A History of Indian Literature v3.c35.s7.39

v3.c35.s7.39

Kalhaṇa shows himself as a pioneer poet also in many episodes, descriptions, sketches and comparisons. Thus for example we may read his presentation of the tragic end of King Yudhiṣṭhira I at the end of the book I : “like a vulture on a carcass” did the violent enemies fall upon the empire of the weakly king. He was compelled to leave his own country, while his enemies carried away his wives and treasures “just as the tree which falls from the top of a high mountain is stripped quickly by boulders of its creepers, fruits and the rest” (I, 368). We may read also the description of a famine, that occurred as a consequence of heavy snowfall, that he compares to the “grim laughter of the Death” (II, 19), or the story of the wonderful and horrible restoration to life of Sandhimati by the witches (II, 82 ff.).