Gaudavaho

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

Page 48

( xxxi)
thus appearing as if it is incapable (of the task)" (847). "Our King stands no comparison, even with the Lord of the Earth, Pṛthu, who earlier came to the rescue of the Earth when, in utter chaos, she ran away, assuming the graceful form of a cow" (848-855). "What of other kings then, insipid stories about whom, narrated in glorification, would be least entertaining" (856). "A priceless reward may fall to the lot of the people who are living such a dry and insipid wordly life, when they listen to the narration of our Master's sanctifying. merits" ( 1006 ).
Ways of the World:
C
Then in a Kulaka of 150 Gāthās, the longest in the whole Poem, the Poet dilates upon this dry and insipid "This worldly life' of his times. As Pandit observes, is one of the best and most remarkable parts of the Poem and abounds in sentiments of the very highest order." As a Poet Laurete enjoying the patronage of the ruling monarch, he must always have moved in a highly elite circle of intellectuals, nobility, courtiers, sycophants and men belonging to the rich, upper classes of the society. The varied experiences, mostly unwelcome, that he had of them in his dealings with them, left him, on the whole, a bitter man and he seizes an opportunity in this Poem to give vent to his sad feelings. He tells us how merit, even of the highest order, is always deprecated and devalued, as there is nepotism everywhere with high men in authority. There are very few good men and even these few have lost all interest in their worldly life and would rather take to the forest. The rich men, who can afford to give, are stingy, close-fisted misers. There is fraud and wickedness all round and "All this there is no such thing as happiness in life.