Pre-Buddhist India: A Political, Administrative, Economic, Social and Geographical Survey of Ancient India Based Mainly on the Jataka Stories c4.t2.19

c4.t2.19

"Fine rice has been their food and well-cooked viands hitherto ;
If they must feed on wild-tree fruit, what will the children do !
From silver dishes well-adorned or golden hitherto ;
They ate : but with bare leaves instead, what will the children do ?
Benares cloth has been their dress, or linen hitherto ;
If they must dress in grass or bark, what will the children do ?
In carriages or palanquins they've riddden hitherto ;
When they must run about on foot, what........ ?
In gabled chambers they would sleep safe-bolted hitherto ;
Beneath the roots of trees to lie, what........?
On cushions, rugs or broidered beds they rested hitherto :
Reclining on a bed of grass, what........?
They have been sprinkled with sweet scents and perfumes hitherto ;
When covered all with dust and dirt, what......?
When peacock's feathers, yak's tail fans have fanned them hitherto ;
Bitten by insects and flies, what...... ?"¹