Gaudavaho

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

Page 366

Scenes in Nature
617. Here are mountains, overlaid (at the feet) with heaps of powdered (stones), to which condition huge boulders, dislodged (from mountain-sides), were reduced when fallen down and which have embankments uneven, glistening and noisy and (which supply) pieces of stones that are fit for (masonry) construction.
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618. Here move, with a slow tread, lions inside the cavetemples formed out of Kuruvinda (ruby) stones, the edges (hira) of their claws sharpened upon piles of broken (pointed) stones (kakkara) (over which they pass).
619. The rivers here, with their embankments, the stones of which are a bit worn out (khallaia) (and polished), with a few small fish (swimming) and with their under-current looking variegated by the shadow of foam-crust.
620. The villages on mountain-ridges (surrounded by) wavy (bamdhuruamta) thickets of Dhava trees, (standing) on feeble (nisaha) roots with their barks peeled off (avavakkala), abound in (the supply of) thick, sour rum (sihu) distilled from molasses (as a part of cottage industry ?).
621. Even during the day here, the outskirts of mountainforests, shining (ummilla) with the sun's rays deviated (pariatta) (towards them) after obstruction by the tops (of mountains ), apppear to be enveloped in smoke, as they are not clear (maila) for observation from a distance.
622. Squatting on their feet, chin (cibuaala) uplifted and the thin mouth-line extended, such a slumbering pose of lions here looks charming, (especially) as the sharp tips of their claws protrude under the pressure (on paws).
623. The wide, reverberating echo of the loud tinkling sounds (jhamjhana) of cymbals beaten, takes a long time to quieten, being halted and sent back through a series of (surrounding) caves (kapphāḍa).
624. The sky here, (lit up) by the brilliance (shooting up) from the joints (samdhi) of bright, jewelled slabs piled up in heaps (samḍa), looks reddish (yambira) like the petal of a pomegranate flower fully expanded (paridalia ).
625. The mountains here, with their peaks flung far above and their slopes (niyamba) standing out prominent to their full