Rajatarangini of Kalhana:Kings of Kashmira/Appendix J
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Being A Translation of the Sanskrit Work
Rajatarangini of Kalhana Pandita
By Jogesh Chunder Dutt
1887
London: Trubner & Co.[p.xv]: The king was greater than Indra, his orders were not slighted even by gods. Once, for instance, when he was encamping with his army on the shores of the Eastern Sea (Bay of Bengal), he ordered for a Kapittha fruit, and his men knew not whence to bring it. But a being from heaven brought the thing to him. The king accepted the present and made a sign to his sentinel to ask who he was. The person replied that he was the gardener of Indra, and bad been sent by his master, and that he had some message to deliver in private. The Sentinel, accordingly, removed other men from the king's presence. He then said that Indra had sent him a message which, though harsh, was intended for his good, and which he would have the goodness to forgive. " Hear, O king ! "continued the messenger of Indra, " why even in Kali yuga, your words have been obeyed by gods. In your previous life, you were employed by a rich villager to till his grounds. One summer day, you were driving your bullocks in a wood, where there was no water, and in the evening, when you were tired with the day's work, some one brought to you cake and water from your master's house. But when, after washing your hands and feet, you were going to eat, you saw a Brahmana dying of hunger. He forbade you to eat, since he was dying of starvation ; and, though the man who brought to you your food advised you not to give it to the Brahmana, yet you gladly gave him half of the cake and water, sweetening your, offer with kind words. And for that timely gift the gods undertook to obey one hundred of your orders. It is for this that rivers of pure water here flowed at your bidding in the sandy desert. Though the gift be small, yet, when given in good spirit and with kind words, and to a deserving person, is more beneficial than Kalpa tree. But with indiscretion you have well nigh spent the stock of one hundred orders, and there are only a few remaining. Being a wise man, why have you lost your discretion like an ordinary king? How can the fruit that grows in Kashmira in the rainy season be had in winter in the shores of the Eastern Sea ? That the gods obey you. wherever you may be, is owing to the gift you made in your former life. Now, in the East, Indra obeys you with reluctance, you having come nearly to the end of your stock "
[p.xvi]: of orders. Do not give such orders unless in emergency, for there are only a few remaining which will be obeyed." The king became astonished to learn the value of gifts, and to obtain such benefits again, he caused a permanent asylum for the poor to be built at Parihasapura ; and to this asylum he presented one lac and one plates with food. And for the same reason, he also caused a city to be constructed in a barren place, that thirsty men might find water there.