Indian Antiquary Vol 04

Author(s): Jas Burgess
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 81

MARCH, 1875.]
THE DVAIASHARAYA.
O chátak, listen but a while, and to my speech A speechless mouth, a grasping king, a scoungive eardrel in his train,
Not all alike the clouds that on the face of Are seven thorns that fret my soul with neverheaven appear,
ending pain.
Some fertilize the earth with showers, some fruitless thunders hurl :
This lesson learn-a suppliant speech is wasted on the churl.
Next follows the praise of the wicked man.* A cruel mind intent on strife, Envying his neighbour's gold and wife, Hating the virtuous and his kin, Denotes and brands the man of sin.
What though the scoundrel learned be, avoid him, cut him dead:
Men shudder at the snake that wears a jewel in his head.
The modest man's accounted dull, the pure a prudish knave,
Th' austere a sourfaced hypocrite, the meek a heartless slave,
The orator is tedious, the ascetic but a fool, The dignified is haughty, stolid and obtuse the cool,
The hero savage; thus the bad do all things good despise,
Each virtue with its kindred vice is tainted in their eyes.
Treachery divideth households, Avarice is a world of vice, Truth is nobler far than penance,
Purity than sacrifice, Charity's the first of virtues,
Dignity doth most adorn, Knowledge triumphs unassisted, Better death than public scorn.
The moon when dimmed by daylight, and a maid whose charms have fled,
A lake with faded lotuses, a good man ill bested,
The Dvaidsharaya is one of the few historical works that have been left us by Hindu writers. It appears to have been begun by the celebrated He mâcharya, the great Jaina scholar of Gujarât in the reigns of Siddharaja and Kumarapala, the latter of whom died about A.D.
I would not be the kinsman of a monarch prone to ire, Not e'en the sacrificing priest unharmed can touch the fire.
Not e'en a wonder-working saint Can hope to please the great,
The silent man is said to sulk, The eloquent to prate, Patience is held but cowardice, Impatience disrespect, Officiousness is impudence, And modesty neglect.
Those do not lead an easy life who fall into th power
Of one in whom the seed of vice matures in perfect flower,
Who with a herd of fawning rogues delights to engird his throne,
Whose lawless will no bonds of faith nor ties of blood doth own.
The kindness of the bad at first Is great, and then doth wane;
The good man's love, at th' ontset small, Slowly doth bulk attain,
Such difference between these two
In nature doth abide,
As 'twixt the shadow of the morn And that of eventide.
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Hunters entrap the harmless deer, Fishers the finny brood, So bad men causeless interfere To persecute the good.
(Here ends the praise of the wicked man.)
THE DVAIASHARAYA.
1174. It was so called because it was intended to serve the double object of teaching Sanskrit grammar and relating the story of the Solanki kings of Anhillawada Pattan: this double task being attempted in verses which must be read alternately to bring out either sense.
In the original dwyanaprasansa. The praise is so faint as almost to be tantamount to ninda.