists obscure my sight. 
 But this frail flesh still dreads the doom 
 
 Of everlasting night !^ 
 
 God satisfies the snake with air,*^ 
 
 Grass to the cows is food and bed, 
 Man's nobler soul is clogged with care. 
 
 Struggling to gain his daily bread. 
 
 ' Cf. The verses of Miscenas: — 
 Debilem facito manu, 
 Debilem pede, coxa ; 
 Tuber adstrue gibberum 
 Lubricos quate dentes, 
 Vita dum superest, bene est. 
 Hanc mihi, vel acuta 
 Si sedeam cruce, sustine. 
 
 ^ One of the names of the snake is pavanasana, the eater 
 of air.— X T. Telang.
 
 58 VAIRAGYASATAKAM. 
 
 I've never sought release from births by honouring 
 Siva's feet, 
 
 Nor oped by merit huge the gate of Indra's heavenly 
 seat, 
 
 Nor wandered with my youthful feres in Pleasure's 
 giddy maze, 
 
 Then vain my mother's cares and woes, and profit- 
 less my days. 
 
 I have not wasted life, but life hath wasted me, 
 I have not chosen pain,i but pain hath been my 
 lot, 
 Some men make Time their fool, but here Time's 
 fool you see, 
 I've long been dead to joy but passion dieth not. 
 
 Insults I've borne, but not with patient mind, 
 Pleasures forborne, to which my heart inclined ; 
 
 ' i. e., I have not, of my own accord, practised asceticism.
 
 AGAINST DESIRE OF WORLDLY THINGS. 59 
 
 Put up with hunger, nakedness, and cold, 
 Not for the love of God, but love of Gold ; 
 Thought much on wealth, but not on Siva's feet, 
 And broke my slumbers not to pray, but cheat ; 
 I've lived a hermit's life without his creed, 
 Made earth a hell, but gained no heavenly meed. 
 
 Wrinkles deform my face. 
 
 And hoary hairs my head. 
 Withered my youthful grace. 
 
 But avarice blooms instead. 
 
 The joys of sense will vanish soon, what do we 
 gain thereby ? 
 
 Those only store up merit who in all them- 
 selves deny ; 
 
 When pleasures flee, they leave behind a never- 
 ending smart, 
 
 But he who hurls them from him fills with hea- 
 venly peace his heart.
 
 60 VAIRAGYASATAKAM. 
 
 As knowledge grows, content expands, and fell 
 desire abates ;   
 But worldly joys, if long embraced, a baneful 
 influence gain ; 
 Thus Indra, like a mortal king, hopes, trembles, 
 loves, and hates, 
 From having held through endless years an 
 undisputed reign. 
 
 m ^i'ufiaiii ^ujoijttuttt^. 
 
 I'm forced to beg my loathsome daily mess, 
 My couch the earth, myself my only guard,' 
 
 Of filthy patched unseemly clouts my dress, 
 And yet these worldly longings press me hard. 
 
 * More literally, retinue, attendants. This expression falls in 
 with the legend that Bhartrihari was a king, and quitted his 
 throne in a fit of disgust.
 
 OF eV^l men and oppressors. 61 
 
 The moth unwitting rushes on the fire, 
 
 Through ignorance the fish devours the bait, 
 We men know well the foes that lie in wait. 
 
 Yet cannot shun the meshes of desire. 
 
 m ^vil Wm Mil (^\nmmv$. 
 
 My drink is of the crystal brook, of fruits my 
 
 banquet's spread. 
 My frame is swathed in strips of bark, the 
 
 earth's my sumptuous bed. 
 Thus happier far, than forced to bear the upstart 
 
 insolence 
 Of those the new strong wine of wealth hath 
 
 robbed of every sense. 
 
 H
 
 62 VAIRAGYASATAKAM. 
 
 By mighty sages' will this world first saw its 
 
 natal day, 
 Others have conquered it, and thrown with scorn 
 
 its wealth away. 
 Others rule fourteen higher worlds all happier 
 
 than ours, 
 Why then should lords of some few towns 
 
 thus vaunt their petty powers ? 
 
 Thou art a king, I grant, but we are famed for 
 
 boundless lore, 
 Thy wealth's renowned, our skill by bards 
 
 proclaimed on every shore,
 
 OF INDIFFERENCE TO WORLDLY THINGS. C3 
 
 Between us no vast gulf is set : what though 
 
 thou scorn our name, 
 Yet we, to all indifferent, heed not thy praise or 
 
 blame. 
 
 This world still groans 'neath many hundred kings 
 All emulous to snatch their neighbour's share, 
 
 Each paltry gain some fresh enjoyment brings, 
 To fools whose greed should fill them wit k. 
 despair. 
 
 This earth is but a lump of clay girt with a briny 
 
 ditch, 
 Where hosts of squabbling kings contend, all 
 
 striving to be rich. 
 One cannot blame these grovelling slaves for 
 
 cling-insj to their store, 
 But out on those who stoop to beg at any royal 
 
 door I
 
 64 VAIRAGYAS1TAKA.M. 
 
 Mt lili^i^fif of ^ (EmviUf^ UU. 
 
 What can I do in princely courts, 
 Unskilled in vice, and idle sports, 
 Nor singer, actor, rogue, nor clo\Yn,^ 
 Nor bent on pulling others down ? 
 
 Of old time learning courted saintly bliss. 
 Then stooped to be the slave of base desire, 
 But now that kings 'gainst intellect conspire 
 
 Each day she plunges deeper in th' abyss. 
 
 ' Cf. Burke, Vol. II, p. 106, 1. 33 (Bohn's ed) " Kings are 
 naturally lovers of low company," &c. K. T. Telang compares 
 Juvenal's lines : 
 
 Quid Romse f aciam ? Mentiri nescio, librum 
 Si malus est nequeo landare et poscere.
 
 OF THE PROUD MAN. 65 
 
 Those men may boast of being born, whose skulls 
 
 gleam white on Siva's head/ 
 The final meed of holy saints, and chiefs whose 
 
 souls in battle fled ; 
 But oft I muse how men can swell with pride 
 
 at causing those to bow. 
 Who, if they save their precious lives, care little 
 
 for the when and how. 
 
 You are a lord of acres, 
 
 But we are lords of song; 
 
 And we subdue the subtle, 
 If you subdue the strong ; 
 
 The rich of you are speaking, 
 
 In me the wise believe. 
 And if you find me irksome, 
 
 Why then — I take my leave. 
 
 ' This honour, according to the commentator quoted by K. T. 
 Telang, is reserved for the liberal, the temperate, those who are 
 faithful to their promises, and heroes slain in battle. 
 
 h2
 
 ^6 VAIRAGYASATAKAM. 
 
 The day of pleasure 's past and gone, 
 
 Long through this world we've wandered on, 
 
 And weary reached the brink : 
 By Ganga's stream shrills forth our cry, 
 " O Siva, Siva, Lord most high. 
 
 Help, Siva, or we sink." 
 
 When honour fades, and wealth departs, and boons 
 
 are craved in vain. 
 And friends are dead, and servants fled, and joy 
 
 exchanged for pain, 
 This course alone becomes the wise — to seek those 
 
 mountain caves 
 Whence softly flow through woods below the 
 
 sanctifying waves.
 
 TERRORS THAT BESET THE PATH OF PLEASURE. 67 
 
 Why suffer endless woes in vain 
 The favour of the great to gain ? 
 Let false ambition's longings cease. 
 Learn to possess thy soul in peace, 
 And thou hast won the wishing-cap 
 That pours earth's treasures in thy lap. 
 
 m i\nt Wmi^x^ tltat k$tt mt T^mx tft ^£\mmt 
 
 In happiness men fear disease, the haughty shrink 
 from scorn, 
 The rich, the wise, the men of might, dread princes, 
 critics, foes ; 
 Envy blights virtue, eld good looks, death threatens 
 all things born, 
 The hermit's humble life alone gives undisturbed 
 repose.
 
 68 VAIRAGYASATAKAM. 
 
 For life fast slipping from my hold 
 
 I've borne the last and worst disgrace, — 
 
 I've sat 'mongst wealthy fools, and told 
 My merits with unblushing face. 
 
 We speak with awe of glorious kings, of haughty 
 
 lords, and knights. 
 Of courtiers ranged in glittering rows, of triumphs 
 
 and of fights. 
 Of tuneful bards that hymn their praise : who 
 
 honours as he ought 
 That " eloquent and mighty Death" that sweeps 
 
 them into nought ? 
 
 (f)i Sim^ the Semitrailer. 
 
 Our parents long have passed away. 
 All old familiar faces fled. 
 
 Destruction nears us day by day, 
 Like trees in sandy river-bed.
 
 OF TIME THE DESTROYER. 69 
 
 Where many dwellers once were seen, one only now 
 survives, 
 
 Again that house is filled with store of joyous 
 human lives, 
 
 Then all are swept away again ; thus wielding 
 night and day 
 
 As dice, destruction's wedded powers^ with help- 
 less mortals play. 
 
 * i.e., Siva and Parvati. For the idea compare Voltaire: — 
 *• Celui qui nous appelle les marionettes de la Providence me 
 parait nous avoir bien definis." 
 
 Also Plautus Captivi, v. 22 of the Prologue: — 
 
 " Nimirum Di nos quasi pilas homines habent." 
 
 And Lear, Act IV, Sc. 1 : — 
 
 As flies to wanton boys, are we to the gods. 
 They kill us for their sport. 
 
 And the following epigram of Palladas: — 
 
 TlaCyviov €(TTL l!v\-q<; yu-epoTTcov /Sc'os, oiKTpos, 
 
 a.X7]Tr]<;, 
 ttXovi ov kol Trevoys //.ccrcro^i pefif36fM€vo<;. 
 Also Philo 2, 85. rvxf] avo) /cat Kara) to, dv^pwTreta tt€TT€V€1. 
 
 [And the Fragment of Heraclitus : " Time is a child at chess. " 
 Also the well-known lines of Omar Khayam ; Professor Lewis 
 Campbell in the Academy of June 9.]
 
 70 VAIRAGTASATAKAM. 
 
 Shall we retire to Ganga's brink. 
 Or cull the sweets of honeyed lays, 
 Or court a wife whom all men praise ? 
 
 Life's short — we know not what to think. 
 
 O for those days when I shall dwell alone 
 Among the snowy hills by Ganga's stream, 
 
 In stony torpor stiffened on a stone, 
 Inly conversing with the One Supreme, 
 
 Rapt in devotion, dead to all beside, 
 
 And deer shall fray their horns against my senseless 
 hide. 
 
 When shall we, sick of life's entangling bands, 
 
 Sit on the holy river's moonlit sands, 
 
 Through windless nigh ts,withrapture-streaming eyes, 
 
 / .... 
 
 And thrice on Siva call with plaintive cries ? 
 
 Still Siva's arm is strong to save, 
 Still may we plunge in Ganga's wave.
 
 OF TIME THE DESTROYER. 71 
 
 Still one blue heaven bends over all, 
 Still Time sees mortals rise and fall, 
 Still poverty's our best defence, 
 Enough — renounce the joys of sense. 
 
 Hope is a stream, its waves desires, by stormy 
 passions tossed. 
 
 With cruel longings lurking deep,* by light-winged 
 visions crossed, 
 
 Resolves like firmly planted trees its floods uproot- 
 ing bear. 
 
 Its madness swirls in eddying rings beneath its 
 banks of care ; 
 
 But those^ who in devotion's bark attain its further 
 shore, 
 
 Rejoice, for this unstable world enslaves their souls 
 no more. 
 
 ' Like alligators ; the visions are compared to birds.
 
 72 VAIRAGTASATAKAM. 
 
 I've searched for years through earth and air and 
 
 sky, 
 Nor yet one perfect saint hath met my eye, 
 Nor have I heard of one who could restrain 
 Desire's fierce elephant with reason's chain. 
 
 The days seem long to those who drudge for pay, 
 And short to those who fritter life away ; 
 When shall I sit and think how vain their moans, 
 A hermit pillowed on a bed of stones ? 
 
 When all our wealth is wasted, we'll seek some 
 
 calm retreat, 
 And spend the night in thinking on Siva's holy 
 
 feet. 
 When streams the autumn moonlight into our 
 
 melting hearts, 
 How false that world will glimmer where once we 
 
 played our parts.
 
 OF TIME THE DESTROYER. 73 
 
 Bark garments satisfy my needs, 
 
 But you are pleased with silken weeds, 
 
 Who counts you better off than me ? 
 But woe to hira whose wants are o-reat ! 
 Contentment equals men's estate. 
 
 And makes the rich and poor agree. 
 
 Unfettered wandering, and meals from degradation 
 
 free. 
 The friendship of the wise and good ; and sober 
 
 piety, 
 A heart that beats not for the world — none, that 
 
 my thoughts can trace, 
 Not e'en by strictest discipline hath gained this 
 
 heavenly grace. 
 
 The hand 's a lordly dish, 
 The mouth with alms is fed, 
 The sky 's a glorious robe, 
 The earth 's a sumptuous bed,
 
 74 VAIRAGTASATAKAM. 
 
 Those live in high content 
 Who're free from passion's chain, 
 And works with all their brood 
 Of ignorance and pain. 
 
 King's fancies swiftly pass like coursers in the race, 
 In vain to them we look for favour, wealth, and 
 
 place. 
 Eld robs our frame of strength, death slays us at a 
 
 blow, 
 None but the hermit's life can happiness bestow. 
 
 Our joys are short-lived as the flash 
 
 That cleaves the cloudy veil, 
 Our life is fleeting as the mists 
 
 That drive before the gale ; 
 Youth's pleasures fade — then fix your minds 
 
 On that untroubled peace 
 Which patient meditation brings 
 
 To those whose longings cease.
 
 OF TIME THE DESTROYER. 7o 
 
 To roam some woodland hermitage where Brah- 
 
 mans' chants resound, 
 And smoke of sacrificial fires blackens the trees 
 
 around, 
 Begging one's bread from cell to cell, plants in the 
 
 breast no thorns. 
 Like living poor amongst one's kin, bearing their 
 
 hourly scorns. 
 
 While gaping idlers turn the head and say, 
 " What stamp of man can yonder pilgrim be, 
 Saint, sophist, outcast. Brahman, slave, or free ? " 
 
 Nor pleased nor wroth the hermit wends his way. 
 
 Happy are those vvho've ceased to walk by sight, 
 Slain passion's snake, and make good deeds their 
 stay. 
 
 Who spend in woodland nooks the tranquil night 
 Illumined by the moon's autumnal ray.
 
 76 VAIRAGYASATAKAM. 
 
 Be still, my fluttering heart, and leave this crowded 
 
 show 
 Of worldly toys 'midst which thou eddiest to and fro, 
 Abandon fleeting forms, and seek that settled state 
 Of grounded peace enthroned above the storms of 
 
 fate. 
 
 Pillowed on banks of moss, with roots and berries fed, 
 Enwound with strips of bark, our wants shall all 
 
 be sped — 
 Off to the woodland shades, and gladly leave behind 
 These men of stammering speech, with wealth- 
 bewildered mind. 
 
 Abandon empty hopes, and place thy trust, my 
 
 breast. 
 In Ganga, and in him who bears the moony 
 
 crest; ^ 
 
 ' i.e., Siva. The moon's crescent round or above the central 
 eye of the god is supposed to refer to the measurement of time 
 by months. See Mouier Williams, s. v.
 
 OF TIME THE DESTROYER. 77 
 
 Whoe'er confides in snakes, waves, women, bubbles, 
 
 flames, 
 Lightnings or mountain streams, his want of sense 
 
 proclaims. 
 
 If song resound thy steps before, 
 
 And Dekhan' lyres behind, 
 And nymphs with jingling bracelets pour 
 
 The Ghoiuri's perfumed wind, 
 Scorn not this world's broad easy ways. 
 
 And drink of pleasure's bowl ; 
 If not — then fix thy steadfast gaze 
 
 On that undying soul. 
 
 Kind Fortune, seek some other love, I long not 
 
 for thy dower ; 
 And what to those whose lusts are dead avails 
 
 thy golden shower ? 
 
 ' The poeta of the Dekhan being especially skilful. 
 
 I 2
 
 78 " VAIKAGYASATAKAM. 
 
 Leave me to beg from day to day my dole of 
 
 barley-meal, 
 The fig's broad leaf supplies a dish that none 
 
 would care to steal. 
 
 Once I was thou, and thou wast I, 
 
 In perfect union blent ; 
 Say, what hath severed friendship's tie, 
 
 And souls asunder rent ? 
 
 Why sidelong cast thy languid eyne ? 
 
 Vain is thy hope to tangle mine. 
 
 My nature's changed ; no more a child 
 
 With every wanton toy beguiled, 
 
 To cloistered cell I'd fain withdraw. 
 
 This world's bright nets I count but straw. 
 
 o 
 
 'Tis sweet in palaces to dwell. 
 Where music's strains voluptuous swell ; 
 'Tis sweet to hear the loved one's voice ; 
 But wise men, of deliberate choice.
 
 OF TIME THE DESTROYER. 79 
 
 Have run from these to forest glades, 
 Assured all earthly pleasure fades, 
 Swift as the moth in heedless game 
 Puffs out the taper's feeble flame. 
 
 Are roots extinct in mountain caves ? have streams 
 
 forgot to flow ? 
 Do vests of bark and woodland fruits on trees 
 
 no longer grow ? 
 Else why endure the haughty mien and eye-brows 
 
 arched in scorn 
 Of men who 've scraped together wealth to which 
 
 they were not born ? 
 
 Say, whither are those slabs of stone 
 
 All moist with Ganga's dew. 
 And Dryad-haunted thickets flown, 
 
 That men can bear to sue 
 For alms and insults at the door of some proud 
 parvenu ?
 
 80 VAIRAGYASATAKAM. 
 
 Mount Meru's golden mass shall melt at that last 
 awful day, 
 
 The monster-peopled seas dry up, the earth dis- 
 solve away ; 
 What hope for feeble human frames, whose breath 
 doth come and go. 
 
 As swiftly as the elephant flaps his ear to and 
 fro? 
 
 When, when, O Siva, shall I be 
 
 Lonely and calm, from passion free ; 
 
 My only robe the liberal air, 
 
 My hand the dish that holds my fare, 
 
 But able Action to uproot,' 
 
 The tree that bears Life's bitter fruit. 
 
 * The bodies and conditions of transmigrating souls are. 
 according to their works, good or evil in antecedent states from 
 time without beginning. The merits and demerits and the embo- 
 diments are from eternity. Seed from plant, and plant from 
 seed, but who shall assign priority to either ? From such fruition 
 of merits as long as soul is impHcated with body, there is no 
 escape. * * * * This implication of soul with bodies animal, 
 vegetable, human, ultra-human, and divine, is the source of all
 
 OF TIME THE DESTROYER. 81 
 
 Suppose thy fortune's boundless as the main, 
 Suppose thy years a world's great age complete, 
 Suppose thy foes all placed beneath thy feet, 
 
 And friends rewarded richly : where's thy gain ? 
 
 The hermit's tattered patchwork robe, or courtier's 
 silken weeds. 
 
 One wife to tend thy home, or troops of elephants 
 and steeds. 
 
 One simple meal at close of day, or many a gor- 
 geous feast. 
 
 It matters not, be but thy soul from earthly cares 
 released. 
 
 misery. In all its stages the soul tastes little but pain, sickness, 
 death, and severance from all Jhat it would fain cling- to. Even 
 in the highest embodiments there is disparity, and a consequent 
 sense of insufficiency, and there is the certainty of their expiring 
 upon the exhaustion of the merits which procured them. Paradise 
 and places of torment are only stages in the endless journey. 
 * * * litis repeated embodiment of souls results from merits, 
 merit from activity, acticity from, desires and arersions. desires 
 and aversions from identifying the soul with that which is not 
 soul, with the body, the senses, the intellect. {Govgh — in Calcutta 
 Review).
 
 82 VAIRAGYASATAKAM. 
 
 My faith in Siva wavereth not, I shrink from 
 
 future birth, 
 I care not for my friends or kin, I scorn the joys 
 
 .of earth, 
 I love the lonely forest-glades, from worldly tur- 
 moil free, 
 No o-reater bliss can fall to man than falleth unto 
 me. • - 
 
 Think upon that self-developed, everlasting One 
 
 Supreme, 
 Fling aside all vain delusions, all the worldling's 
 
 baseless dream, 
 Pity those dull slaves of custom who are caught 
 
 with empty to3's, 
 Kingly crowns, and thrones imperial, and a round 
 
 of sensual joys.
 
 OF TIME THE DESTROYEK. 83 
 
 You mount to heaven, again you sink to hell, 
 You roam the world around with anxious 
 breast, 
 And yet not e'en by chance your thought doth 
 dwell 
 On Him who only gives the spirit rest. 
 
 Night follows night, and day succeedeth day, 
 And thoughtless men hurry to work and play, 
 But sages ouorht to blush when treading found, 
 Year after year, the same dull weary round. 
 
 Stretched out at ease upon the ground, and'pil- 
 
 lowed on his arm, 
 The houseless hermit sleeps in peace, secure from 
 
 nightly harm, 
 The breeze his fan, his lamp the moon, his canopy 
 
 the sky, — 
 What royal palace of this earth can such delights 
 
 supply ?
 
 84 VAIRAGYASATAKAM. 
 
 Feasts, flatteries, and idle hours 
 
 Make up a prince's day, 
 Let not the saint employ his powers 
 
 To compass kingly sway : 
 But quaff the ever-brimming stream 
 
 Of pure and holy mirth ; 
 Who that hath tasted bliss supreme 
 
 Can sink to joys of earth ? 
 
 What profit are the Vedas, 
 
 Or books of legal lore. 
 Or those long-winded legends. 
 
 Repeated o'er and o'er ? 
 What gain we by our merits ? 
 
 A dwelling in the skies — 
 A miserable mansion, 
 
 That men of sense despise — 
 All these are huckstering methods, — 
 
 Give me that perfect way 
 Of self-contained fruition. 
 
 Where pain is done away.
 
 OF TIME THE DESTROYER. 85 
 
 Our life is like th' unstable wave, 
 
 Our bloom of youth decays. 
 Our joys are brief as lightning flash 
 
 In summer's cloudy days, 
 Our riches fleet as swift as thought ; 
 
 Faith in the One Supreme 
 Alone will bear us o'er the gulfs 
 
 Of Being's stormy stream. 
 
 Can all this earth encloses 
 Flutter the sage's breast ? 
 
 Say, can the darting minnow 
 Trouble the ocean's rest ? 
 
 I love the moon's soft beams, I love the grassy wood, 
 I love to talk of verse among the wise and good, 
 I love the fair one's face gleaming with angry tears, 
 1 think how fleeting all, and pleasure disappears.
 
 86 VAIRAGYASATAKAM. 
 
 Lonely amoDg his kind, 
 
 Breaking on alms his fast, 
 Free as th' unfettered wind. 
 
 The hermit wanders past. 
 Of tattered rags his dress, 
 
 He knows no care nor pride. 
 He longs for quietness. 
 
 And has no want beside. 
 
 My mother Earth, 
 
 My kinsman Fire, 
 Water my friend, 
 
 And Wind my sire. 
 My brother Heaven, 
 
 A long adieu ! ^ 
 By merit gained 
 
 When linked to you 
 
 ' Compare Green's History of the English People, p. 144 : — 
 " The life of Francis falls like a stream of tender light across 
 the darkness of the time. He strips himself of all, he flings his 
 ▼ery clothes at his father's feet, that he may be one with Nature
 
 OF TIME THE DESTROYER. 87 
 
 I've purchased grace 
 
 To break my chains, 
 And merge in that 
 
 Which all sustains. 
 
 While the soul's temple still stands firm, and eld 
 
 still bides afar, 
 While sense is keen, and Life with Death still 
 
 wages equal war. 
 The wise to gain the spirit's peace should strive 
 
 with strong desire. 
 What boots to dig a well when all the house is 
 
 wrapped in fire ? 
 
 I have not learnt the wrangler's art or less preten- 
 tious lore, 
 
 Nor cleft in fight the war-beasts' skulls on Fame's 
 broad wings to soar. 
 
 and Grod. His passionate verse claims the moon for his sister, and 
 the sun for his brother ; he calls on his brother the Wind, and his 
 sister the Water, His last cry was a Welcome, Sister Death.'
 
 88 VAIRAGTASATAKAM. 
 
 Nor sipped the fair one's honeyed lip while soft the 
 
 moonbeam fall's ; — 
 My youth is wasted like a lamp in vast unpeopled 
 
 halls. 
 
 Knowledge abates the wise man's pride, 
 But kindles it in all beside ; 
 That loneliness which shields the saint 
 Lets sinners sin without restraint. 
 
 The youthful freshness of my heart is worn with 
 
 old decay, 
 The beauty of my limbs hath passed unrecognized 
 
 away, 
 Grim Fate brings nigh with giant strides the 
 
 unrelenting hour ; 
 What hope but in the feet of him who smote 
 
 Love's wanton power ? ' 
 
 ' i. e., Siva.
 
 OF TIME THE DESTROYER. 89 
 
 If parching thirst dries up the throat, 
 
 How sweet the brimming stream ; 
 If hunger pinches, rice and herbs 
 
 Imperial dainties seem. 
 We hug this fond belief, — that we 
 
 A solid pleasure gain, 
 When all we've done is to remove 
 
 The momentary pain. ^ 
 
 When shall I bathe in Ganga's stream and please 
 Thee, Lord, with fruits and flowers, 
 
 Thinking of that one worthy theme, on beds of 
 stone through midnight hours, 
 
 ' Cf. Plato's Republic, 584 A— 
 
 ITois ovv op^cjs e<7Ti TO fir] dXyett' rjBv riylKrOai ^ to jxrj ^(aipiiv 
 aviapov ; Ov8afiu)s. Ovk ecrriv dpa tovto, aXXa ^atVerat, t]v 
 8 iyu) irapa. to dAyctvov ^8v, koX napa to r)8v aAy€tv6v totc tj 
 rjavxid, Koi ovScv vyi€9 ToijTutv rdv cfjavracrfiaTOiv Trpos 17801^5 
 a\ijduav, oAAa yoryrua tis 'Os yoOv 6 Adyos, 14*7], cnjfiaLvei. 
 I8e TOLvw, T7V S'eyw, T]8ovd<i ai ovk ck Xvirdv (icnv, tva firj 7roAAd*cts 
 olr]9r)<; ev tw TrapdfTi oirro) tovtw TTicfiVKCvaL, rj^ovrjv fxkv TravAai' 
 Avm^s ctvai, Xvtttjv hk 17801^5. 
 
 K 2
 
 90 VAIRAGYASATAKAM. 
 
 Honouring my Father in the faith, striving to lift 
 
 my heart above ? 
 When shall I fling my woes aside ? Help me, thou 
 
 enemy of Love.^ 
 
 The man whose bed is made of rock, whose mansion 's 
 
 but a cave, 
 Who's clothed in bark and fed on fruits, who drinks 
 
 the ciystal wave. 
 Whose friends are deer, alone can boast of splendour 
 
 on this earth ; 
 For he alone ne'er bows the head to power, or 
 
 wealth, or birth. 
 
 Out of Banaras who can live that boasts the 
 
 sage's name, 
 Where rags are counted splendid clothes, and 
 begging held no blame, 
 
 ' i. <!., Siva.
 
 OF TIME THE DESTROYER. 91 
 
 Where gardens yield to all who need their 
 
 bounteous supplies, 
 Where saints subdue the flesh, where Death's 
 
 the gate of Paradise ? 
 
 Leave those proud doors where surly slaves growl 
 
 out " our lord 's asleep, 
 " We cannot wake him : if we do, his wrath no 
 
 bounds will keep," 
 But haunt the temple of that god who rules this 
 
 mighty whole. 
 Whose gate no ill-bred porter keeps, who fills with 
 
 bliss the soul. 
 
 Our mind is but a lump of clay 
 
 That Fate, grim potter, holds 
 On sorrow's wheel that rolls a*vay, ^ 
 
 And, as he pleases, moulds.
 
 92 " . VAIRAGYASATAKAM. 
 
 Siva controls earth, heav'n, and hell, 
 
 Vishnu pervades each part, 
 Their rank in being who can tell ? 
 
 But Siva has my heart. 
 
 Why, Cupid, wound thy hand with twanging still 
 the bow ? 
 Why, cuckoo, sound for nought thy soft love- 
 moving strain ? 
 AVhy bashful maiden, still thy sidelong glances 
 throw ? [drain. 
 
 My soul the nectarous wine of Siva's love doth 
 
 What though the hermit's cloak be torn with many 
 a rent, 
 What though he sleep in tombs or under forest 
 trees, 
 Heedins: not friend or foe, on self-communion bent. 
 From pride and anger free, his mind is still at 
 ease.
 
 OF TIME THE DESTROYER. 93 
 
 Enjoyments quickly lose their zest ; of them our 
 
 life is made ; » 
 Then why extend the hand to grasp these flowers 
 
 that bloom to fade ? 
 If for my words you care at all, then fix your 
 
 constant soul 
 On that eternal Fount of light whose beams can 
 
 Love control. 
 
 Happy who dwell in mountain caves, praising the 
 One Supreme, 
 Upon whose breasts sleep fearless birds that drink 
 their tears of joy, 
 While we are sporting in the groves, and wander- 
 ing by the stream 
 Of some aerial pleasure ground, our wayward 
 fancy's toy. 
 
 " The meaning is the same as the ' Sed vitam faciunt balnea,' 
 &c., of Martial.
 
 94 VAIRAGYASATAKAM. 
 
 Death swallows Birth, and Youth's brief flash the 
 
 jaws of Age devour, 
 Desire of wealth eats up Content, and Love the 
 
 peaceful hour, 
 Fell Envy's tooth gnaws Virtue's bud, and snakes 
 
 infest the wood, 
 Kings' courts are overrun with knaves : thus bad 
 
 things feed on good. 
 
 Hundreds of various pains and griefs uproot the 
 health of man. 
 Where Fortune takes up her abode mishaps soon 
 
 crowd the gate, 
 Nothing is born which Death makes not a subject 
 of his state, 
 How full of faults is Destiny ! how ill-conceived 
 her plan ! ^ 
 
 tanta stat praedita culpa.
 
 OF TIME THE DESTROYER. 95 
 
 Hard is our lot within th' imprisoning womb, 
 Our youth beset with separation's doom, 
 Loathsome our age, the theme of woman's mirth. 
 Say then, ye men, what joy ye find on earth ? 
 
 A hundred years complete our span, half that is 
 
 passed in night : 
 Childhood and age devour the half of what belongs 
 
 to light : 
 The rest is torn with parting pangs, of ceaseless toil 
 
 the slave ; 
 What profit in our human life, unstable as the 
 
 wave ? 
 
 Those who distinguish that which is from fleeting 
 
 outward shows, 
 Do well to give up wealth and joys to gain secure 
 
 repose ;
 
 96 VAIRAGYASATAKAM. 
 
 What therefore must be said of us who cannot bear 
 
 to part 
 From that which never can be ours, on which we 've 
 
 set our heart ? 
 
 Eld like a tiger threats our careless bliss, 
 Diseases wound our frame like angry foes. 
 As water from a broken pitcher, flows 
 
 Our life away ; and yet men do amiss. 
 
 Once in a way Dame Nature makes 
 A perfect crystal free from stain, 
 
 And then, like careless workman, breaks 
 The piece which cost her so much pain. 
 
 The limbs contract, the gait's infirm, the teeth drop 
 
 from the gums, 
 The eyesight dims, the hearing fails, and senile 
 
 drivelling comes ;
 
 ■OF TIME THE DESTROYER. 97 
 
 No more relations heed our words, our wife e'en 
 
 disobeys, 
 Our son becomes a foe : alas .' what ills in length 
 
 of days ! 
 
 Man is an actor who plays various parts : —   
 First comes a boy, then out a lover starts, 
 His garb is changed for, lo ! the beggar's rags ! 
 Then he's a merchant with full money-bags ; 
 Anon an aged sire, wrinkled and lean ; 
 At last death drops his curtain on the scene. 
 
 Night, day, friend, foe, dross, gems, are all the same 
 
 to me, 
 'Twixt stones and rose-strewn beds no difference 
 
 I see ; 
 In some lone hermitage I let the hours glide by, 
 And loud on Siva call with thrice-repeated cry.
 
 98 VAIRAGYASATAKAM. 
 
 The man of firm and constant soul, 
 Who nought possessing, nought desires, 
 Nor burns with passion's raging fires, 
 
 Finds happiness from pole to pole. 
 
 Time passes never to recede. 
 But careless mortals take no heed : 
 The woes that in past years we bore 
 Leave us no wiser than before ; 
 What folly do we lay aside ? 
 Though sorely by our errors tried, 
 We learn not prudence, but begin 
 Once more a fresh career of sin. 
 
 The belly clamours for its rights, and will not be 
 
 denied, 
 Its keen-set longings cut the purse that holds our 
 
 human pride,
 
 MISCELLANEOUS STANZAS. 99 
 
 It withers virtue as the moon the lotus of the day,^ 
 The mantling vine of modesty it lops and shreds 
 away. 
 
 Let 's live on offerings, sleeping on the ground, 
 Clothed with the air, and not in courts be found. 
 
 " Rise up and bear one second's space 
 
 " Grim penury's awful load ; 
 " Let me o'erwearied take thy place 
 
 " In Pluto's dark abode."— 
 A poor man thus a corpse bespake ; 
 
 The corpse, preferring death 
 To want, would not its silence break 
 
 For all his waste of breath.^ 
 
 ^ The moon patronizes the kvmuda, but is an enemy to the 
 lotus, which comes out in the day. 
 
 2 Compare Chaucer, Man of Lawe's Prologue 
 
 Herkne what is the sentence of the wise — 
 " Bet is to dyen than have indigence."
 
 100 VAIRAGYASATAKAM. 
 
 Siva is chief of those who fleshly lusts despise, 
 Though linked to Uma's form by everlasting ties ; 
 We, racked with venom-pangs which Cupid's arrow 
 
 brings, 
 Can neither leave nor yet enjoy these worldly 
 things. 
 
 They smile and weep to gain their end. 
 Cajole, but never trust a friend, 
 So wise men keep from women far 
 Shunning them like the funeral jar.i 
 
 Here sounds the tuneful lyre, and there loud shrieks 
 
 appal, 
 Here is a sage discourse, and there a drunken brawl, 
 Here maids in prime of youth, there wrinkled 
 
 forms you meet ; 
 Of what consists our life, of bitter or of sweet ? 
 
 Used in cemeteries, and therefore impure.
 
 MISCELLANEOUS STANZAS. 101 
 
 With gestures forced, cracked voice, and smiling 
 
 face, 
 Your part is now to sue for rich men's grace, 
 Half fool, half knave ; but when your hair is 
 
 grey 
 What part in life's great farce remains to play ? 
 
 Breath, fortune, life, and youth are swiftly 
 
 ebbing tides, 
 In this unstable world virtue alone abides. 
 
 Siva 's a guiding lamp, that burns in hermits' 
 
 hearts. 
 Dispels delusion's gloom and light and heat 
 
 imparts, 
 He shrivelled like a moth the frivolous cjod of 
 
 Love, 
 
 His flame's the moon's white streak that gleams 
 
 his crest above. 
 
 L 2
 
 102 VAIRAGYASATAKAM. 
 
 My soul, for Fortune sigh no more, that blind 
 
 capricious fair, 
 That dwells in princes' nods and frowns, unstable 
 
 as the air ; 
 Rags are the wise man's "coat of proof ;"i in 
 
 these from door to door 
 We beg through wide Banaras' streets, and one 
 
 hand holds our store. 
 
 That tortoise really lives its life which bears the 
 
 world on high. 
 We bless the pole star's birth, round which 
 
 revolves the starry sky, 
 But all those buzzing summer flies, that serve not 
 
 others' gain. 
 Dead to all useful purposes e'en from their birth 
 
 remain. 
 
 ' Henry VI, Pt. II, Act IV, Sc. 2.
 
 MISCELLANEOUS STANZAS. 103 
 
 " My house is high, my sons renowned, my wealth 
 
 beyond compare," 
 " My wife is lovely, young my age" — thus 
 
 thoughtless men declare, 
 Thinking this world will last for aye, they don 
 
 delusion's chains ; 
 The sage knows all will pass away, and straight 
 
 this world disdains. 
 
 Revile, revilers ! I, 'tis true, 
 
 Cannot return your scorn : 
 We give but what we know, for who 
 
 E'er gave a rabbit's horn ? 
 
 Alms are not difficult to gain, great Rama showed 
 
 the way ; 
 The earth yields roots, the deer skin> keeps the 
 
 winter's cold away ; 
 
 ' Worn by ascetics.
 
 104 VAIRAGYASATAKAM. 
 
 Whether we joy or grieve we 're still of destiny the 
 
 slaves ; 
 Why should I leave the three-eyed god to court 
 
 blind purse-proud knaves ? 
 
 Why wander without end ? find rest at last, my 
 
 soul : 
 What will be, must be ; none can Fate's decree 
 
 control, 
 Leave thinking of the past, and let the future be, 
 Reap joys which come by chance and unexpected 
 
 flee. 
 
 Their hand their only dish, 
 
 Begging their wants supplies, 
 They sleep where Fate may wish. 
 
 The world as straw they prize, 
 Such is the hermit's life : 
 
 Few souls, by Siva's might. 
 Can win through toil and strife 
 
 To that supreme delight.
 
 MISCELLANEOUS STANZAS. 105 
 
 Bali ' you've not released from hell nor Death the 
 
 moDster slain, 
 Nor cleansed from spots the moon's fair disk nor 
 
 put an end to pain, 
 Nor bearing up the earth awhile eased Sesha^ from 
 
 the load, 
 Do you not blush to wear the wreath to matchless 
 
 heroes owed ? 
 
 What folly 'tis o'er musty texts to brood, 
 Or charm with plays and songs the idle mood ! 
 All fancies vain my soul hath flung aside. 
 Resolved in Siva only to confide. 
 
 ^ A celebrated Daitya who made himself lord of the three worlds. 
 Vishnu appeared before him in the form of a dwarf, and asked 
 for as much land as he could pace in three steps. This was 
 granted, and Vishnu deprived him in two steps of heaven and 
 earth, but left him Patala, or the lower regions. 
 
 9 The thousand-headed serpent who bears the three worlds on 
 one of hie heads.
 
 106 VAIRAGYASATAKAM. 
 
 The forest trees yield fruit which men may pluck 
 
 at will, 
 The wave runs pure and cold in many a holy rill, 
 Soft is the bed of leaves which wind-swept creepers 
 
 pour, [door. 
 
 And yet mean spirits court scorn at the rich man's 
 
 ' Begging supplies my wants, 
 My rags keep out the cold, 
 My faith in Siva's firm, — 
 What need have I of gold ? 
 
 The chief of saints declare no joy can vie with theirs 
 Who fling on Siva's breast the burden of their cares, 
 Taking no thought for wealth, by daily bounty fed. 
 Blessed and pure, exempt from envy, pain, and dread. 
 
 Our joys are like the wave in foam-flakes hurled, 
 Youth, life, and love like lightning come and go. 
 Learn this, ye wise, and teach the people so, 
 
 That all may know how hollow is this world.
 
 MISCELLANEOUS STANZAS. 107 
 
 Sa5^ hast thou gained this bliss by long ascetic pain. 
 Deer, that thou flatter'st not the rich nor feel'st 
 their scorn, 
 Nor runnest here and there some trifling boon to 
 gain, 
 But feed'st on tender grass, and sleep'st from eve 
 till morn ? 
 
 When maidens see a tinge of white 
 Streak a man's hair, they shun his sight, — 
 'Tis like the white bone^ on the brink 
 Of wells whence only outcasts drink. 
 
 Thou fool, how oft thy schemes have missed theit 
 aim ! 
 And yet this gold-mirage thy soul allures, 
 That still thou hop'st, and still thy heart endureS;, 
 
 Shows it is wrought of adamantine frame. 
 
 ' The bit of bone suspended over a well belonging to Chandalas,
 
 108 VAIRAGYASATAKAM. 
 
 They bewilder, enchant, and deceive, 
 
 Plunge in anger, delight, and despair ; 
 Woe to those who in pity receive 
 . To their credulous bosoms the fa,ir ! 
 
 A hermit's forest cell, and fellowship with deer, 
 A harmless meal of fruit, stone beds beside the 
 stream, 
 
 Are helps to those who long for Siva's guidance 
 here; 
 But be the mind devout, our homes will forests 
 seem. 
 
 Sweeter than honey are the nectar'd strains 
 
 The goddess Speech sends forth to cheer our souls ; 
 Content with these and charitable doles, 
 
 We will not purchase wealth with slavish pains.
 
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