A History of Sanskrit Literature c21.s9.3.3

c21.s9.3.3

Against this peaceful picture we may set the striking picture of the return of Bhaṇḍi with the news of Rājyavardhana’s death: *malinavāsā ripuçaraçalyapūritena nikhātabahulohakīlakaparikararakṣitasphuṭaneneva hṛdayena hṛdayalagnaiḥ svāmisatkṛtair iva çmaçrubhiḥ çucaṁ samupadarçayan dūrīkṛtavyāyāmaçithilabhuja-daṇḍadolāyamānamaṅgalavalayaikaçeṣālaṁkṛtir anādaropayuktatāmbūlaviralarāgeṇa çokadahanadahyamānasya hṛdayasyāṅgāreṇeva dīrghaniçvāsaveganirgatenādhareṇa çuṣyatā svāmiviraha-vidhṛtajīvitāparādhavailakṣyād iva bāṣpavāripaṭalena paṭeneva prāvṛtavadanaḥ viṣaṇṇa iva*, ‘His raiment was besmirched and he manifested his grief by his heart which was filled with the foe’s darts and arrows, as though they were clamps of iron to restrain it from breaking, and his beard which lay over the heart on which his master’s good deeds were engraved. On his long arm, relaxed from lack of exercise, was as sole ornament his lucky bracelet. His parched lip, faintly coloured through neglect of use of betel, protruded under the stress of his long sighs like a coal from a heart afire with sorrow, and he covered his face with a mantle of tears as though in shame for the sin of living when his master had fallen.’ Yet Bāṇa can be brief, though he must be pointed, as in Harṣa’s oath;