Paumacariya 81

English (machine translation) 81

Language: English

81.1

Then that best of elephants was indeed led back by the ministers, with peaceful minds, / accompanied by the Baladeva and Nārāyaṇa, though he was extremely obstinate and arrogant.

81.2

At the command of Nārāyaṇa, he was taken by the ministers to his own stable. / That elephant was dispatched [there] and consoled just as before.

81.3

Seeing that the proud elephant was subdued, all the Vidyādharas together / praised the mighty power of Padma and Lakṣmaṇa.

81.4

Then Sītā, Viśalyā, and Bharata with his beloved wives, / along with Lakṣmaṇa and Rāma, set out for the flower garden.

81.5

Hailed with the loud sound of many musical instruments / and the auspicious cries of victory shouted by the citizens, they entered Rāghava's palace, delightful as the city of the gods.

81.6

Having dismounted from their vehicles, they sat in the royal dining pavilion; / having served food to the monks, they then dined together with their retinue.

81.7

Meanwhile, all the ministers approached the king of Magadha there; / bowing their heads, [they said:] "O Rāghava, listen to our words!

81.8

Ever since that elephant arrived, agitated, O lord, / from that time on, he deeply meditates in his heart on something unknown.

81.9

Sighing very deeply, with closed eyes, he strikes the earth / with his trunk, shakes his head, and again becomes immersed in thought.

81.10

Even while morsels of food are being praised, he does not take them, though spoken to sternly; / resting against the pillar, having curled his tusk with his trunk, he broods.

81.11

He stands motionless in all five limbs, like one made of plaster, quite peaceful; / there is doubt: 'Is he possessed of life, or is he not?'

81.12

Even through mantras and medicines applied by physicians, his true condition / is not understood, O lord! Indeed, he is in deep distress.

81.13

He does not listen even to music, nor does he find comfort in lakes or on beds, / neither in the town nor in the forest, nor in food nor in drink.

81.14

With a body reduced to such a state does the elephant, the ornament of the three worlds, remain. / We have reported this to you; O master, find a remedy for him!"

Hearing these words of the chief minister, the Baladeva and the holder of the discus stood plunged in thought; / they said: "Bereft of the ornament of the three worlds, the entire pure kingdom is worthless."

81.16

Thus ends the eighty-second chapter of the Paümacariya, entitled "The Sorrow over Bhuvanālaṅkāra".

Linked texts (1)

Paümacariya — Vimalasūri, Māhārāṣṭrī Prakrit