A History of Sanskrit Literature c21.s7.6.3

c21.s7.6.3

Harṣa obeys and prepares for war, while omens of evil menace the fate of his enemies. Chapter vii pictures in extraordinary vividness of detail the movements of an Indian army with its utter confusion, its vast masses of impedimenta, its countless camp-followers from the ladies of the court to the meanest hangers-on, the destruction wrought on the countryside, the vain claims of the landholders for exemption from pillage. We hear too of an ambassador from the king of Assam who tenders to the king a present of an umbrella of great beauty, and in due course the king reaches the Vindhya, again described in picturesque and minute detail. Chapter viii presents to us the figure of Nirghāta, a young mountaineer, who is to aid Harṣa in seeking in the Vindhya region for Rājyaçrī, who has escaped from her confinement and is believed to be wandering in that forest region. By his advice the king seeks the holy ascetic Divākaramitra, whose hermitage, with its pious animals who have imbibed the Buddhist faith, is brilliantly portrayed. The king asks his aid, and as the holy man is regretfully admitting that he has not heard of the princess an ascetic enters with the news that a lady is about to burn herself in despair, and asks the holy man to comfort her and stay her deed. The king rushes to find his sister on the point of perishing with her maidens; he restrains her and takes her to the sage. The princess begs to be allowed to end a life that now is worthless to her;