Gaudavaho

Author(s): Vakpatiraj, Narhari Govind Suru, P L Vaidya, A N Upadhye, H C Bhayani
Publisher: Prakrit Text Society Ahmedabad

Page 357

60
Gaüdavaho
538. These forest - lands, giving out a nice fragrance of their soil, which (becomes ) brownish, (having been mixed) with dry, greyish cowdung (karisa), rouse uneasy yearnings (at the thought that) the herds of cattle (had stayed and now) migrated from them (uvvuttha ).
539. The forest - outskirts, with their surfaces green with the fresh sprouting of needle - like grass shoots, look beautiful, the grass having grown and taken root (vaddhiaradha ) after having been grazed upon (ciņna) by bulls.
540. The forest - regions, with their temple-sites painted in mineral dyes, and with wild cocks (bhāsā) hanging about in close vicinity, indicate the fact of the herds of buffaloes, resting there (parivuttham).
541. The jackals approach a bony skeleton (kamkāla ) of a buffalo through the scared, thinning ( ranks) of herons (or vultures ), while the crows, having moved away (from it) in fear, group together in another direction.
542. The rays of the sun here, with the manifestation ( niha) of mirage ( maatanha) on lakes, becomes frosty white, looking as if they (rays ) become crooked and curved because of refraction ( valana ) over ( a mass of) upraised ( tulia), rippling ( tarala ). water.
543. Cool breezes, ( stirred ) by big waves, indicate the (location of) watery places and their directions, ( surcharged and) soiled, as they are, by the powdered (chunna ) particles of water, whipped (dhua) by (flapping wings of) the fying birds.
544. The travellers here ( somehow ) with great reluctance drink from rivers their waters, the foremost portions (nearer the sands) of which are contaminated by sands, (tossed up and ) falling with hissing sounds (phukkāra) (in the water ) on account of winds blowing with speed.
545. The villages, at evening time, with warm (umhāla) shades of trees and with obstruction caused ( to the free movement) of winds by the dust raised by cattle (on their return home), become more hot with the coiling, broiling ( bhattha ) fires (burning in home-kitchens ).